How to Optimize Your Sleep Cycles
Did you know that sleep is one of the most essential things for your health and wellbeing? And apparently, sleep isn’t only about getting the right amount of hours of sleep, it is also about the quality of your sleep.
By optimizing your sleep cycles, you can wake up more refreshed and energized, and ready to take on the day ahead. Here’s how to make the most out of your sleep.
Understanding sleep cycles
For starters, what are sleep cycles? According to mindbodygreen, your body goes through four cycles as you sleep. The last phase of sleep is called REM, which stands for rapid eye movement. Before that, you go through three stages of non-rem, N1, N2 and N3. Together, these four stages make one sleep cycle. A healthy night’s sleep means that you complete these four stages about four to six times per night.
A sleep cycle starts with N1, which is the first stage of light sleep and only lasts a few minutes. This is the stage when your body starts to relax, with your muscles and breathing becoming calm and regular. Next, you go into N2, which is the stage where you start to sleep a bit deeper and both your heartbeat and temperature start to drop.
After that, you go into N3, which is an ever deeper state of sleep. This is an incredibly important stage of sleep, as it is the time when your body’s immune system gets stronger and you build muscle. This is also the most difficult stage to wake up from, and it is not recommended to wake up in this stage.
And finally, you enter REM sleep. Your eyes experience rapid eye movement during this stage, even though they are still, of course, closed. You can experience the most vivid dreams and nightmares at this time, and it is also a time when your memory is taking short term memories and moving them into long term memories.
Making the most of your sleep schedule
Now that you understand the different stages of sleep, how can you go about making the most out of it? How can you use this time to the max and wake up more refreshed and energized? Ideally, you want to wake up at the right time of the sleep cycle, and of course get in as many cycles as possible.
The Sleep Charity organization’s website explains that sleep cycles are about 90 minutes each. So if you calculate backwards, you will be able to know when to go to sleep and when to wake up. For example, if you take into account it will take you approximately 15 minutes to fall asleep and you need to wake up at 7:00 am , five cycles of 90 minutes each brings you to around 11:30 pm. If you want to give yourself more leeway, make sure to be in bed by 11:00 pm.
In addition to calculating your bedtime according to sleep cycles, Healthline recommends that you keep a bedtime routine, getting your body used to the habits and rituals you do before you go to bed. Another thing you can do to sleep better is to get exercise during the day. When you exercise, it helps you regulate your internal clock and it even promotes melatonin production, which is the hormone that helps you fall asleep and helps to regulate your sleep cycle.
Keeping on top of your sleep cycles and using that knowledge to sleep better might seem complicated at first, but you can get used to it.. You can learn to sleep as soundly as a baby and wake up ready to take on the new day in no time.
