We’ve all experienced the problem of not sleeping well. It leaves you feeling irritable, sad, and exhausted. Not only that but sleep deprivation can make you feel hungrier than usual during the day too because of the effect it has on your hormones. In addition to these short term effects, chronic bad sleep can cause high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and worsen any existing mental health issues. Our bodies need sleep as it’s a chance to repair, transfer memories into long term memory storage, synthesize hormones, and grow and repair muscles. Now that you know how important it is to sleep soundly every night, let’s look at sleep cycle stages to help you get more z’s.
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What are the Sleep Cycle Stages?
It’s usually not as simple as drifting off to sleep soundly and then waking up again in the morning. There are actually different kinds and stages of sleep that have various functions on the body and brain. That explains how you can go to sleep some nights and wake up still feeling tired.
Light sleep is one of the sleep cycle stages. It accounts for the majority of sleep gained in the night and is responsible for processing memories and emotions. It’s here that the metabolism regulates too.
The next of the sleep cycle stages is deep sleep. Most of the deep sleep we get occurs early on in the night. When you sleep soundly in this sleep stage, your body secretes growth hormone to help rebuild your body’s cells and strengthen the immune system. You don’t dream during this stage; its main focus is on the body.
On the flip side, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is very much about the brain. It’s at this stage that your brain is very active, and you begin to dream. The body is paralyzed during this sleep stage to essentially stop you from “acting out” your dreams.
You usually get longer periods of REM sleep later in the night close to the morning, which explains why you’re more likely to experience bad dreams the closer you are to waking up for the day. Fitness trackers are a great way to find out exactly how much of each of the sleep cycle stages you get night after night. Since your heart rate changes during each stage, it’s easy for fitness trackers to determine and present the information to you in easy-to-read graphs.
Want to Sleep Soundly? Increase Comfort
A large part of our day (and life in general) is laying down to sleep. So, if you’re laying in an uncomfortable position on an unsuitable surface, it can cause your body some issues, including pain to the:
- Neck
- Back
- Shoulders
- Hips
Therefore, it’s essential to spend time choosing a good mattress for you. Experts recommend replacing a mattress every 7-10 years as after that they can wear out. At that point they probably won’t provide proper support for your body, which can mean waking up with aches and pains the next morning. The key is finding a quality mattress like Sweetnight that’s firm enough to support your body but not so firm it causes paint to pressure points.
Enjoy Deep Sleep – Get the Rest You Need
Your duvet and pillows can also be a reason why you’re not sleeping well. Both of these things have dust mites, and set off allergies and respiratory problems at night.
If you haven’t replaced them in a while, throw them away and buy good anti-allergenic ones. Soft sheets will finish everything off and give you the ultimate in comfort to help you sleep soundly.
Choose good quality sheets with a high thread count that feels soft to the touch. Blends including materials like polyester won’t be as breathable as cotton and could make you sweat in the night. Finally, what you’re wearing to bed can make all the difference too.
Soft, comfortable cotton or bamboo pajamas are a good choice. They’re cozy, breathable, and keep you warm in wintertime as well as cool in the summer.
Schedule Z’s to Sleep Soundly
Lastly, sticking to a good sleep schedule is one of the best things for your body and mind. This involves going to bed and getting up at the same time every day. That’s regardless of whether it’s the weekend or not.
Combine a commitment to maintaining that sleep schedule with your new knowledge of sleep cycle stages to help you to fall asleep quickly and stay asleep throughout the night. Then wake up feeling refreshed as you get out of bed in the morning, feeling like you’ve had enough Z’s.
I can relate on this! Thank you for sharing your tips. I think I might need to have my mattress changed since its now giving me the back pains…
Achieving meaningful/good sleep could be more difficult to achieve because of what’s happening around us. Also, another factor would be the sudden prevalence of work from home arrangements. This decreases people’s physical activity, which also affects sleep.
I suffered a bad case of sleep deprivation due to my erratic sleep-wake cycle. Good thing, with some research and tons of determination, I was able to make it. :)
There are so many consequences of not getting enough sleep, and it sounds like you’ve experienced some of them. Being self-aware is important for understanding the toll tiredness takes on the body. Wishing you many great sleeps ahead, particularly if you get a new mattress to ease the back pain.
Irregular sleeping patterns, poor sleeping patterns and insomnia can definitely have an impact on how we function and perform and it definitely has a significant impact on our mental health. I think that this blog post was very important because most of the time people don’t prioritise sleep and a proper sleeping routine. It’s important for us to realise that sleep is important and that we should start prioritising it and developing good sleep habits. I am currently raising awareness on creating mentally healthy workplaces and have written a post on how sleep is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Not only will getting a good night’s rest help you perform better at work but maintaining a good sleeping pattern is beneficial to your mental health.
Love this post! Here at FEM, we think that a fitness tracker is a great way to keep you motivated and track things like sleep schedules! Check out our guide for shopping for one if you’re interested.
Great advice
Very informative. Thank you!
🌼☕
Great to hear!
Getting a sleep number bed helped my husband and me tremendously with getting better sleep. We also both sometimes take melatonin, a non-addictive herbal supplement you can buy in any vitamin section of a grocery store, before bed. It helps you fall asleep and stay asleep more deeply.
Hi Amy, yes melatonin can be helpful! I like that it’s not addictive, as you mention. Great to hear that you’ve invested in a quality bed ~ Cheers to great sleep this weekend :)
Sound advice Christy. And I’ll admit I’m guilty not getting enough Z’s. I better pay attention. :) xo
Sometimes it’s hard to turn off the mind so I totally get that, Debby ~ Thanks for being here xo
Inbred since childhood with me Christy. <3
Ohhh <3 Sending love!
<3 <3
Happy Friday! xx
Happy weekend! <3
Sound sleep advice!
Sleep is hard to do well. This is extremely helpful blog – thanks.
I hope you get a good rest soon, Mary xx
Sleep is so important to our physical and mental well-being. If I lose an hour of sleep it makes a noticeable difference to me. Great sleep hygiene tips!
Good advice. When I was in my 30s and 40s, I never understood why ‘sleep’ would be a problem – it was easy! But after that, it’s been a battle. So hormones, for sure, give women a problem. Also, as my guy ages, he snores more, and that wakes me up often. I try the breathing, breathing, breathing, and that helps. xo
Eversince I started following a sleep schedule, I wake up feeling fresh every morning. Amazing post
So glad to hear you’re enjoying good sleep quality <3
So true! I spent as much money as I could for the best bed, bedding, pillows, etc. We spend more time in our bed than any place else! Stress is probably my number one issue with not getting a good nights sleep… :-(
This is some great advice . I feel like you know exactly what to post each day and it’s just for me most days lol
That’s a beautiful compliment, my friend!
Being on a sleep schedule is one of the things that has helped me the most! Consistency is key. It’s also really helpful to wear a sleep mask on the weekends, so that my body doesn’t always wake me up as soon as the sun is up!
Susie
Good advice, once again, Christy. Hugs.
Good advice. A good night’s sleep is really important to physical and mental health. Cheers!
Cheers to quality sleep :D
I bought a new mattress. It is totally dope! I’m sleeping like a dream while dreaming.
I am most fortunate, Christy, I never battle to sleep. I can sleep anywhere.
I also have noted that I get better sleep if I have had good exercise during the day. I’m tired and ready for bed!
Yes, I find that too! My body is exhausted hehe ;)
i rarely get a good night’s sleep, or even enough hours of it. more often than not, i wake up tired, more so than when i did before i’d gone to bed.
Hi Christy,
great tips.I was sleeping very badly earlier.I was very tired after awakening .Then I started to breathe deeper and I must say that my whole life has changed, and with that my sleep. I have more energy, and now I need couple hours of sleep (4-5) to fully recover
Ben, I’m pleased that you found the solution to your sleep problem. Only once you achieve quality sleep can you then perform at your best.. and continue to bring us those fine blog posts :)
Some great advice – and an interesting note on the fitness trackers as I’d never really considered them for monitoring sleep (though I’m now really curious as to how effective they are, and what awful things they’ll say about the odd hours I get here and there lately..!)
Caz x