If rest doesn’t come easy for you it is essential that comprehending slumber mechanics and what makes up a good night of rest could help you recognize the issue of what’s keeping you from it. Understanding rest is not so simple because you aren’t necessarily up or asleep. Your body engages in several processes once your head hits the pillow and you shut your eyes that contributes to how deeply or how lightly you will rest.
Drowsiness is the first stage of sleeping and at this time your muscles will go limp, you will feel yourself get weary, and you can no longer keep your eyes open. This stage usually lasts only a few minutes usually between five and ten. Stage two of sleep is a very faint sleep and in this stage both breathing rate plus temperature drop. Your pulse will also lag at this point in the sleep process.
Stages three and four are easily considered “deep sleep” and are certainly where you may have difficulty waking up. You may feel groggy and be unable to adjust quickly but this vital stage in sleep allows the brain to truly “turn off” as your circulation slows, at which point it begins to rejuvenate the body. There is also a heightened level of immune functions during these important stages of rest.
REM sleep is stage five and is known as the dream portion of a good night’s rest. Moving in and out of the REM cycle occurs often so there may be several minutes or hours within the REM. This part of the sleep process is defined by several physical conditions such as various types of breathing that are both shallow and deep. You could also show signs of a quickening of the pulse and blood pressure.
This exact moment in the sleep cycle is designed to assist in the processing of emotions and to help relieve stress with each of the sleep cycles providing a benefit to the person sleeping. People who sleep lightly are trapped in stage two and cannot seem to get to stages three and four where the best benefits of sleep reside. Those who can’t wake up so easily possibly spend a longer period of time in deep sleep and rise quickly upon waking rather than running through each stage.
Sleep stages can become random based upon the amount of each cycle you got the night before so if you spend a long time in deep sleep you might become trapped in a light sleep the next evening. It really balances out over time and you will spend about the same average over time in every stage of sleep. That’s why it is more true that it is impossible to get caught up on sleep but you can catch up on rest.
