What is good sleep?
Good sleep is restful and uninterrupted. Your muscles are relaxed. Your body rearranges itself once or twice each hour so your blood circulates. You go through the five sleep stages several times. You spend at least two hours dreaming, during which your brain tries to make sense of random thoughts and brain signals. Your body’s cells produce and store proteins to renew and restore all of your systems. What are the stages of sleep? • Stage 1 (10%) It’s easy to be awakened from stage 1 sleep. You may experience slight muscle contractions that give you the sensation of falling. • Stage 2 (45-50%) Brain waves slow down, body temperature drops, breathing and heart rate remain constant. • Stages 3 and 4 (20%) You enter deep sleep. Your brain waves change from the waking alpha and beta waves to slower theta and delta waves. It is hardest to wake you up. Your blood pressure drops and your breathing slows. • REM (rapid eye movement) (20-25%) Your heart rate increases, your blood pressure rises,
