Light sleep is as beneficial as the other stages of sleep. However, most people think that this sleep is not helpful, which is not valid.
The truth is all the sleep stages are essential to the quality and restful sleep, but light sleep is the genesis for you.
This article highlights light sleep, its importance, light vs deep sleep, light vs restful sleep, and what your body goes through during the light sleep stage.
What is Light Sleep?
Naturally, our body goes through four sleep stages and several sleep cycles when we fall asleep. Light sleep is usually the first stage of the sleep process. It accounts for nearly half of your regular night’s sleep.
As we transition from full wakefulness to light sleep, it is usually the beginning of each sleep cycle. By the time you wake, you will have to spend half of your sleep in light sleep.
What Happens During Light Sleep?
When awake, your breathing and heart rate are usually faster, but they tend to slow down during light sleep.
During this stage, your brain produces bursts of the electrical activity responsible for improving your brain’s communication system and your ability to learn and remember.
It is possible to dream during light sleep. However, these dreams aren’t as cohesive or story-like as those experienced during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep.
One can easily wake up in light sleep since your body is still sensitive to touch, noise, movement, and temperature during the light sleep stage. When someone wakes you up during this sleep stage, you may feel like you were just awake.
Most people may argue that REM is more important, but light sleep is equally important as it helps to contribute to a restful night.
For the sleep cycle to be complete light sleep is essential, and you should not worry your body will get enough rest regardless of the common belief.
The Importance of Light Sleep to Our Body
Your body requires sufficient light sleep to meet its overall sleep needs. Most chronic diseases are associated with sleep deprivation.
Besides obesity and depression, chronic sleep deprivation may also lead to heart diseases, blood pressure, and other immune-related conditions.
Light sleep is essential as it helps improve our ability to remember, process new information, and learn new skills.
Also, lack of enough sleep robs us of our capacity to evaluate scenarios, organize and choose behaviors due to poor judgment.
Deep Sleep vs. Light Sleep
Light sleep occurs immediately your head hits the pillow and when you fall asleep. Light sleep has two stages, and the first one is relatively short.
The first stage happens when our body starts to gain rest and gradually transitions to the second and last stage of light sleep.
During this time, your body muscles start to rest, and your breathing and heartbeat slow down.
Stage 3 of sleep is known as non-REM sleep or the onset of deep sleep. During this stage, your brain’s activities will quicken because brainwaves race through your brain.
This stage is essential as it ensures you feel refreshed and upbeat in the morning. As your body gradually transitions to stage 4, it gets to a less responsive state, and at this point, you may not be aware of your surroundings.
However, your brain will continue to function as it continues to experience activities. Besides, the brain is going through several transitional cycles from light sleep to profound sleep.
How Much Light Sleep Does One Need?
Most sleep scientists believe that light sleep is essential for your health, but there is no minimum or maximum amount of time you need to strive to achieve.
Light sleep is more of a natural sleep stage, and under normal circumstances, one can’t avoid this sleep stage when they’re asleep.
You need to be conscious when you’re experiencing too much sleep regularly. Since it is associated with heart disease, depression, obesity, and pain, it increases death chances in isolated cases.
How Much Deep and Light Sleep is Beneficial to Children?
Naturally, babies and children require more sleep than adults. Babies spend about 16 hours of every 24 hrs sleeping since they need the most rest.
Unlike adults, babies experience the REM stage 50% of their sleep time, while the remaining 50% is shared between light and deep sleep cycles.
The amount of sleep for most kids varies as they continue to grow old. For instance:
- 9 to 12 hours of sleep is enough for school-aged children
- Preschoolers require at least 10 to 13 hours
- While teenagers 8 to 10 hours is enough for them
When the light, deep, and REM ratio balances as required, most young children will experience restful sleep.
You need to be wary of illnesses. If your young ones are struggling with sleep, it may be trouble falling or staying asleep or sleeping way too much than the required amount of time.
Can You Increase Deep Sleep?
It beats the logic of sleeping for 8 hours, but most of your time is lost on turning and tossing. That’s a clear indication you’re not experiencing enough deep or restful sleep.
As much as it’s unlikely to force your brain to achieve a state of deep sleep, a few strategies have proven to work for a few people and increased the percentage of their deep sleep. For example:
- Stress reduction
- Exercising
- Healthy diet
- Meditation
- Establishing practical sleep rituals and routines
With technological advancement, it has become easy to track your sleep patterns using sleep trackers. You may be able to track and observe your sleep patterns to determine the amount of light, REM, and deep sleep you get each night.
What is Causing Fatigue when You Wake Up
As much as it’s expected for one to feel refreshed and alert after sleeping, most people wake up when they’re drained.
If you sleep for 7 to 9 hours each night but only receive 90 minutes of deep sleep, you’re not getting the rest you need, and you may be fatigued during the day.
Consider a sleep study that may be able to help you figure out what’s wrong.
Take Away
To maintain your mental and physical health, ensure you have enough light and deep sleep.
Each of these sleep stages is critical for maintaining physiological equilibrium and rebuilding old tissue and cells.
Besides, it also helps boost the immune system, relax the muscles, and stimulate the brain region that creates and stores memories for learning.
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