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To do its best and stay healthy, the human body needs an adequate amount of sleep. For some people, just a few hours are enough, while others cannot spend enough time in bed. But what really matters for a good night's sleep?
Every night we go through several sleep cycles. Each of these cycles lasts approximately 90 (+/- 20) minutes. After falling asleep, a light sleep begins first, which gradually becomes deeper and after a while transitions into actual deep sleep. This is when the body regenerates best. However, the deep sleep phase only lasts 15-25% of the length of a sleep cycle. After this, the so-called REM phase of sleep (or REM sleep) begins, the dream phase, in which we are on the border between sleeping and waking up. This phase completes the first sleep cycle.
The following sleep cycles follow the same pattern. We usually go through four to six such cycles in one night.
After two cycles (three hours of sleep), your body has already had enough deep sleep. In the subsequent cycles, the proportion of light sleep and REM sleep (dream phase) increases more and more. You do not need to worry at all if you temporarily wake up after a sleep cycle. Short periods of waking up at night are completely normal and can occur occasionally, often in accordance with the length of the sleep cycles after around one and a half hours as well as after approx. 3 – 4,5 – 6 and 7,5 hours of sleep.
How many sleep cycles do you want to go through in your night's sleep? If you add the time you usually need to fall asleep, this can be easily determined. For example, if you want to get five cycles of sleep and need around 30 minutes to fall asleep, you should expect eight hours of night sleep: 5 x 1,5 hours (= 90 minutes per sleep cycle) = 7,5 hours + 0,5 hours to fall asleep results in eight hours of night rest. Set your alarm clock accordingly.
It is much easier to wake up after a completed sleep cycle than in the middle of it. The extra sleep time you gain by briefly dipping into a new sleep cycle brings you hardly any additional gain in strength.
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