The Stages of Sleep

When it comes to sleep most people have experienced those nights when you are in a deep sleep, nothing disturbs you, and you wake up feeling refreshed. Then there are those nights where you sleep lightly and get up in the morning feeling more tired than when you went to bed.
This can be explained by the stages of sleep. There are two main stages that your body goes through.

REM - rapid eye movement
NREM - non rapid eye movement
The NREM stage can actually be divided into more stages.
During the REM stage of sleep your muscles are quiet and not moving. The only exception to this are your eyes. They move rapidly and if you wake up during this stage, you will note that you were dreaming. About 20 to 25 percent of your sleep is done in this stage.

The NREM stage of sleep has been subdivided into 3 stages:
N1 Sleep
N2 Sleep
N3 Sleep

The N1 stage is the point where you are in a light sleep. Any sudden noises may wake you.
People often report that they feel awake when sleeping at this stage.

When you reach the N2 stage your body is truly asleep. This is where you spend most of your
 time sleeping, it accounts for 40 to 50 percent of your sleep.

The N3 sleep is known as the deep sleep stage. It is often referred to as Delta or Slow Wave sleep.
When you sleep, you sleep in 4 to 5 cycles each night. Each one can last anywhere from 90 minutes to 120 minutes.

The cycles work in the following fashion.
Being awake and entering into N1 stage, then going through N2 and N3 stages. These two stages then reappear and are followed by REM sleep. All of this takes place during the first part of the night. During the second part of the night the N2 and REM sages alternate.

When this sleep pattern is disrupted sleep disorders and issues can occur. As you age your sleep cycles change.  The deeper stages of N3 slows down in frequency while the lighter sleep stage of N1 increases.

This accounts for why many older people find they wake up easily during the night. Research has shown that seniors do still need lots of sleep, the reason they cannot always sleep, is due to the change in their sleep cycles.

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Susan Harrison

Digital Marketing Consultant

www.skhbusinessconsulting.com