So, you can consider this the transition to sleep, when you first dose off. This is a very light stage of sleep that starts your sleep cycle. Here’s what happens in each of the stages. You can dream in all stages of NREM, but the dreams won’t be as vivid and fantastical as they would in REM sleep. In the later stages: your body relaxes, blood pressure drops, brain activity slows, and you fall into a deep sleep. For each complete cycle, you move from N1 to N2, N3, and finally to REM.Įach stage of NREM sleep is slightly different, but there are some similar characteristics of these stages of sleep. NREM StagesĮach night you cycle through all of the sleep stages between five to six times over a period of seven to nine hours. You might also see it here and there as N3 (and N4), and in some cases, some still use N4 - apparently old habits die hard. As recently as 2008 the American Academy of Sleep Medicine decided that the difference between NREM stage three and stage four was inconsequential and started referring to them both as N3. You might have read elsewhere that there are four NREM stages and here we are saying that there are only three. The longest of these sleep stages being stage 2 of NREM, which comprises approximately 40-60% of total sleep time. There are three distinct NREM stages and one REM stage per cycle.Įach of these NREM sleep stages can vary in length from five to 60 minutes of your total 90-minute sleep cycle. NREM sleep accounts for three of the four sleep stages in one sleep cycle. What is the purpose of NREM sleep in your life? How do you know that you’re getting enough NREM sleep? Let’s find out. Each NREM stage is similar, but they serve different purposes. NREM sleep is made up of three distinct stages. You can read about REM sleep in this article. The two types include non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM). There are two main types of sleep, during which, you accomplish different outcomes for the body and mind. While you’re asleep, you cycle through these different sleep stages in a particular order. Sleep is comprised of subcomponents called stages, defined primarily by electrical activity in the brain. The right amount of sleep is essential for your body to recover from the stresses of your daily activities and process new ideas.

Like any good recipe, a restful night of sleep is composed of a few primary ingredients added together in a particular order and in the right ratio.

Unlike what scientists thought way back when, sleep isn’t just one long stint of coma-like unconsciousness. Having a clear sense of the constituents of sleep is a good place to start in the commendable journey towards identifying what constitutes quality sleep. Congratulations! You’ve found your way to the ingredients list of sleep.

Deep sleep vs rem