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Complete Sleep Cycle Stages

It takes 70-90 minutes to move through the 5 stages of the sleep cycle.  An average adult will experience 4-6 full cycles every night.  At the end of each cycle, we almost awake fully before beginning the 5-stage cycle again.

stage 1 of sleep stage 2 of sleep stage 3 of sleep stage 4 of sleep stage 5 of sleep
light sleepAdults spend 4-5% of sleep time in Light Sleep.  Drifting in and out.  Very slow eye/muscle activity.  If awakened brain may remember images or feel the sensation of falling. Restorative SleepAdults spend 44-55% of sleep time in Restorative Sleep.  Breathing and heart rate slow.  Very little brain activity.  No muscle or eye activity.  Slight drop in body temperature. Deep SleepAdults spend 4-6% of sleep time in Deep Sleep.  No muscle or eye activity.  Brain activity is very slow.  The most restorative stage of the cycle. Very Deep SleepAdults spend 12-15% of sleep time in Very Deep Sleep.  Stage is also restorative.  No muscle or eye activity.  Rhythmic breathing.  If awakened, you feel groggy or disoriented.  Body breaks down proteins and produces more cells. REM SleepAdults spend 20-25% of sleep in REM Sleep.  "Rapid Eye Movement."  Muscles relax, heart rate increases.  Breathing is rapid and slow.  Brainwaves speed up and are similar to waking hours.  Stage where dreams occur.
sleep study
Dreaming has beneficial and necessary effect.  Research has led to the theory that we integrate what we learned during the day with what we already know, while we sleep.  In the 1950's, experiments were done that involved waking people when they entered REM sleep.  Otherwise, they were allowed to sleep as much as they wanted.  The next night, their number of REM periods increased, as if to make up for the lost time.  They became irritable, less coherent in speech and slower in reaction time.  Those who were deprived of REM sleep, but otherwise allowed to sleep, closely resembled those who were overall sleep deprived.  After several days of deprivation, both sets of deprived subjects started hallucinating.  In essence, they started to dream while awake.  Dreaming is possibly the most important part of sleep.artery cross section

DID YOU KNOW...?
A new five-year study found that getting more sleep can reduce calcium deposits found in the arteries.  Specifically, those who get one extra hour of sleep at night were less likely to have artery-stiffening calcium deposits.

SNOOZE or LOSE!

Sleep stages 3, 4 and 5 are the most important.  Scientists studied the health of sleep-deprived rats to determine the effect of insomnia on humans.  They found that when deprived of REM sleep, rats that normally live two years, died in five weeks.  When deprived of all sleep, they died in just three weeks.