According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 3 adults in the United States do not get enough sleep each day. If you struggle to fall asleep and often wake up feeling groggy, it's time to look at how you can improve your sleep patterns and wellness habits.
Key Takeaways
- Core sleep is a fundamental period of uninterrupted sleep that is crucial for physical health, cognitive function, and overall wellness.
- Core sleep is typically a continuous period of time, lasting between 6 to 8 hours for most adults.
- Core sleep encompasses the entirety of the sleep cycle, including both REM and NREM sleep.
- Deep sleep is an NREM sleep stage where your breathing, heartbeat, and brain waves are at their lowest.
- You go through sleep cycles throughout the night, including deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep.
Core sleep, a period of deep and uninterrupted sleep, is essential for overall wellness, cognitive function, and physical health. Keep reading, and we'll tell why core sleep is crucial for your health and happiness.
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What Is Core Sleep?
Core sleep is a period of continuous sleep that is essential for physical health, cognitive function, and overall wellness. It typically occurs during one long stretch of sleep during the night and helps restore and rejuvenate the mind and body.
There are some misconceptions that core sleep is a single sleep stage. However, it's not! Core sleep encompasses the entire sleep cycle, including multiple sleep stages like REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep. Unlike polyphasic sleep, which occurs in smaller intervals, core sleep is typically a continuous period of time, lasting between 6 to 8 hours for most adults.
Core sleep is usually discussed alongside sleep patterns and sleep quality. It's an important term to know if you're trying to improve your sleeping habits.
Many things happen to your mind and body during core sleep. This time is spent consolidating memories, repairing tissues, regulating hormones, and boosting the immune system. Core sleep is essential for overall health, and it can be extremely detrimental if you aren't getting enough uninterrupted sleep each night.
Let's look at one more important part of core sleep: deep sleep.
What Is Deep Sleep?
Deep sleep, unlike core sleep, is a single sleep stage. It goes by other names, including slow-wave sleep (SWS) or stage 3 sleep. We'll dive deeper into specific sleep stages later in this article.
Deep sleep is when your brain waves slow, heart rate reduces, and muscle activity decreases. It is one of the four stages of NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep.
During deep sleep, the body undergoes a few essential processes.
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Tissue repair and growth: During deep sleep, the body releases the human growth hormone (HGH), which facilitates the repair and regeneration of tissues, muscles, and cells.
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Promotes immune function: The body also produces cytokines, which are proteins that fight inflammation, stress, and infections. Deep sleep is a crucial time for immune system support.
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Memory consolidation: Deep sleep is essential for optimal cognitive function and helps to improve learning and problem-solving abilities. During deep sleep, the mind consolidates memories and stores new information.
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Hormone regulation: During deep sleep, the body regulates various hormones. This includes cortisol (which accompanies stress), insulin (which regulates blood sugar), and leptin (which regulates appetite.) Poor and lacking deep sleep can lead to hormonal imbalances and metabolic issues.
During stage 3, or deep sleep, delta waves are present in brain activity. This means that you are in dreamless sleep, unaware of your body, and your body is undergoing repair. Even though brain activity is reduced, there is some research that suggests that deep sleep can contribute to creativity and insightful thinking.
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The Basics of Sleep
An estimated 50 to 70 million Americans have chronic sleep disorders. However, getting enough quality sleep is about more than clocking in 8 to 9 hours of Zs each night. It's important to understand the basics of sleep so that you can improve your sleep habits and overall health.
Sleep occurs in cycles that last around 90 minutes each. Each cycle consists of both NREM and REM sleep stages. This cyclical pattern repeats throughout the night, which ensures the mind and body can regenerate and restore.
To understand core sleep, you need to understand sleep stages and sleep cycles. We'll go over that now.
Sleep Stages
Each night, your mind and body go through distinctive sleep stages. Each stage is characterized by your brain wave patterns and physiological activities. Your sleep stages can be divided into REM and NREM sleep.
In total, there are four sleep stages: N1, N2, N3, and REM.
N1 (Stage 1)
Also known as stage 1, N1 is an NREM sleep stage that usually lasts between 1 and 7 minutes.
During stage 1, your mind and body slowly start to fall asleep. The body isn't yet fully relaxed, brain activity starts to slow, and you can be easily awoken.
N2 (Stage 2)
N2, also known as stage 2, is the second NREM sleep stage and usually lasts between 10 to 25 minutes.
During stage 2, body temperature slowly drops, eye movement ceases, muscles are relaxed, breathing slows, and heart rate decreases. Brain activity has slowed, but there are occasional short bursts of brain activity.
N3 (Stage 3)
N3, or stage 3, is the third NREM sleep stage, usually lasting between 20 to 40 minutes. This is the deep sleep stage. Breathing slows, pulse decreases, and muscles relax more than in stage 2. As the night progresses, the periods of deep sleep will become shorter and shorter, and periods of REM sleep get longer and longer.
REM Sleep
During REM sleep, brain activity increases and reaches levels seen when you are awake. Though the mind is stimulated, the body enters atonia. Atonia is a temporary paralysis of the muscles, except for breathing muscles and the eyes. In fact, your eyes move rapidly even though they're closed (hence the name "rapid eye movement sleep").
Typically, REM sleep can begin 90 minutes after you've fallen asleep. As the night goes on, your periods of REM get longer and longer. REM sleep typically makes up 25% of total sleep time for adults.
What Affects the Various Sleep Stages?
If you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, it's a good idea to look at possible reasons why. If you want to experience deep and restorative sleep, you need to focus on living a holistically healthy life. Insufficient core sleep can negatively impact both your physical and mental health, so it's important to prioritize a healthy sleep cycle.
Here are some factors that can affect the different sleep stages:
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Age: Newborn babies need 14 to 17 hours of sleep a day, while adults need 7 to 9. Adults usually need less REM sleep than children or infants.
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Alcohol: Harmful lifestyle choices, such as smoking or drinking, can make it hard to enter and remain in deeper sleep stages.
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Sleep disorders: Sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and other underlying sleep disorders can impact overall sleep quality and quantity.
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Sleep environment: A relaxing bedtime routine and consistent sleep schedule can promote restful sleep. Relaxation techniques or a soothing self-care routine can help you unwind before going to bed. It's a good idea to create a comfortable sleep environment and avoid blue light before sleeping.
If you want to improve your sleep patterns, there are a few things you can do. For example, you should eat healthy meals, regularly exercise, limit screen time, avoid alcohol or caffeine, and practice self-care. This will help remedy your sleep problems and promote restorative sleep.
The Bottom Line
Core sleep encompasses all deep sleep stages and defines the bulk of your sleep. Core sleep is crucial for physical and mental restoration and is what allows your body to repair and regenerate. Plus, it nurtures your mind and promotes cognitive function. Don't underestimate the power of a good night's sleep!
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