Getting enough quality sleep is crucial for so many reasons—it slows down the aging process, lowers anxiety levels, boosts our mood, helps us maintain a healthy weight and much more. 

 

But what is actually going on during the night?  You may be surprised to learn that your brain doesn’t shut down during sleep.  It is working in overdrive.

 

If you are not getting enough sleep (The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults 18 to 64 get 7 to 9 hours per night), you may be missing out on essential restorative time that helps you look, feel and think better. 

 

Here’s what our bodies are doing while we are sleeping, why these stages of sleep are important and how to get more of it.

 

SPECIFIC STAGES OF SLEEP

 

• The NREM (Non- rapid eye movement) phase that has 4 stages going from light sleep to deep sleep and lasts for 90 minutes. This phase helps the body to regenerate.

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• The REM (Rapid eye movement) phase, also known as the dream sleep, helps us to deal with events and emotions endured during the day. 

 

During the N3 stage of sleep (also known as stages three and four), we are in the deepest and most restorative stage of sleep. During this time, our muscles are relaxed, our breathing is slower, our tissues grow and repair and our energy is restored. During this stage, our body relaxes.

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You may have noticed you have trouble remembering things or concentrating at work after a restless night—you’re not imagining it. Research shows that sleep is crucial for storing memories, though scientists don’t fully understand how yet. Even more, it appears that different phases of sleep contribute to different types of memory.

 

Take, for example, episodic memory, which is memory of specific events and times. It seems that NREM sleep is when we integrate new memories into past memories, while the REM stage helps us retain all those memories.  Semantic memories (facts, basically) are stored during N2 and REM sleep—so a nap or good night’s sleep really can help us learn — while new motor skills are consolidated during REM.

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We progress through each stage and then repeat the cycle throughout the night.  However, a person does not feel rested even if they slept for 8 hours, if the cycle is interrupted:  When the person wakes up in the moment of the NREM deep sleep phase, they will not feel as if they have had a good night’s rest.

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If you’re tossing and turning throughout the night, it’s likely you won’t make it through a complete sleep cycle or if you do, it’s probably not going to be good quality sleep.  Practicing healthy sleep habits can help you get enough of these memory-boosting stages of sleep.

 

WHAT IS DREAMING ALL ABOUT?

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Ever wondered when or how you dream crazy storylines?  

 

We dream during the REM part of the sleep cycle but even though sleep experts aren’t completely sure why we dream, there are some theories.  One theory is that dreaming can help encourage creativity. Another theory with mounting evidence is that dreaming helps you preserve memories from the day.  So, it makes sense that you may have had a dream that included a very weird rendition of something going on at work or home or what you watched on TV before

going to bed.

 

Most people have about four to six dreams per night but it’s unlikely you’re going to remember all of them.  You will probably recall bits and pieces of the dream that was closest to your wake time.

 

OUR TOP SLEEP TIPS

 

• Power down your electronics a few hours before bedtime

• Avoid naps during the day

• Get some exercise and fresh air 

• Keep a consistent sleep schedule, even on the weekends (remember that your wake-up time is even more important than your bedtime so, keep it consistent)

• Stop consuming caffeine by 2pm

• Stop consuming alcohol three hours before lights out

• Get 15 minutes of sunlight each morning

• Keep the bedroom cool

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If you’re having trouble sleeping, whether it’s insomnia, sleep apnea, broken sleep patterns or just feeling shattered in the morning, why not contact Mind Solutions to talk through your issues and allow us to help you get a better night’s sleep!!  One of the most common complaints about hypnosis is that it makes our clients fall asleep – not a problem anyone with sleep issues would complain about!