![]() Light sleep happens during stages 1 and 2, and deep sleep happens during stage 3.Īs we’ve seen above, all the stages of sleep are essential as they work together in a cycle, enabling our body to rest and recover during the night fully. When we talk about light and deep sleep, we mean NREM sleep stages. So, as an adult, it’s essential to get at least seven to nine hours of sleep each night to enhance our REM time. However, if we don’t get a whole night’s sleep, then we are more likely to miss out on the sleep cycles with longer REM stages. This is why you’ll often remember your dreams more clearly if you have had a long, uninterrupted night of sleep.Īs we have multiple intervals throughout the night, each with varying lengths, it isn’t easy to quantify precisely how much REM sleep we require. We usually have our longest stretch of REM sleep in the morning, just before waking. How much REM sleep should I get each night?Īs mentioned, REM sleep starts out in short periods and then becomes progressively longer. ![]() R: only 1 to 5 minutes in the initial sleep cycle but lengthens with each successive cycle.N3: 20 to 40 minutes in our initial sleep cycle and makes up about 15-25% of our overall night of sleep.N2: 10 to 25 minutes in the initial sleep cycle and lengthens with each successive cycle, eventually constituting between 45-55% of our overall night of sleep.N1: 1 to 7 minutes in our initial sleep cycle, constituting 5-10% of our overall night of sleep.Here is how long each sleep stage is for adults: So, by the time you reach the early hours of the morning, you will mainly be alternating between the N2 and R stages of sleep.ĭuring each sleep cycle, the body experiences each sleep stage for differing lengths, depending on how long you have been at rest. Throughout the night, each sleep cycle is different, with most deep sleep occurring in the first half of the night and most REM sleep occurring in the last half (if enough sleep occurs). So, if you sleep for eight hours a night, your body will complete multiple sleep cycles, repeating until you wake. How long is a sleep cycle?Īll the above sleep stages combine to form a whole sleep cycle, generally lasting around 90 to 110 minutes. REM sleep is vital for our memory and emotional regulation, as our brain is processing and clearing what we no longer need. It is the type of sleep associated with vivid dreaming and a kind of sleep paralysis when our muscles lose their ability to move to stop us from acting out our dreams (so this is not the stage when people sleepwalk, for example). Stage R is REM sleep which, as the name suggests, is when our body experiences bursts of rapid eye movement and brain activity, in a surprisingly similar way to how our body behaves when we are awake. During this stage, the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle and strengthens the immune system. It is very difficult for us to wake up during stage 3. ![]()
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