Sleep is a naturally occurring phenomenon. It is nature’s call which we cannot refuse to answer. After the day’s hard work, we always come back home exhausted and with strained eyes, muscles, and even a stressed out mind. Though resting goes a long way to help one relax and regain lost energy, it does not replenish and reenergize the body as much as a good night's sleep does.
Before the 1950’s people used to think that sleep was a state of passive unconsciousness. It was believed that when one goes to sleep the bodily functions apart from breathing, circulation, and heartbeat become suspended and never resumes until one wakes up. However, over the years scientists have found out that a lot goes on in our body when we sleep at night. It has been found that our body goes through different cycles and stages when we sleep.
Considering all that happens when we sleep, we are safe to assume that sleep is a periodic and reoccurring state of the mind and body which involves a temporary suspension of consciousness and relaxation of the muscles in which the brain still performs at a lower metabolic rate.
Sleep cycles involve two different parts; Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep cycle.
The Five Stages of Sleep
Stage One
It starts from the moment when you nod off or start dozing. Once the sleep sensation hits the body it produces alpha and theta waves which slow down the movement of the eyes. Within this period, which lasts for seven minutes or thereabout, you are still slightly conscious of your environment so that any little thing can wake you up.
Stage Two
During this stage you are still slightly aware of your environment, but not as much as in Stage One. At this stage the brain undergoes some rhythmic brain wave frequency called sleep spindles. There is also a fall in body temperature and reduction in heart rate. This period lasts for 20 minutes.
Stage Three
This is a transitional stage where one goes from light to deep sleep. Delta waves begin to accumulate slowly and one becomes more unaware of his environment and this is the beginning of deep slumber.
Stage One to Stage Three is also called Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep.
Stage Four
This is the stage of deep sleep. At this stage it becomes a bit difficult to wake up. It is at this stage that repair of your muscles, growth stimulation, increase of immune function and revitalization of the body takes place.
Stage Five
Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM): this stage typically starts about 90 minutes from the time you fall asleep. REM occurs in stages, and each stage lasts about one hour. For every nights sleep we go through five or six REM cycles. In this stage the rapid eye movement starts. You start dreaming, you have increased breathing rate, and increased brain activity. This is the stage where the muscles become paralyzed, or more relaxed. This is also the stage where a scary condition can happen called Sleep Paralysis. People often say that sleep paralysis is a scary feeling because they feel frozen or paralyzed and some people even reported that they felt like they were being choked for a few seconds because your muscles tense up and you wake up before REM is finished.
Sleep Cycles
These stages of sleep are not followed sequentially. It starts from stage one and moves on to stage two, three and four. After stage four the body repeats stages three and two before it goes into REM sleep. After REM, the body reverts to stage two, and the cycle continues. The body goes through the sleep cycle about four or five times throughout a night’s sleep.
Why you need to always sleep for eight hours every night
- We always need to have at least 8 hours of sleep every night. This is because during the stages of sleep, especially REM, the body undergoes some healing processes which help us stay healthy. During the REM phase the mind also gets refreshed and gets over some unpleasant emotions which could have been troubling you. It is at this time that the brain reboots like a computer and comes back to new.
- The immune system is most active in the daytime, but during a good nights sleep, it repairs itself and replaces dead cells. It is therefore important that we sleep well at night for this function to be carried out efficiently.
- Research has also found that sleeping well at night improves insulin sensitivity and helps in fighting diabetes.
- Finally, experts have also found that people who are deprived of a good nights sleep always have problems associated with high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
There are a wide array of benefits associated with having a good nights sleep. Therefore, always sleep well to live a healthy life and to keep the mind and body strong.
I hope you enjoyed. Please Upvote, Resteem, and Follow me @road2wisdom
Please cite some sources.
Great post! I just did a sleep study for apnea last month or so. It was interesting. I dont get stage 3 because of my lack of REM.
Oh, stage 3 and 4 were recently combined as one.
nice, thanks :)
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How steemit ruined my REM sleep schedule haha. No but I need to do better, after watching the last cpg gray video about achieving unhappiness I realized I needed to change. It's just been slow coming. Thanks for the article, you are appreciated. Now I just need to take the advice!
Thanks I appreciate your support and you will do great :)
Also, the lymph nodes drain in stage 4 and cleanse your body of toxins. Humans are amazing! Great post! Upd and restmd
Thanks @farmandadventure
Sleep is an amazing thing and time for any living creature. A time of healing and reparation both in the physical self and the soul to no doubt. I found this post real nicely put together and i liked the subject !! steem On @road2wisdom)
Thanks @gomeravibz
Very complete and easy to follow explanation of REM and non-REM sleep @road2wisdom. I definitely need more sleep in my life! Looking forward to reading more health posts on your blog!
Thank you Ace ;) more will be coming soon
Awesome, can't wait!
Very insightful ! Nice job (:
Thanks :0
Anytime !
Excellent article, however not 100% sold on the conclusion of needing a full 8 hours of sleep per night. There's long been controversial debates about the value, benefits and sustainability of biphasic or polyphasic sleep, considering that the majority of time spent sleeping during an 8 hour session is wasted stages with little known benefits.
If you are aware of any recent or definitive research on the topic I'd love to review them.
Thanks, everyone is different in that sense I guess. Where some need 6 hours of sleep a night and other 8 or more. It's recommended you get at least 8 so the mind and body get fully healed. I am a big believer with all my studies in sleep, that good quality sleep is essential for good health. I have been worked in the medical field for over 16 years now and have done a one year fellowship in sleep medicine and worked at a sleep lab for three years. What I came away with was that people can do well on 6-8 hours of sleep, the ones who slept less had problems with sleep later on in the week in the studies. Meaning it caught up to them and they crashed. Thanks for actually reading and posting a great question.
Thanks for your reply and providing some more insight. From the research I've done, it would seem the reason we do best on 6-8 hours is because that is how long it takes for us to complete 3-4 cycles of stage 4-5 sleep, which are the only ones the body really uses to regenerate, commit information to memory, etc.
My own experiment with Polyphasic sleep seemed conclusive to this however only lasted about 2-3 weeks, as I found it near impossible to maintain while having an active and social life due to its strict requirements.
Thanks @rockstarmystic, you are correct about the sleep cycles and the brain connection. Yes being stuck in a room watching peoples sleep for 18 hours a day or more wasn't fun. So I totally get where you are coming from. You should do some writing on the topic, you seem to know your stuff. I can tell you can articulate things well. I just started to write and I am learning more and more everyday on the subject! It's not easy for me but I am doing the best I can while taking care of my husband who has cancer, and raising a young son and don't forget work! Some times its brutal.
Thanks, it's a great idea and I think I'll try writing a report on some of my experiments in bio-hacking (polyphasic sleep, raw foodism, etc) over the next few days!
It can definitely get overwhelming being in your situation but I have found that writing in itself can be so cathartic, so even on those days you feel like you don't have the time... especially on those days... write! Even if just for 5 minutes :)
I'm currently helping support my parents, my father suffering from Alzheimer, trying to be there to provide my mother with any help or respite she can get.
Life isn't always easy, but there's always a way through when you surround yourself with the right people. You're on the right path :)
Thanks for the kind words, and I am sorry to hear about your Mother. What you said about "there's always a way through when you surround yourself with the right people" is so true in life. Thanks for replying I followed you and look forward to your writings :)
Great information @road2wisdom.
Thanks
Informative post It doesn't make me wonder why they require doctors to take residency and be deprived of sleep.
Thanks for sharing. That is an interesting comment.
I would sleep better if i didnt wake up to check on my cryptocurrencys.
HAHA that is true for a lot here!
Ahh, Sleep... my nemesis! 8 hours is the holy land, I don't think I've had 8 straight since my mid 20s.
Ive tried a million things, and found sunshine and a day filled with as much as you can put into it is the best remedy 😊
I know , its so tough to get good sleep these days with this fast paced life! Sometimes its just nice to stop and smell the flowers. Sunshine is also great! Vitamin D haha :))
Vitamin D indeed, I actually supplement during the winter months, even here in Spain as sunlight isn't strong enough for 5 months of the year to provide you with any!
Melatonin now and then in very small doses works quite well too for me.
That's good because the entire getting sun thing for vitamin D is a little misinformed. You only get the benefits if you tan without a shirt or pull up your shirt so that the area where the liver can be exposed and be hit directly with the sunlight! Just saying heee Glad to hear you are supplementing that vitamin :))
Indeed! And us darker skinned, or easily tannable folk need more exposure to get the same amount. I didn't read about the liver being linked so will need to research more!
Yes!
Nice post :)
Thanks Shane :)
Touche! Hee-hee! Box recharging still in progress ... are you still awake at 2.20am?? Ha ha! You got Steem FOMO baby! Great to see your post doing so well :))
Thanks, no FOMO for me, that term reminds me of a certain butter ball turkey hahaha
Great job for sharing this, a gentle reminder always helps us. Any info on the effects of Deep meditation on Sleep Cycles ?
Thank you @blockchainwisdom I like the name! I have a few posts I did in my feed on meditation and another on sleep. I don't want to spam my links on here but if you scroll down a couple you will see them. Thanks for the resteem, I am following you :)
Did you ever woke up in your REM sleep? I can tell you it's horrible. I did it one or two years ago because I had to finish some homework and needed to go to school 3 hours later :(. I felt quite sick that day
I did enjoy reading the article. I will keep an eye on you from now on. You got yourself a stal.. umm. follower. Laterz
Thank you @munteanu and i followed you back. I will read your work too. Very much appreciated :)
Thanks!
followed/upvoted/impressed! This is a great article! Thank you for posting it. I'd love to hit REM sleep without constantly using Zzzquil! lol :) thanks for the info
Thanks, I followed you too and you are on my feed now! :)