If you are getting the recommended amount of slumber —seven to nine hours a night— you’re spending about one-third of your life asleep.
Although that may seem like a lot of time, your mind and body are very busy during that time, so that you can be productive, energetic, and healthy when you’re awake.
There are five stages of sleep that rotate between non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) and include drowsiness, light sleep, moderate to deep sleep, deepest sleep, and dreaming.
Experts have recommended that adults gets about 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. New research aims to identify not just how much total sleep you need — but also how much of each stage of sleep you need.
Sleep stages1, 2, and REM consist of light sleep, while 3 and 4 comprisedeep sleep.
Stage 1
During stage 1, you drift from being awake to being asleep. This is a light, NREM sleep that doesn’t last very long. You may start to relax and dream, but may also twitch as you transition into stage 2.
Stage 2
Stage 2 of the sleep cycle is still a light sleep, but you are drifting into a steadier sleep. Your breathing and heartbeat slow down, and your muscles relax. Your body temperature decreases, and your brain waves are less active.
Stages 3 and 4
In stage 3, you enter deep sleep, and stage 4 is the deepest sleep stage. During deep sleep, your breathing, heartbeat, body temperature, and brain waves reach their lowest levels. Your muscles are extremely relaxed, and you are most difficult to rouse.
Stage 4 is known as the healing stage, when tissue growth and repair take place, important hormones are released to do their jobs, and cellular energy is restored.
REM sleep
Your first REM cycle of the night begins about90 minutesafter you fall asleep and recurs every 90 minutes. Your eyes move around quickly behind your eyelids and your brainwaves look similar to those of someone who is awake. Your breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure rise to near-waking levels.
REM sleep, often referred to as stage 5, is when you are most likely todream.
Your arms and legs become temporarily paralyzed during this stage to prevent you from physically acting out your dreams.
在健康成年人,大约
However, as you get older yourequire less deep sleep.
During deep sleep, a variety of functions take place in the mind and body:
- memories are consolidated
- learning and emotions process
- physical recovery occurs
- blood sugar levels and metabolism balance out
- the immune system is energized
- the brain detoxifies
Without deep sleep, these functions cannot take place and the symptoms ofsleep deprivationkick in.
On the other hand, there doesn’t seem to be any such thing as too much deep sleep.
How much REM sleep should you get
Although there’s no official consensus on how much REM sleep you should get, dreaming is most common during this stage.
For most adults, REM takes up about
How much light sleep do you need?
Although sleep scientists believe that light sleep is good for you, there is no minimum to strive for. Light sleep is usually the default stage, one that is nearly impossible to avoid if you are asleep at all.
Too much overall sleep on a regular basis, however, is linked toobesity, depression, pain, heart disease, and even increased risk of death.
How much deep and light sleep do children need?
Babies and children needmore sleepthan adults. Babies need the most, spending about16 of every 24 hoursasleep. Approximately50 percentof their slumber is spent in the REM stage, while the other50 percentis divided between stages 1 through 4 and NREM sleep that cycles between light and deep.
As children grow older, the amount of sleep they need varies:
- toddlers: 11 to 14 hours
- preschoolers: 10 to 13 hours
- school-aged children: 9 to 12 hours
- teens: 8 to 10 hours
With enough sleep that appears to be restful, it’s likely that the light, deep, and REM ratio is exactly where it should be in young people.
If they’re having trouble with falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping well, or if they are sleeping way too much for their age, children may be irritable, could have learning and memory problems, or may be more susceptible to illness.
If you sleep 8 hours but toss and turn all night, you may not be getting enough deep sleep.
It’s impossible to force your brain to go into deep sleep, but there are a number of strategies that have shown some promise in terms of increasing your percentage of deep sleep. These include:
- reducingstress
- establishing sleep rituals and routines
- using an eye mask toblock out light
-
sleeping in a cool room - exercising
- eating ahealthy diet
- listening to
white orpinknoise - brainwave entrainment
- meditation
Although the science is still new, a number ofsleep trackersare available that may help you track your sleep patterns and see how much light, REM, and deep sleep you are getting.
According to the American Sleep Apnea Association,你应该感到新鲜和警报当你醒来, but many people don’t.
If you’re sleeping for 7 to 9 hours each night, but only 10 percent of that is deep sleep, you’re not getting the 90 minutes you need and might still be tired each day. Asleep studymay help you figure out what is going on.
There are a number of possible causes that you might want to discuss with a doctor, including:
- generalsleep disorder
- obstructive sleep apnea
- not getting enough sleep
- getting too much sleep
- other health conditions that causefatigue
Scientists say that
- memory troubles
- mood changes
- weakened immunity
- trouble concentrating
- poor response time and increased risk of accidents
- high blood pressure
- weight gain
- risk fordiabetes
- low sex drive
- risk ofheart disease
- poor balance
- early aging
Scientists agree that sleep is essential to health, and while stages 1 to 4 and REM sleep are all important, deep sleep is the most essential of all for feeling rested and staying healthy.
The average healthy adult gets roughly 1 to 2 hours of deep sleep per 8 hours of nightly sleep. There are various ways to gauge whether you are, from personal trackers to a sleep study.
If you’re waking up tired on a regular basis, it’s a good idea to talk to a healthcare provider.