Understanding and getting a better night’s sleep

We have all had those nights when we can’t switch off from everything that is going on in our lives. During these difficult times, we would like to clarify ‘the stages of sleep’ so you can better understand your sleep pattern and also, provide you with some top tips.

Normally when you sleep, you initially enter the stage called ‘Non-Rapid Eye Movement’ (non-REM), which is ‘light sleep’ that lasts for about 25 minutes.

Following this, you enter what is known as ‘deep sleep’. Deep sleep is the really critical part of your sleep where your body repairs itself, restores energy, and releases hormones – all the good stuff!

Finally, you enter the first ‘rapid eye movement’ (REM) stage of your sleep about 90 minutes after going to bed. This is the part of your sleep when you typically dream. REM sleep is thought to be involved in the process of storing memories, learning and balancing your mood.

Because your sleep cycle repeats (normally in 90-minute cycles), you enter REM sleep several times during the night. The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes. After that, each REM stages gets longer and longer, with the final one potentially lasting up to an hour.

Most people need between 7-9 hours a night to ensure that they are not compromising on the quality of sleep and are completing enough sleep cycles.

Several factors can affect your sleep quality, usually by reducing the amount of deep and REM sleep we experience.

This leads to us waking up feeling exhausted. There are a number of sleep tips we can follow to prevent the quality of our sleep being compromised.

Below are some top tips to sleep better

We all know that when we haven’t had a great night’s sleep our mood can massively be impaired. Have a go at the top tips that have been provided, maybe keep a sleep dairy to identify any patterns, or maybe download some of the following free apps (can be download on iPhone and android)

Relax Melodies

Sleep cycle

Recolour

Sleep time

Relax & sleep well