Sleep 90 Minute Cycles, Wake Up Refreshed

If you're like me, you have a long-standing hate with your alarm clock. Timex and I are not on speaking terms. Why is it that even when I manage to snag 8 hours of sleep (a rare feat) that I still wake up feeling exhausted?

This cat shares my pain.

Well, studies indicate that the traditional 8-hour ideal of sleep isn't perfect for everyone. In fact, it's perfect for almost no one!

Average Sleep Needs
Age	Hours
Newborns (0-2 months)	12 - 18
Infants (3 months to 1 year)	14 - 15
Toddlers (1 to 3 years)	12 - 14
Preschoolers (3 to 5 years)	11 - 13
School-aged children (5 to 12 years)	10 - 11
Teens and preteens (12 to 18 years)	8.5 - 10
Adults (18+)	7.5 - 9

(Borrowed from this website that has everything you need to know about sleep)

The Sleep Cycle

As you sleep, your body transitions through several different stages. During these stages, different parts of your brain and body are activated to promote healing and relaxation. You also solidify memories in your sleep. If everything goes the way it is supposed to, you wake up feeling relaxed and ready to start the day.

This yawning hedgehog is ready for the daily grind.

Completing a cycle takes 90 minutes on average. If you were to wake up before a cycle has time to complete, your brain would not be ready to perform as it should. Furthermore, key bodily components like blood pressure and base temperature also shift during the cycle, so you would wake up feeling physically unfit as well.

One stage of sleep, the REM stage, is popularly understood as the stage when dreams occur. The only time you are likely to remember your dreams is if you wake up during this stage. Otherwise, the conscious mind has no time to analyze and commit the dream to memory. If you're someone who feels they never dream, the truth of the matter is that you're dreaming, on average, 4-6 dreams per night. You just don't remember them!

How to Avoid Breaking the Cycle

So now that you know about the 90 minute sleep cycle, how can you use this to help yourself sleep better? Well, for starters, you can try to allocate yourself enough time to sleep in increments of 90 minutes. Rather than aim for 8 hours, aim for 7 and a half hours of sleep. Use that extra 30 minutes of wakefulness to gradually relax before bed, like I mentioned in last week's post.

If you have an iPhone, consider this wonderful app that will monitor your movements while sleeping. Not only will it coach you to more restful sleep based on your habits, but it will monitor your progress through the sleep stages and wake you when you have completed a cycle.

You've been replaced, chump.

Or, if you're like me and don't have an iPhone, consider this article from LifeHacker that offers advice for getting the sleep you so rightfully deserve!

iPads, Phones and Laptops Before Bed Cause Sleep Loss

I grew up sleeping with the TV on. The quiet noise and flickering screen conquered two of my childhood fears: silence and darkness. Comforted, I would drift off within minutes of turning on the tube.

Lately, however, I have not had that same quality of sleep as I had when I was young. So I decided to look into it, and what I found was...

Some Electronic Screens Imitate Sunlight

Why do humans naturally get sleepy when we see it's getting dark outside? Contrary to what you might have been told as a kid, no, it has nothing to do with the Sandman.

Our brains secrete a hormone called melatonin during lengthy periods of darkness, and this hormone then helps us drift off to sleep.

The problem is that the light produced by many LCD screens (especially energy-efficient screens popular in smartphones, tablets, e-readers and laptops,) mimics the wavelengths of natural sunlight. In particular, blue light, a natural hue in the sunlight we see nearly everyday, is the troublemaker. Because blue light has only come from the sun until these last 20 or so years, our brains haven't had time to figure out the difference between the glowing orb and our Androids.

How big of an effect do these devices have on our brains? Just two hours of exposure to artificial light can reduce melatonin secretion by 22% according to a 2012 sleep experiment. The findings of this experiment, which are largely debatable due to the low sample size, are inviting further research into the effects of electronics on our brain chemistry.

What to Do?

If you feel like you just can't break away from your electronic device before bed (and I can relate to the feeling - I've almost beat Plants Vs. Zombies!) then the experts suggest dimming the backlight to reduce negative effect.

Just... One... More... Level...

Ideally, however, you should spend 30 minutes before you lay down in bed away from bright electronic screens. Maybe crack open an old book you've been meaning to get around to or do some stretches. Find a routine that helps you relax so you can get the most out of your sleep every night and be better prepared to handle the next day!