Different Stages Of Sleep

Do you know what happens every night when you fall asleep? Did you know that there are five distinct stages of sleep? Our bodies need to progress through all five stages in order to get a good night sleep and to be fully revitalized for the next day. When we first fall asleep, we start with stage 1 and progress from there. Each night, you go back and forth between the stages, without even realizing it. Here are the different stages, and what they do:

Stage 1: This is the beginning of your night of rest. You are just falling asleep, and if someone wakes you up at this stage you probably will think you didn't fall asleep at all. At this stage, your body temperature starts to fall, your muscles start to relax, and your heart rate starts to slow down. You will be in this stage for only about five to ten minutes.

Stage 2: At this stage, you are considered fully asleep. Your body temperature continues to fall, your heart rate continues to slow down, and your muscles are now relaxed. The brain waves slow, and eye movements stop. You will spend 45% - 60% of your sleep in this stage.

Stage 3: This is the start of the deep sleep stage. You are completely relaxed and your brain waves are even slower. They are referred to as delta waves, and are mixed with very small fast waves. In this stage, as well as stage 4, you might sleepwalk, or talk in your sleep. This stage occurs about 40 minutes after you initially fall asleep, and spend about a total of 3-8% of your sleep in this stage.

Stage 4: This is the deepest stage of sleep. There are even more delta brain waves occurring at this stage. There is no muscle movement, and no eye movement either. If you wake during this stage, or stage 3, you will be very groggy and disoriented. You spend about a total of 10-15% of your sleep in this stage.

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep: This is the "busiest" part of sleep. This is the dream stage. In this stage, your heart beats faster, your breathing becomes irregular, and your eyes move back and forth rapidly. About 20-25% of sleep is in this stage.

Over the course of the night, you will cycle through stages 2, 3, 4, and REM sleep about every hour and a half.

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