It’s time for your Sleep Challenge! Your mission is to get 7 to 9 hours of sleep. Try this every night for the next 5 nights.
Ideal Sleep
We all need sleep! It keeps our minds sharp, helps us manage our blood sugar, and boosts our immune systems. While everybody is unique, experts typically recommend a solid 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night.
But it’s not just about how long you sleep that’s important. The quality of your sleep is crucial to a working body and mind. Let’s explore a little more.
Sleep Cycles
There’s a natural rhythm to sleep. The key is to let that rhythm play out and to experience each phase of slumber. Those phases are:
- Phase 1: Introduction to Sleep
- Your eyelids get heavy. Your head nods. Your body relaxes.
- Phase 2: Beginning of Sleep
- You begin to doze off. This may feel like a “half sleep” where you’re not yet dreaming.
- Phase 3: Slow Wave Sleep
- This is when your body rests and recharges. If you were woken from this phase, you would feel groggy and disoriented.
- Phase 4: Rapid Eye Movement (REM)
- While your mind is active and dreaming, your body is paralyzed and still.
These phases all add up to one sleep cycle. Your sleep cycles repeat throughout the night. A full night’s rest of 7 to 9 hours of sleep will give you the chance to get 4 to 5 good quality sleep cycles.