If you’re having a difficult time getting to rest it is essential that understanding rest mechanics and what produces up a good night of rest may be useful in comprehending why you have a sleep disorder. Comprehending sleep is not so easy because of the various degrees of rest. Your body engages in several procedures as soon as you start to drift off to rest that determines how well you will sleep.
The first stage of sleep is called stage one which is characterized by drowsiness as your feel yourself let go, your muscles fall into a limp state, and you can no longer keep your eyes open. This stage usually lasts only a few minutes somewhere around ten full minutes. The next stage is light stage often called stage two and at this point your respiratory system and body temperature fall considerably. Your heart rate should also lag at this point in the sleep process.
You can say stage three and four are determined to be deep sleep and are where you may have difficulty waking up. You may feel groggy and be unable to adjust quickly but this vital stage in sleep allows the brain to truly “turn off” as your circulation slows, at which time the nutrient rich blood nourishes your body. There is also a heightened level of immune work that occurs during these two important stages of rest.
Stage five is considered REM sleep and is generally thought of as the dreaming phase of the sleep cycle. Entering and exiting this cycle happens many times during sleep so you might have anywhere from three to five 70-90 minute long sessions during your period of REM. This cycle is characterized by several physical conditions such as various types of breathing that are both shallow and deep. There may also be a rise in heart rate and blood pressure.
This exact moment in the sleep cycle is designed to assist in the processing of emotions and to help relieve stress with each of the sleep cycles generally benefitting the person getting a good rest. People who sleep lightly are trapped in stage two and cannot seem to get to stages three and four where the best benefits of sleep reside. For those who have a hard time arousing from sleep possibly spend a longer period of time in deep sleep and rise quickly upon waking rather than running through each stage.
The stages of sleep also change based on the amount of each cycle you got the night before so if you spend a long time in deep sleep you might become trapped in a light sleep the next evening. Your body adjusts over time and you spend the same about of time on average in all of the sleep stages. This is one of the reasons why it is stated that you won’t catch up on sleep but you can catch up on rest.
