did you know that lack of sleep can increase your risk of many serious
health conditions including early death yikes we're sure by now you're aware of
the importance of getting a good night's rest being tired can really put a damper
on your productivity and just make you feel kind of crummy when we go to sleep
we don't really know what's going on inside our bodies or minds but it turns
out there's a lot happening today here at bestie we're gonna take a peek behind
the curtain and uncover what your body does while you're under the covers
before we start don't sleep on hitting that subscribe button and ringing the
notification bell too doesn't matter if you're a night owl or an early bird
getting a proper night's sleep can really make a difference in how we feel
the next day there are few things more annoying than being woken up from a
wonderful deep sleep by some loud neighbors or someone calling at an
ungodly hour some people claim that they can even function pretty well on only a
few hours of sleep at night but it turns out your body needs this time to
recharge and sort of reset from the previous day sleep isn't something that
happens quickly it sort of happens in stages and there's actually a lot that
goes on once you close your eyes you may have heard the term REM sleep before
this stands for rapid eye movement and is just one example of the stages of
sleep we're gonna get to in a moment you actually will go through most of these
stages of sleep 3 to 5 times every night which is why it's known as a sleep cycle
since you cycle through these phases many times let's start from the
beginning though the first stage of sleep is the same stage we find
ourselves in when someone wants to show you their vacation photos or you're in a
really boring meeting the dozing off phase the dozing off phase is that phase
when someone says oh you were asleep and your response is likely no I wasn't
you're not alone in saying this in fact 80% of people will say they weren't
sleeping if woken up suddenly from this dozing off stage this stage is more your
brain prepping for sleep than actual sleep itself and many researchers
continue to argue if this stage is actually sleep at all in this stage your
brain is still pretty active and it will be easy to wake someone up as you
progress into deeper stages your brain kind of disconnects from the outside
world and it becomes harder to wake from but we'll get to the deep sleep phase in
a moment stage 1 is considered non REM sleep and it's when your brain starts to
file away and process what happened during the day this is also when your
brain will create long term memories your brain will also release a bunch of
hormones while you're sleeping and in stage 1 melatonin will be flooded into
your system causing you to feel sleepy from there we progress to stage two
researchers seem to agree that Stage two can officially be classified as sleep
we're not quite into REM sleep yet but we're getting closer this part of the
sleep cycle is when your brain starts to calm down and your breathing gradually
slows your body temperature will also start to drop you can still be woken up
from this stage pretty easily until about ninety minutes or so have passed
when you'll enter REM sleep during stage two you'll start to disconnect from your
surroundings as the brain relaxes as well as your nervous system have you
ever heard of the fight-or-flight response this is your sympathetic
nervous system telling you how to react to certain situations and is always on
watch during the day when you sleep your sympathetic nervous system finally gets
a chance to relax and studies tell us that this is one very important part of
sleep and how it relates to our overall health giving your nervous system some
time off can actually help combat the negative health effects sleep
deprivation can cause like high blood pressure and heart disease
speaking of relaxing during sleep your body's level of cortisol will drop as
well this hormone is often called the stress hormone and is another important
part of the restorative process taking a natural break from
yes sign us up these cortisol hormone levels will rise once again before you
wake up which also wakes your stomach and can
help you feel perky in the morning or sort of perky if you're not really a
morning person next we're on to what some research calls stage 3 & 4 where
we're into deep sleep now but not exactly REM sleep just yet these deep
sleep stages are the ones that really matter the ones that do the heavy
lifting when it comes to repairing your body and restoring your mind when you're
exhausted this is the kind of sleep you're craving no amount of coffee will
fix what this kind of sleep can around this point is where your body will
release another hormone from your pituitary gland it's actually a growth
hormone and this is the one that helps repair your body or will help your body
grow where needed this deep sleep restorative cycle is where your blood
pressure and heart rate will slow as well before the next stage up next the
famous REM sleep welcome to Dreamland 90 minutes or so into your sleep cycle
you're likely to slip into REM sleep not all dreams happen in this phase as sleep
is generally tailored to each individual REM sleep is the phase that ramps up
your brain once again and is almost like being awake except you're not rapid eye
movement sleep gets its name because quite literally your eyes are darting
around in rapid movements kind of makes sense right this is also where your body
will become paralyzed and you're likely to experience your most vivid dreams
here some researchers think that the reason we become paralyzed in this stage
is so we won't act out our dreams which probably saves us a lot of embarrassment
especially when you're acting out that big moment of nailing that guitar solo
in front of thousands of adoring fans you wouldn't want to be acting that out
on your front lawn at 2:00 in the morning right REM sleep will start off
as a pretty short stage but as you keep cycling through the sleep stages it'll
increase and can last for a full 30 minutes at times
this is also the stage when your breathing will get faster your body
temperature lowers and your blood pressure will go back to normal this is
also the phase when your brain is very active which is why your dreams are so
bizarre sometimes some research also suggests REM sleep is when your brain
dumps out all that useless information that you've probably accumulated over
the day if you don't get to the REM sleep cycle or are sleep-deprived then
your brain won't get a chance to sift through all that information and store
the things that you need to keep and get rid of the stuff you don't once you've
completed this REM cycle your body starts the process over again until
you're ready to wake up getting a good night's sleep helps you think clearly
boosts your immune system so you don't get sick and can help decrease your risk
of many health issues like diabetes obesity cancer and heart complications
the science shows us that you should aim to get anywhere from seven to eight
hours of sleep a night to get all the benefits that restful sleep can provide
try making your bedroom a place of tranquility and calm that you'll enjoy
sleeping in also making sleep a priority is part of a healthy lifestyle and can
really benefit you in the long run much more than just beauty sleep if you ask
us how many hours of sleep do you usually get at night are you a night owl
or an early bird why not let us know any tricks you have to getting a good
night's sleep in the comments section below
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