We spend approximately one-third of our lives sleeping, so it’s helpful to understand this part of our daily routine and how it can affect our overall health.
According to the Sleep Foundation and the Cleveland Clinic of Medicine, our sleep is broken into cycles, and each cycle lasts about 90 minutes. If adults get the recommended 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night, they’ll go through about four or five cycles every night.
Those sleep cycles are further divided into four stages of sleep. Stages 1 to 3 are all non-rapid eye movement, or NREM, sleep stages. They take us from those first few minutes when we feel like we’re dozing off to the deepest sleep we get throughout the night.
In our NREM sleep, the brain and heart slow down. The third stage of NREM sleep is where the body is working the hardest to repair itself, especially when we’re sick or injured. This is also the time when the brain is cataloging and rearranging information, like a librarian reshelving books at the end of the day.
In Stage 4, we enter REM, or rapid eye movement, sleep. Under our eyelids, our eyes move quickly from side to side and the brain becomes more active. In fact, it gets close to how active it would be if we were awake. We experience our most vivid dreams during REM sleep because of this brain activity, and some studies have shown that REM sleep boosts memory, learning and creativity.
It’s important for our bodies to have the opportunity to go through all four stages of sleep and the maximum number of sleep cycles every night. Not paying attention to this key, if inert, part of our health could challenge our ability to function during the day. Judgment gets cloudy. The body’s natural defenses go down against illness. We may also get irritable, which takes a toll on our own emotional health and those around us.
If we don’t get enough sleep, it can affect our ability to remember things. It can also cause slower reaction times in tasks, such as driving, and, over enough time, long-term fatigue.
As we age, we sleep less. Babies up to a year old can sleep approximately 17 hours in a 24-hour period. Adults typically need anywhere from 7 to 9 hours. Understanding how much sleep is right for you and then making it a goal to get that much every night allows the sleep cycles to function as they should to support your health during the day.
You can regulate and maximize your sleep cycles by doing the following:
- Follow the same bedtimes and waking times every day.
- Get exposure to natural daylight daily.
- Avoid alcohol and heavy meals for up to four hours before bedtime.
- Stay active during the day, and exercise regularly throughout the week.
- Avoid bright lights and electronics at bedtime, and when you turn out the light make sure the room is as dark as possible and on the cooler side.
Knowing your sleep patterns is important, because if there’s ever a disruption in them that can’t be explained by normal reasons (like travel or guests staying over) then you’ll have a complete picture of your health when you visit the doctor. A great mattress and high-end sheets can only do so much. If you want to optimize your health, you have to make sure you’re giving yourself your best shot at the amount and quality of rest you get too.
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