If you are having a difficult time getting to sleep it is critical that comprehending sleep mechanism and what makes up a good night of rest might assist you recognize the problem of what’s keeping you from it. Understanding rest is not so simple because you’re either conscious, asleep, or someplace in between. The’re a number of things that occur immediately you start to drift off to rest that determines how restful that rest is to you.

The first stage of sleep is called stage one which is characterized by drowsiness as your feel yourself let go, your muscles fall into a limp state, and your eyes will drift closed on their own. This stage usually lasts only a few minutes somewhere around ten full minutes. The next stage is light stage often called stage two and in this stage both breathing rate plus temperature retreat. The heart rate may also slow down as well during this part of sleep.

Stages three and four are easily considered “deep sleep” and are certainly where normally you should have a problem being woken up. You will possibly feel very dazed and incoherent but this stage allows the brain to rest and as a result blood flow actually decreases, after which it is redirected to the body in order to help restore the body. It is important to note that there is a increased level of immune work that occurs during these two stages of sleep.

Stage five is considered REM sleep and is generally considered the dreaming period of the REM sleep cycle. Moving in and out of the REM cycle occurs often so you may find yourself having several dreams within the REM. This cycle is characterized by some physical breathing conditions of the shallow sort, deep or even irregular. There may also be a quickening of the pulse and blood pressure.

This particular portion of the entire sleep cycle is designed to assist in the processing of emotions and to help relieve stress with each of the sleep cycles generally benefiting the person getting a good rest. People who sleep lightly are usually in stage two and rarely go into three and four where sleep does the best for us. For those who have a hard time arousing from sleep possibly spend a longer period of time in deep sleep and rise suddenly when they wake up rather than travel through each stage on the way to waking up.

The stages of sleep also change based on how much time you spent in each cycle the evenings before, so if you spend more time in deep sleep one night you will likely sleep lightly the following evening. It really balances out over time and you’ll likely spend equal amounts of time in all of the sleep stages. This is one of the reasons why it is stated that you cannot make up on sleep but you can always get caught up on rest.