Sleeping is an essential part of our lives, especially night sleep. Completion of Sleep Cycle also plays a vital role in our wellbeing. It boosts both our overall wellbeing; physical and emotional wellbeing.. There are two types of sleep: REM sleep and non-REM (NREM) sleep.
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What exactly is sleep?
When you are in sleep mode, you may believe nothing is happening in your body. During sleep, however, some regions of your brain are pretty active. And getting improper amount of sleep (or not getting enough sleep) impacts your health is all senses; physical and emotional wellbeing.
Your body gets a chance to recover and rebuild energy when you sleep.
A good night’s sleep may aid in stress management, problem-solving abilities, and recovery from ailments. Poor sleep may result in a variety of physical issues, as well as a change in how you think and feel. You alternate between non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep throughout the night. During each of these stages, your brain and body behave differently.
What Is a Sleep Cycle?
Throughout the night, your brain passes through each of these sleep stages, which is referred to as a sleep cycle.
According to Cline, if you get a full seven to eight hours of sleep, you may expect to go through four to six sleep cycles. And that means you have to take a night of proper sleep. You’ll go through the 4 stages of sleep in chronological sequence in the first cycle. However, your sleep cycle will not necessarily return to stage 1 after that.
You may go straight from REM sleep to stage 2 or 3 sleep. REM sleep, on the other hand, usually goes back to stage 2, according to Cline.
However, as you go through your sleep cycles, you may return to stage 1 and even wake up, but the awakenings are usually so short that you don’t recall them, according to Landsness.
According to Al-Sharif, each sleep cycle lasts around 90 minutes on average, although it may last up to 120 minutes in some cases. Or Sleep Cycle may last for longer if you have to take any kind of drug.
A sleep cycle’s makeup varies throughout the night as well. People spend more time in stage 3 deep sleep during the first two cycles, but we may spend the majority of the night and early morning hours in REM sleep, according to Cline.
Keep in mind that all phases of sleep are necessary for learning and memory consolidation, with deep sleep and REM sleep performing the heavy lifting.
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What factors influence sleep quality?
Chemical signals influence our sleep and wake cycles in our brains.
Anything that causes a change in the balance of these neurotransmitters might make us feel tired or alert.
Consider the following scenarios which disturb our sleep quality:
- Alcohol may aid in the initiation of light sleep. However, it lowers the deeper phases of sleep and REM sleep, resulting in increased sleep disruption.
- The brain is stimulated by caffeine and pseudoephedrine (a medicinal component). Insomnia, or the inability to sleep, maybe a result of them. Caffeinated beverages, such as coffee, and medicines, such as diet pills and decongestants, should be avoided.
- Antidepressants, for example, may produce reduced REM sleep.
- Smokers tend to sleep lightly and have less REM sleep than non-smokers. They may feel nicotine withdrawal and wake up after a few hours.
- Imbalanced Temperatures that are too hot or too cold might interrupt REM sleep. During REM sleep, we have a harder time controlling our body temperature.
Stage 4; REM in sleep cycle is considered the most important stage of sleep. It focuses on all body parts. Though, other stages of Non-REM in sleep cycle can’t be denied. They prepare you to the final stage of Sleep cycle.