There are two stages of sleep:<ul><li>Rapid Eye Movement (REM): The brain activity is almost identical to when we’re awake. In this stage, we dream.</li><li>Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM): A dreamless sleep. During this stage, we’re calm, relaxed and the heart rate is slow and regular. There are four sub-stages of NREM Sleep: from 1 to 4, where 4 is the deepest form of sleep.</li></ul>

We Cycle Through Two Distinct Types Of Sleep

<ol><li>Consuming alcohol to persuade yourself to sleep is a bad practice. Alcoholic beverages mess up your REM sleep and you get a fragmented sleep.</li><li>With age, our sleep efficiency declines. This is mainly because of our frequent visits to the bathroom. A simple fix will be to reduce the intake of fluids before going to sleep.</li><li>A lack of sleep can lead to a lot of nasty outcomes: diabetes, depression, chronic pain, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.</li><li>You can’t sleep it off: Even if you get enough sleep to recover from last night’s party, the sleep deprivation will never heal.</li></ol>

Alarming facts about not sleeping

<ol><li>Stick to a sleep schedule. Create a sleeping habit by going to bed and waking up at the same time, every-single-day. </li><li>Exercise, but don’t do it before going to sleep. Your body needs at least 3 hours to calm down after a workout. </li><li>Avoid caffeine and nicotine. The effect of stimulating beverages takes 8 hours to wear off.</li><li>Avoid alcohol before going to bed. </li><li>Avoid drinking plenty of water before going to sleep. </li><li>Don’t take naps after 3 PM</li><li>Relax before going to bed</li><li>A hot bath before bed might help. </li><li>Diss the gadgets and dim the lights in your bedroom</li><li>Expose yourself to sunlight during the day.</li></ol>

Tips for a good nights sleep

Each cycle lasts around 90 minutes with different NREM / REM ratios:<ul><li>Cycle 1: NREM (80%) -> REM (20%)</li><li>Cycle 2: NREM (70%) -> REM (30%)</li><li>Cycle 3: NREM (60%) -> REM (40%)</li><li>Cycle 4: NREM (50%) -> REM (50%)</li><li>Cycle 5: NREM (40%) -> REM (60%)</li></ul>

Cycles of Sleep

"The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep."

<ol><li>During REM sleep our body gets paralyzed by the brain in order to prevent us from executing on our dreams.</li><li>Sleeping helps us improve. When we’re learning or practicing something and we stop, our brain will continue to work on these tasks on the background. This passive learning process gets even stronger when we shut our eyes.</li><li>Sleep fuels our creativity. During sleep our brains build connections, nurturing our problem-solving skills and imagination.</li><li>The main function of dreaming is to help us resolve past, or current, emotional problems.</li></ol>

Interesting facts about sleep

There are two main reasons we go to sleep:<ul><li>Circadian rhythm: Every living creature on the planet has some sort of sleep-wake cycle</li><li>Sleep pressure: Every second you’re awake, a chemical called adenosine is compiling up in your brain. The concentration of this substance is increasing your desire to sleep</li></ul>

Sleep is The Fourth Biological Drive

Here are the best things you can do for a good night.

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Health

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Mental Health

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Mindfulness

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Personal Development

How To Have a Good Night

"Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity ... An explosion of scientific discoveries in the last twenty years has shed new light on this fundamental aspect of our lives. Now ... neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker gives us a new understanding of the vital importance of sleep and dreaming"--Amazon.com

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Books

“Why We Sleep is an important and fascinating book…Walker taught me a lot about this basic activity that every person on Earth needs. I suspect his book will do the same for you.” —Bill Gates A New York Times bestseller and international sensation, this “stimulating and important book” (Financial Times) is a fascinating dive into the purpose and power of slumber. Sleep is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why we suffer such devastating health consequences when we don't sleep. Compared to the other basic drives in life—eating, drinking, and reproducing—the purpose of sleep remained elusive. An explosion of scientific discoveries in the last twenty years has shed new light on this fundamental aspect of our lives. Now, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker gives us a new understanding of the vital importance of sleep and dreaming. Within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming mollifies painful memories and creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge to inspire creativity. Walker answers important questions about sleep: how do caffeine and alcohol affect sleep? What really happens during REM sleep? Why do our sleep patterns change across a lifetime? How do common sleep aids affect us and can they do long-term damage? Charting cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and synthesizing decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood, and energy levels; regulate hormones; prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes; slow the effects of aging; increase longevity; enhance the education and lifespan of our children, and boost the efficiency, success, and productivity of our businesses. Clear-eyed, fascinating, and accessible, Why We Sleep is a crucial and illuminating book.

Matthew Walker is a British scientist and professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the impact of sleep on human health and disease. Previously, he was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Tips for a good nights sleep

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