Stage N1: This is when you are transitioning into sleep and lasts about five minutes. Your eyes will move slower under your eyelids, and your muscle activity will slow down but you can be easily awakened by a noise or a sound. Stage N2: This is the first stage of true sleep and lasts 10–25 minutes. Your eye movement will stop completely, your heart rate will slow and your body temperature will decrease. Stage N3: This is the beginning of deep sleep, during which you are hard to wake up and if you are woken up, you will often feel groggy or disoriented for a few minutes. In this stage, your brain waves are very slow and blood flow is directed away from your brain to your muscles, which restores physical energy in your body. Stage N4: The final stage of sleep is REM sleep, or dream sleeping. This occurs about 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep. You will likely experience rapid eye movement, shallow breathing, and your heart rate and blood pressure may increase. During this stage, your arms and legs are also paralyzed. Keep in mind that during the night, your sleep follows a pattern, moving back and forth between deep sleep and REM sleep. Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes and repeats four to six times during the night. As the night progresses, the amount of time you spend in each stage changes. Most deep sleep occurs in the first half of the night. Later in the night your REM sleep stages become longer.
Some people think getting just one less hour of sleep won’t affect their daily functioning or that they can make up for lack of sleep on the weekend or a day off, but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. Any changes or shifts in your regular sleep schedule will only have a negative effect on your sleeping habits and could lead to less deep sleep or REM sleep. [3] X Trustworthy Source HelpGuide Nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free, evidence-based mental health and wellness resources. Go to source It’s a myth that your body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules. While most people can reset their biological clock, this can only be done by timed cues, and even then, only by one to two hours per day at best. Keep in mind it can take more than a week for your body’s internal clock to adjust to traveling across several time zones or to switching to the night shift.
Another option is to shut down your computer on a schedule. This will automatically sleep your machine and prevent you from working on your computer too late or too close to your bedtime. There are sleep features on both PCs and Macs that you can activate. As well, if you want your computer to be ready to go in the morning, once you wake up, you can schedule a startup time too.
If you have difficulty sleeping due to loud noises outside your window or a loud sleep partner, consider investing in good earplugs, or a noise machine.
Alcohol also prevents deep sleep and REM sleep. It will keep you in the lighter stages of sleep, causing you to possibly wake up easily and have a harder time falling back asleep. Avoid consuming alcohol several hours before bed to improve your chances of having REM sleep.
Always be consistent with adjustments to your sleep schedule, as you will need to get enough of each stage of sleep, especially deep sleep, to improve your REM sleep. If you do not get enough deep sleep at night, your body may try to make up for it the next night, thereby reducing the amount of REM sleep you experience.
Melatonin is also recommended for the elderly and people who work late shifts at night, as it can help to normalize your sleep cycle and be beneficial for your health overall.
Nasal decongestants. Aspirin and other headache medications. Pain relievers that contain caffeine. Cold and allergy medications containing an antihistamine. Certain diet pills and antidepressants. If you are taking any of these medications, try to reduce your dosage. Or research alternative methods to treat these issues so you can stop taking these over-the-counter medications.
