Every night, your body cycles through four sleep different stages: the phase between wakefulness and sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, and rapid eye movement sleep. The first three stages are classified as non-rapid eye movement (NREM sleep), during which the brain waves and heart rate slow down and your body relaxes.

Of all three NREM stages, the third is the most important for your overall health. This stage is known as slow-wave sleep because it’s when your brain activity is at its lowest. Getting enough deep sleep helps you feel refreshed during the daytime, but it also keeps your immune system strong and is vital for repairing and building bones, muscles, and other tissues.

This article will share some of the benefits of deep sleep and how to know if you need more of it. Then, we’ll dive into expert tips for increasing the amount of deep sleep you get every night! 

Benefits of getting enough deep sleep

All the stages of sleep are beneficial, and although REM sleep gets a lot of attention for its ability to improve learning and memory, deep sleep is just as important. It helps restore your body and keeps you healthy. Take a look at some of the benefits of deep sleep:

Regulates Hormones

Hormones are the body’s chemical messengers, and the right levels of them are essential for optimal function. During slow-wave sleep, your body releases more growth hormones than during other stages. Growth hormone helps children build strong bones and muscles, and in adults, its primary function is regulating the metabolism. This stage is also important for prolactin, a hormone of special importance for pregnant and lactating women.

Muscle Growth

If you’re trying to build muscle, deep sleep can help you reach your fitness goals. Since this stage of sleep is essential for hormonal regulation and the release of human growth hormone, getting plenty of it ensures that the work you do at the gym isn’t in vain. 

Boosts the Immune System

There’s a reason that doctors recommend sleeping more when you’re sick—deep sleep is vital for fighting infections. While the rest of your body is resting and processes slow down, the immune system is hard at work.

Clears Waste Products from the Brain

While you’re in the deep sleep phase, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid increases, helping eliminate toxins that build up while you are awake. This process may reduce your risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Signs you might need more deep sleep

Do you wake up feeling poorly rested, perhaps reaching for the snooze button a few times before finally rolling out of bed? If you aren’t getting enough deep sleep, it may be the cause of your grogginess. These feelings of fogginess may continue into the day, making it hard for you to pay attention or focus on the task at hand.

Unfortunately, this reduced cognitive function may cause your performance to slip at work or school. Insufficient deep sleep may also make you more prone to accidents, reducing reaction time and spatial awareness and causing dizziness.

A poor immune system may also be the result of a lack of deep sleep, so if you keep coming down with colds, it’s a good idea to spend more time sleeping. Insufficient deep sleep often goes hand in hand with sleep deprivation, and over time, it can lead to serious medical conditions, including heart disease, obesity, and high blood pressure.

So, how much deep sleep do you need? Most adults remain in this stage somewhere between 15 and 25 percent of their total time asleep. If you get the recommended 8 hours of sleep, that would be 72 to 125 minutes of deep sleep every night.

Keep in mind that the majority of your deep sleep happens during the first half of the night, during the first few sleep cycles. After that, your deep sleep cycles get shorter and you experience more REM sleep.

Tips for getting more deep sleep

The more sleep you get, the more time you can spend in the deep sleep phase. The following tips can help you improve your sleep hygiene and increase your total sleep time every night.

Go to bed on time

If you struggle to get enough deep sleep, a bedtime routine you follow at the same time every day may help. Not only does it prevent you from staying up late, but having a regular sleep schedule also helps regulate your circadian rhythm.

Going to be early may be difficult at first, but over time, as you get used to it, you’ll find it easier to slip into a deep sleep when it’s time to go to bed. In the meantime, avoiding naps can help you feel sleepier at night.

Limit caffeine and alcohol

That afternoon cup of coffee or glass of wine at the end of the day may be interfering with the quality of your sleep, preventing you from getting as much deep sleep as you could. Your best bet is to keep your caffeine intake to a minimum and avoid it completely after lunch. And although alcohol may induce sleepiness, it doesn’t lead to better sleep. As the effects of alcohol wear off, you spend more time in the light stages of sleep.

Manage stress and practice relaxation

People with a lot of stress and anxiety tend to get less deep sleep, which is why it’s helpful to try some relaxing activities before bed, such as:

• Deep breathing
• Light yoga
• Meditation
• Reading
• Taking a warm bath
• Listening to relaxing music

It’s also best to avoid anything that stresses you before bed, such as talking about finances or writing your to-do list for the next day. If possible, do these things earlier in the day or leave them for the next morning.

Keep a comfortable sleep environment

Creating the right environment encourages healthy sleep and eliminates possible disruptions that may wake you during the night.

Ideally, you should keep your room between 60 and 67 degrees while you sleep. Any warmer and you may wake up sweating in your sleep. Just remember that your body temperature drops slightly as you sleep, so you may get cold if you don’t have enough covers.

Darkness is also important as it encourages the production of melatonin, the hormone that lets your brain know its time to sleep. Try to block out any light that comes into the room or wear an eye mask while you sleep.

Noise can also prevent you from sleeping soundly, so try to turn off any devices in your room or put them on silent. If it’s not possible to eliminate all disturbances, wearing earplugs can help you block them out.

Of course, one of the most important elements of your sleep environment is your bedding. If you aren’t able to get comfortable and spend your nights tossing and turning, you may need to upgrade your pillow and mattress.

Turn off screens

Blue light from electronic devices can disrupt melatonin production, which may keep you from feeling sleepy. An easy fix is to turn on the night mode so your phone uses orange light instead, but you may want to just stop using your phone altogether in the hour leading up to bed.

Try sleep supplements

Even if you have healthy sleep habits, you just can’t seem to fall asleep. If sleep disorders aren’t the problem, supplements for natural sleep are a good alternative to habit-forming sleep medicines. If you’re interested in trying a healthy sleep supplement, we invite you to try BrainLuxury DELTA. You’ll notice immediate results in your overall sleep quality and be able to get more deep sleep during the night.

Experience deeper sleep with BrainLuxury

Deep sleep is crucial if you want to feel well-rested and healthy, but it’s not always easy to get enough of it. The tips in this post can assist you as you strive to get a good night’s sleep, but if you want to say goodbye to poor sleep once and for all, subscribe to BrainLuxury DELTA!

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We hope this has helped you on your quest for good sleep. If you have any questions about our products, feel free to reach out to our team.

 

The information Brainluxury provides is for educational and informational use only. The information is not intended to be used by the customer for any diagnostic purpose and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. You should always seek the advice of your physician or other healthcare providers with any questions you may have regarding diagnosis, cure, treatment, mitigation, or prevention of any disease or other medical condition or impairment or the status of your health.