During the past year, many people have experienced a decrease in the quality of their sleep, as the global pandemic has made getting a restful night’s sleep more difficult for everyone. The crisis has given people more stress, increased anxiety, and ultimately affected their physical and mental health.

It’s known that adults need about seven to nine hours of sleep every night, but besides the number of hours you sleep, your quality of rest is equally as important.

Your body goes through several stages during your sleep cycle. For example, to feel more refreshed the next day, your body needs to go through deep sleep. On the other hand, REM or rapid eye movement sleep, activates your brain even at rest, promoting dreams and learning.

If you think that recently you haven’t been getting enough sleep or rest, you should speak with sleep specialists to help you come up with techniques to improve your sleeping habits and fix your sleeping cycle.

Are you curious about the sleeping cycle? What deep sleep is and how it can affect your body? Keep reading. We’ve covered all the sleeping basics for you. Don’t fall asleep just yet—stick around to find out!

What Are the Stages of Sleep and When Does Deep Sleep Happen?

Before we dive into the stages of sleep, you should know that there are two categories of sleep: REM and non-REM. At the beginning of your sleep, you experience non-REM and slowly move towards REM sleep, which is usually only a brief period. This cycle will often continue for every 90 minutes.

Non-REM Sleep Stage

The first stage of non-REM typically lasts for several minutes as you transition from being awake to falling asleep.

• Stage 1 of Non-REM

In this stage, your heartbeat, respiration, and eye movements begin to slow down. With that, your muscles also relax, experiencing only a few twitches and your brain move away from a wakeful state.

Sleep specialists recommended that at this stage, you start to actively put your body in a calmer state so you can quickly fall asleep and move to the next stage of the cycle.

• Stage 2 of Non-REM

When you reach stage 2, your body continues to slow down and relax, allowing your core temperature to drop and eye movements to stop. In this stage as well, your brain waves slow down, only giving you tiny bursts of activity.

• Stage 3 and 4 of Non-REM

During these stages, you experience deep sleep. Your heartbeat and breathing become slow, allowing your body to completely let go and relax, ultimately decreasing brain activity. This is why when you reach this stage, it may be difficult for you to wake up.

REM Sleep Stage

Once you’ve reached the first stage of REM sleep, you’ve reached the 5th stage of the sleep cycle. The REM sleep stage often occurs about 90 minutes after you go through the stages of non-REM.

During this stage, you’ll experience rapid eye movement, experience more dreams, increased brain activity, and heart rate, breathing becomes faster, and your limbs may feel paralyzed.

To learn more about deep sleep and what it can do to your body, speak to a sleep specialist in Jacksonville, FL.

Why Is Reaching Deep Sleep Important?

Deep sleep can give you countless benefits, such as the following:

  • Restored energy
  • Improved cell regeneration
  • Increased blood supply to the muscles
  • Promotes growth and repair of bones and tissues
  • Strengthens your immune system
  • Supports short-term and long-term memory
  • Boosts overall learning

What Are the Effects of Not Getting Enough Deep Sleep?

When you don’t get enough quality sleep, you put yourself at risk for certain health conditions, like:

  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Diabetes
  • Heart disease
  • Stroke

Some deep sleep disorders are the following:

  • Sleepwalking
  • Night terrors
  • Sleep eating
  • Bedwetting

Get Help to Improve the Quality of Your Sleep

Getting enough sleep is necessary to help you get through the busiest of days and to improve the quality of your life. Without quality sleep, your body’s functions will deteriorate and could greatly affect your mental well-being as well.

Because of this, working with professional sleep specialists can help you improve the quality of your sleep and provide you with medically-approved techniques so you can have better rest every night.

Where Can I Find Sleep Specialists in Jacksonville, FL?

You don’t have to deal with low-quality sleep on your own. With the help of sleep specialists in Jacksonville, FL, you’ll understand your sleeping patterns and learn ways to improve their quality.

Jacksonville Sleep Center is the only sleep facility in North Florida with a board-certified sleep physician. If you want to have quality sleep every night, book an appointment with us today!