So you're passed out, you're sleeping deep sleep. You're feeling great. And you
may not know it, though, but while you're sleep, you're going through numerous
90 minutes sleep cycle stages. In each sleep cycle, you're going through
four sleep stages. So I want to talk about each sleep stage
one by one. What's happening thing during that sleep stage and what
happens if you wake up during that sleep stage. Let's get started right now.
So I want to talk about what's happening in each sleep stage. But if at
any point you want more information about sleep stages or sleep cycles, go to
mattress clarity plus sleep cycle to read our entire written article.
But what's exactly happening here? Well, we have a 90 minutes sleep cycle,
and in what are sleep cycles have four sleep stages. Now the first three
fall under what's called non rapid eye movement. And the fourth stage is
REM sleep, not REM sleep like the awesome band, but rapid eye movement.
And what's happening is we're moving every 90 minutes from lighter sleep.
We're getting deeper and deeper until we get into REM sleep, where our vivid
dreaming happens. And when that stage ends, we start all over again.
With stage one, we're going from lighter to deeper a couple of times a night.
So I want to talk now exactly what's happening in stage one.
So stage one is also known as light sleep. This usually lasts for between
one and seven minutes. Now, this is a stage where you're moving from being
awake to moving into sleep. So from wakefulness to sleep.
Now when you're in stage one, what's happening is your muscles start to relax.
Your eye movement starts to slow down, your brain activity slows down,
your heartbeat slows down, and your breathing slows down. Now when
you're in the stage, you're sleeping very lightly. So it's very
easy to wake up during this stage. So if someone moves around in your room,
you could wake up a light, a sound can make you easily wake up.
Now if you wake up, you could feel like you were sleeping very deeply
and just came out of a deep sleep. You could also wake up feeling
very groggy. So a couple of things could happen when you're waking up from stage
one. Next up, we have stage two, which is also known as intermediate
sleep. Now this stage lasts for about 25 minutes. Now during stage
two, your heartbeat continues to slow down, your breathing slows down,
your eye movements slow down your muscles. They continue to relax.
Your brain activity is also slowing down, and your body temperature starts
to lower. Now while you're sleeping more deeply than you're sleeping during
stage one, you are still sleeping somewhat lightly. So the sound goes
off in your room. The lights go on. You could wake up very quickly.
But if you do wake up during stage two, you shouldn't feel too groggy.
And then we have stage three, which is also known as deep sleep or slow
wave sleep. So during stage three, it's very important. Your muscles
are recovering, your muscles are growing, bone growth, bone recovery.
Your immune system is strengthened. So because especially the
muscle recovery and the bone recovery, if you are an athlete is a very important
stage or if you work out a lot, I don't do that. But still a
very important stage. Now during this stage, your muscles are
as relaxed as they are going to be. Your breathing is very slow. Your heart
rate is very low, as low as it's going to be during any sleep stages.
So you're sleeping very deeply. It's hard to wake up.
During stage three, light goes on in your room. You hear a loud noise.
You shouldn't wake up, but if you do wake up, you're going to feel very
groggy. Next up, we have stage four REM
sleep, rapid eye movement. And that stands for when your eyes are moving
behind your eyelids. Also, this is when your body is going into beast
mode. Now during this stage, your heartbeat actually increases.
Your blood pressure goes up. Your breathing increases and becomes
more irregular. At the same time, your legs and your arms, they're paralyzed.
How that happens because you don't want to be physically acting out your dreams.
And while you can dream in all four stages, your most vivid dreams are
going to happen during stage four. So you don't want to act those
out in real life. At the same time, during stage four,
a lot of learning is happening. Your memories are being stored, and your mood
is also being regulated. So why is all this important? How can you
use this information? Well, first off, it's a great thing to consider if you
take a lot of naps. I love to nap and you want to make sure
if you're taking a nap, you're waking up during the right sleep Stadium. So
let's do the math here. You want to wake up during sleep stages two.
So the second stage of sleep now it's going to be between ten and 30
minutes. So you're waking up during that sleep stages. You're long to wake up
feeling nice and refreshed, not groggy whatsoever. You go
into stage three and stage four, you're sleeping more deeply. You wake up
actually feeling worse than when you went to sleep. Now if you want
to do a longer nap, you don't want to go all the way for 90
minutes and do an. What are sleep cycles? Again, you wake up feeling refreshed,
not in those later stages of stage three and stage four. If you want
more information about naps or you want to get the best nap possible, Google
Maps, Clarity plus naps. But another reason Besides
naps to consider your sleep stages to make sure you're getting the right amount
of sleep. So if you're waking up every morning in the middle of stage
three, you're going to wake up feeling very groggy. So take the information
we talked about. Do the math. Make sure you're getting the proper amount of
sleep. But how much sleep should you be getting? So according
to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers between 14 and 17
should be getting eight to 10 hours of sleep per night.
Adults between 18 and 64 should be getting seven
to 9 hours of sleep per night. And the elderly over 65 years
of age should be getting seven to 8 hours of sleep per night.
Now that's how much we should be getting per night. But as you
may or may not know, a lot of us are not sleeping the right amount.
And as we get older, it gets harder and harder to get the proper amount
of sleep. And not just that, it's hard to get the deep sleep we need.
So studies have shown that as you grow older, it's hard to
get into stages of three and four. So a lot of elderly sleepers
spend more time in stages one and two. They don't get that deep, restful sleep
of stages three and four. But whether you're old or
young, there are some steps you can take to make sure you get the best
sleep possible. First off, make sure your bedroom is cool, dark and
quiet. Personally, I like sleeping in a very cold bedroom to set my
temperature to around 71 degrees. Now, you also make sure it's
dark. And if you live in a welllit area, that might be an issue.
But you can easily invest in some blackout curtains. If you want to help hang
your blackout curtains, just Google mattress clarity plus blackout curtains for
some very easy to follow instructions for hanging those curtains.
You also might want to invest in a sleep mask to block out that light,
or some earplugs to block out any excess sound. And again, check out our
roundups for those products as well. Next up, you want to make sure you're
keeping a regular sleep schedule. That means going to bed at the same time every
night and waking up at the same time every morning, even on weekends.
Once you find that sleep schedule that works for you, keeping it the same is
going to be very helpful to maintaining a very steady circadian rhythm.
Now, I know it's hard because we like to sleep on Saturday mornings,
but try to wake up as early as possible. Keeping that sleep schedule
as similar to the week as you can, you also be thinking about what you're
eating and what you're drinking during the day. So while caffeine, whether it be
coffee or soda is okay earlier in the day, having caffeine
in the afternoon or the evening can seriously disrupt your sleep. Also,
alcohol can disrupt your sleep. Namely, it can make you wake up have to go
to the bathroom more often. Also, it does reduce your REM sleep,
so not great for proper sleep. Also, you want to think about what
you're eating especially close to bedtime. So spicy
and heavy foods in the hour before bed can disrupt your sleep.
And while I love my chicken wings, I had to make sure I'm not eating
them an hour before I go to sleep. Last up you want to avoid screen
time before bed that could be TVs, laptops, tablets or your
phone and believe me, I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I love lying
in bed checking out Facebook looking at YouTube but I have to try to not
do that before I go to bed. Instead try adopting a
more relaxing bedtime routine. That could be taking a hot bath,
taking a hot shower, reading an actual book.
Not an ereader but an actual book or even meditating in the end.
You should be able to use this information to get the best sleep possible.
But if you're still a little bit confused about sleep cycles or sleep stages do
check out our written article or you can leave a question or a comment below
but that's about it. Just getting started looking for a mattress or bedding
products do check mattressclarity.com we also do a lot of videos just like this
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