Many studies show that sleep is a natural and vital component of our wakeful period. It is a period during which the body and brain restore energy, heal and get ready to face the next day. Rest and good sleep cycle are typically overlooked activities and most individuals do not understand how crucial they are. In this article, the author will address factors concerning the sleep-wake cycle, importance of quality sleep, how best to regulate the sleep-wake cycle as well as some strategies to enhance sleep quality. In this article, you are going to learn about sleep importance and how to obtain the right sleep rhythms.
Understanding Sleep Cycles
Sleep cycles are a group of stages that happen one after the other, and each stage is meant to help your body in some way or the other to be healthy. A normal sleep cycle consists of five stages: It is comprised of four major NREM stages and one REM stage. These cycles normally take between 90 and 120 minutes and occur more than once during the night in humans.
Stage 1: NREM Sleep
The first stage is typically a light stage that occurs as soon that an individual falls asleep. At this point, your body shifts from waking to sleeping and muscles start getting tired and begin to relax. During this stage you might realize that you have been twitching by having muscles that have jerked during hypnic jerks. It occurs after a few minutes and is really part of a nREM between wakefulness and sleep.
Stage 2: NREM Sleep
Stage 2 is clear from stage 1, but is still categorised as still NREM sleep, during which the pulse and body temperature are steadied and the pulse rate slows. During this stage the brain waves are somewhat slower however they do show periods of increase in the form of Sleep spindles. These sleep spindles enable you to not easily be waken up from sleep that is from the sleep state. It normally takes about 20 minutes and takes roughly half of the total sleep time.
Stage 3: NREM Sleep
Third Stage is also in NREM and the final stage of this state too is known as deep sleep or slow wave sleep. This is the stage when your body remodels tissues, builds bones and muscles, and immune system is developed. Your heartbeat slows, your breathing becomes even shallower, and your muscles become even more limp. This is perhaps the most difficult stage to try and wake the other person up because they will be groggy, and wholly out of it. The activity of this stage makes up 12-20% of the total sleep time.
Stage 4: REM Sleep
It is from all of these stages of human and animal sleep that REM is most intense and ASMs are most active and dreaming is most common. Your eyes may also move rapidly in different directions at the same time, your heart rate and blood pressure rise and you begin to breathe heavily. This is the final developing stage of memories and regulation of emotions. REM sleep is regarded as a part of sleep cycle and makes up about 5-20% of total time, and during a night, the first REM phase occurs in 90-120 min.
The Need for sound sleep
A sound sleep is very vital in the physique and psychological well-being of any person. Some benefits of restful sleep include:
1. Better ability to recall information or to solve complex problems
2. Boosted immune system
3. Increased level of stress and anxiety.
4. Stability of mood and state of emotions
5. Improved heart health status and body weight
6. Higher physical improvement and functioning in sports
7. Enhanced thinking cap and solving skills
Staying Awake and Asleep at the Right Time
It is important always to maintain a good sleep schedule in order to get the best results. Forcing oneself into following a daily regimen in which a person goes to bed and wakes up at the same time every day including weekends will help to maintain a body circadian rhythm and thus sleep easily and wake naturally in the morning you want. You should also set some time to go to bed because it helps the body understand that it is time to sleep. The routine for this may be reading a book, bathing or some relaxing exercises like meditation or deep breathing.
The Conditions to Establish an Environment conducive for Getting Good Sleep
It is crucial to build the right sleep environment in order to gain a good quality of rest. Here are some tips for creating a sleep-friendly environment:
1. Try to make a bedroom cool, dark, and quiet
2. Accommodations; A good mattress, strong and comfy pillows, quality bed linen
3. One can use Black Out curtain or an eye mask to avoid bright light.
4. White noise generators or silicon ear plugs can be put to use to block noise.
5. Do not use technologies such as phones, tablets or computer at least 1 hour before going to sleep.
6. Pets and clutter must not be allowed in the bedroom or baby’s nursery, or wherever the child sleeps.
Improving Sleep Quality
If you’re having trouble falling or staying asleep, there are several things you can do to improve sleep quality:
1. Exercise, but not within the later half an hour before sleeping.
2. Complete avoidance of Caffeine and Alcohol or avoiding it in the evening before going to bed
3. Don’t fill up before bed or go to bed.
4. Some are deep breathing, meditation and other types of relaxation.
5. Do not use screens and bright lights in the evening
6. You could try taking in melatonin supplements, or natural sleep promoting substances such as chamomile tea, or valerian root.
7. If you still have sleeping problems, it is better to ask a doctor.
Conclusion
Good health status of physical, psychological and social aspects are very much dependent on sleep and rest. Learning about sleep cycles, or actually developing standard sleeping habits, or even the environment you will likely sleep in, can actually be used as factors which will help to improve the quality of sleep. This means that it is possible to finally create proper sleep routines that will last a lifetime and improve the population’s health.
