How To Sleep Cycles?

If you’re having a hard time getting to rest recognizing how you sleep or knowing the mechanics behind what makes a good night’s sleep could be instrumental in understanding why you have a sleep condition. Rest is not as readily fathomable as you think because of the various levels of rest. There are a number of things that take place once your eyes close and you fall asleep that contributes to how soundly or how softly you will rest.

Drowsiness is the first stage of sleeping as your feel yourself let go, your muscles fall into a limp state, and your eyes may be heavy enough to close on their own. This is the fastest developing phase, usually around ten minutes. The very next stage of sleep is considered a very light “stage two” and at this point your respiratory system and body temperature retreat. The heart rate may also slow down as well during this part of sleep.

Both stage three and stage four of the sleep cycles are classified as deep sleep and are where you may have difficulty waking up. You will possibly feel very dazed and incoherent but this stage allows the brain to rest and as a result blood flow actually decreases, at which time the nutrient rich blood nourishes your body. There is also an increase in immune functions during these important stages of rest.

The most fascinating stage is called stage five or REM sleep and is known as the dream portion of the REM sleep cycle. Drifting in and out of stage five happens often so there may be several minutes or hours within the stage of REM sleep. This part of the sleep process is defined by a number of physical responses where you may experience rapid breathing that is both irregular and shallow. You could also show signs of your heart quickening as a rise in blood pressure.

This important time in the sleep stage is good for helping your mind process heavy emotions, stress reduction and generally benefitting the person getting a good rest. Light sleepers are usually in stage two and rarely go into three and four where they need to be in order to obtain the most rest possible. Those who can’t wake up so easily likely are stuck in the deeper parts of sleep and rise quickly upon waking rather than running through each stage.

Sleep stages can become random based upon 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’ll likely spend equal amounts of time in each part of sleep, hopefully resulting in good sleep patterns. That is why it is more accurate to say that it is impossible to get caught up on sleep but you can catch up on rest.