An irregular sleep cycle impacts your health, productivity, mood, and concentration. Whether it is jet lag, night shift work, or your daily routine, you need enough sleep to stay in tip-top shape. It is evident that you need a better sleep cycle to enjoy a good night’s sleep every day, waking up refreshed and ready to face the day.
Without a better sleep cycle, you are likely to experience sleep disorders resulting from shorter hours of sleep and sleep deprivation. If you don’t get enough sleep, you jeopardize your wakefulness during the day. To achieve a better sleep cycle, you need to understand the stages of sleep.
Stages of sleep
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Many things happen in your body between the time you dive between the sheets and when you crawl out of bed the following morning. Essentially, your body oscillates between the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and the non-REM cycle. The sleep stages begin with the non-REM cycle before entering a period of deep sleep at the REM stage.
During the non-REM sleep, your eyes close, the body temperature drops, and your heart rate slows down in readiness for deep sleep. Then, the non-rapid eye movement light sleep shifts into REM sleep, where you can have intense dreams. Each stage of sleep transitions flawlessly into the other.
How to achieve a better sleep cycle
You need to set your internal clock, also known as the circadian rhythm. This clock determines your time for falling asleep and waking up. You are more likely to fall asleep if your sleep patterns are regular. You could try going to bed and waking up at the same time every day.
Be sure to create the right environment for your sleep schedule to be perfect for sleep. You could dim the lights because the chemical (melatonin) needed to induce sleep is produced in dark conditions.
You may also consider consulting the National Sleep Foundation if you suffer severe sleep deprivation. This problem is rampant in this era of the Covid-19 pandemic because the deadly virus has caused widespread panic among people. But you can also conduct a personal sleep study to find alternative ways of enjoying better sleep. Study the rem periods to determine the best sleep time for you to set your wake cycle.
Having a good sleep relaxes your muscle activity and boosts the immune system. To achieve total sleep with no interference in the sleep phases, you need to ensure the different stages of sleep, from the first stage to the last, come naturally.
If you are struggling with sleep deprivation, or need to get more information on sleep cycles, kindly seek out assistence. It’s never been easier to correct the issue of getting a better night’s sleep.
