🛌 REM & SWS are vital for recovery, health and longevity
Did you know there are four stages of sleep that we cycle throughout the night?
We need all four for optimal health, recovery, and performance (mentally and physically).The recommended amount of sleep for adults is 7-8 hours per night.
During those 7-8 hours, we cycle between four stages of sleep to help our bodies recover.
Light Sleep: Transition to deep sleep. You are responsive to your environment during this stage.
Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) or Deep Sleep: Your muscles repair and grow during this stage. It is also when your body produces 95% of its daily supply of growth hormones. When you wake up during this stage, you are groggy!
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep: Your brain is restored during the REM stage. At this time, ideas and skills acquired during the day are cemented as memories. This stage is especially important for athletes learning technical skills. This is when we have our most vivid dreams. Deep and REM are your restorative sleep.
Wake: Wake sleep stage because it is natural to be awake for brief periods many times in the night. It is common to experience as many as 10-20 over the course of a night’s sleep. Have you ever considered tracking your sleep?
What’s really interesting is when you start taking note of what positively and negatively impacts your sleep (food, exercise, alcohol).
Here are a few tips to keep in mind to improve your sleep:
- Limit caffeine intake up to 10 hours before bed
- Limit alcohol consumption
- Daily movement (30-minutes per day)
- Follow the plate method and limit food intake within two hours before bed
- Sleep in a dark and cold environment
- If you struggle with sleep, this could slow your progress to reach your health and wellness goals.
Start to journal and see what dots you can connect between what you eat, your activity throughout the day, and how you sleep. You will be surprised by what you learn as you start to connect the dots for yourself!
