Healthy Sleep Cycle: How to Restore It?

(Image credit to shutterstock)

There are now a lot of factors that can disturb the cycle of your sleep. In this modern living, it’s important to keep your productivity. But sometimes, your tight schedule will put you at high risk of having lack of sleep. This can be the start for your sleep cycle to become irregular. So, how to restore and get back your healthy sleep cycle?

Before continuing, you might also like to read the previous articles about facts /myths of sleep apnea (a kind of sleep disorder) and ideas to stop snoring naturally!

If you seriously want to keep your productivity, your sleep cycle is one of the most crucial things you need to concern. In fact, the quality of your sleep can influence a lot of things – such as your emotional balance, physical vitality, productivity, and the power on how you think. Even it also can directly affect your weight.

How many hours you should sleep per day?

Some studies report that most adults sleeps about 7 hours or less /night. It sounds good for the fast-paced society. But in fact, it can be a trigger of chronic sleep deprivation – according a report from NIH (the National Institutes of Health).

The requirements of sleep are slightly different from person to person, but most adults (healthy adults) should sleep about 7.5 – 9 hours /night in order to function at their best. Kids and teens require even more.

Although the requirement of sleep decreases with the age, but elderly people still require at least 7.5 – 8 hours /night. Since many older adults often experience problem sleeping at night, daytime naps are recommended to fill in the gap.

See the table below for the average requirement of sleep for different groups of age:

(Table source /credit to helpguide.org)

Signs /symptoms that may occur if you have lack of sleep

Sometimes, we probably have no idea to get to know about how much lack of sleep is affecting our body. But there are some signs that may indicate you are being in sleep deprivation, these include:

1. On weekends, you feel the need to get more hours of sleep.
2. To get through the day, you need to nap!
3. In lectures or meeting you get sleepy.
4. In the morning, you have a hard time getting out of your bed.
5. You fall asleep only within 5 minutes or less of going to bed.
6. When driving or after meals (particularly heavy meals), you often get drowsy.
7. In the afternoon, you easily feel sluggish.
8. In the evening, particularly when relaxing or watching TV you fall asleep easily.
9. To get wake up on time, you often need to use an alarm clock.
10. Etc.

What are bad effects from lack of sleep?

As mentioned before, there are many problems that can be caused by poor sleep, particularly if you experience it more frequently (chronic) in long term – these may include: 

1. You are at higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, or other health conditions.
2. Memory problems, lack of concentration, impaired motor skills, which then will put you at high risk of accidents. 
3. Decreased ability to cope with your stress.
4. Irritability or mood changes.
5. Difficulty to find /make a decision. You may also experience decreased problem-solving skills and creativity.
6. Decreased immunity, so thus you are more likely to have frequent infections, colds, etc.
7. You are also more likely to eat more than usual which then put you at high risk of weight gain or obesity.
8. Lack of motivation, lethargy, and easy to get fatigue.
9. Etc.

Understanding sleep cycle, deep sleep, and REM!

While you rest, this doesn’t mean your brain and body shut off. Brain keeps busy for a wide variety of different biological maintenance functions – this is important to prepare your body at top condition for day ahead. Therefore, you cannot get through the day optimally with poor hours of sleep.

However, don’t only focus to the number of hours – you need also concern to the quality of your sleep. If we have plenty of time for sleep but still have hard time waking up in the morning, then you should ask to yourself about the quality of your sleep.

Sleep cycle (your internal 24-hour clock cycle)

It is also often called as circadian rhythm /biological clock. Your wake-sleep cycle is maintained by the brain with a special process to respond how many hours you have been awake and the changes between ‘dark & night’.

1. During the day, the brain is more likely to restrict the release of melatonin (a kind of hormone that will make you fall asleep) so thus you are more likely to feel alert & awake. The inhabitation of this hormone is triggered by the light of sunlight.
2. At night, the brain and body respond to the decreased daylight by making more melatonin which then will trigger you to feel sleepy.

In this modern living, there are many factors and causes that can disturb this cycle – such as; sleepy at uncomfortable times, taking a trip that across time zones, having nightshift work schedule, etc.   

Deep sleep

The most worrying effect from lack of sleep is inadequate time for deep sleep /day. As the name implies, deep means the time of the deepest sleep when the body optimally builds up energy and repairs itself for the day ahead.

More hours of deep sleep that you have is equivalent to the quality of your sleep. Before falling into deep sleep (stage N3), you usually need to pass two previous stages, these include:

1. N1! This stage is called a transition stage of sleep. It usually lasts 5 minutes. During this period, muscle activity begins to slow down, and the movement of eyes under eyelids begins to move slowly - but you still get easily to wake up.
2. N2 – or often called ‘light stage of sleep’ (it may last about ten to twenty five minutes)! N2 is the first level of your true sleep. During this period - there is no movement of your eyes, the rate of your heart beats go slow, and the temperature of your body also decreases.
3. And N3 (deep sleep)! During this period, blood is more likely to flow to the muscles than to the brain in order to restore more physical energy for the day ahead. The brain wave also extremely decreases to slow. In this stage, we are not easy to awaken. But if we are awakened, we usually feel disoriented /groggy for several minutes and therefore we will not be able to adjust immediately. 

REM (dream sleep)

REM is type of sleep when dreaming occurs. You usually enter the stage of REM for about 70-90 minutes after falling asleep. In this period, blood pressure and heart rate increases – and even your eyes can move rapidly. 

However, sometimes dreaming when you sleep is also useful for your body. Experts believe that REM sleep can renew the mind. Even it may give a significant contribution in learning & memory. With REM sleep, the brain can process and consolidate the information that you have got during the day. It also plays a key role in strengthening memory and even can help boost the mood.

So, how to get back and restore your sleep cycle?

The following are some helpful tips:

1. Since the elevated blood sugar can cause problems associated with sleep cycle, it’s important to keep and maintain your blood sugar level. Therefore, it’s much better to stay away from heavily processed foods and highly refined foods – healthy diet with fresh fruits and vegetables is more recommended!
2. Avoid eating about 12 hours before the time that you plan to wake up - but a cup of herbal tea before bedtime is not bad idea. This is aimed to signal to your body that you are ready for a rest.
3. Consistency is the key - try to sleep for at least about 7.5 hours every night! Even in the weekends or holidays, avoid sleeping longer than usual because it can disturb the consistency of sleep cycle that you have!
4. Daytime naps are great for your health, but remember don’t do it too long (25-40 minutes is enough)!
5. If you have a long-term sleep debt, 1-2 weeks of sleep vacation is great idea. This will help restore your sleep cycle. You can restart your behavior of when you should sleep and when you should awake naturally without needing any sign of a clock alarm.
6. Practice other therapies that can help you to reach the goal! Meditation, belly breathing, and yoga are good choices. These therapies are not only great to help restore your sleep cycle but also nice choice to control your stress.
7. Redecorate your bedroom if necessary! Make sure you get the most comfortable place when you sleep. There are many elements of your room that you can explore. Just search on Google or Bing with keyword ‘redecorating bedroom for a good night’s sleep’ then you will find a lot of tips that you’re looking for.
8. Put the priority of your sleep cycle on top! If you have a lot of activities, don’t forget to schedule adequate time for sleep. 
9. You may also need to take some supplements to restore your biological clock. If you need them, ask your doctor for best advice and more tips!