Indeed, according to a new study published in PLOS, researchers suggest that brain activity during deep sleep may help flush out proteins such as amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau, which have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The N3 stage of sleep is also responsible for:Īdditionally, some research suggests that deep sleep plays a vital role in clearing out toxic waste from your brain.
However, improved memory and learning aren’t the only functions of deep sleep. This helps reinforce the connections between neurons, making it easier for you to retrieve long-term memories. During deep sleep, the hippocampus - the complex region of the brain associated with memory storage and learning - takes the information it accumulated throughout the day and sends it to the cerebral cortex (the part of the brain responsible for thinking and understanding). The benefits of deep sleep go beyond waking up feeling refreshed and alert. For instance, the first REM stage may only last a few minutes, while the final REM stage could last for an hour. The REM stage usually starts around 90 minutes after sleep onset, with the length of each REM stage increasing throughout the night. Your arms and legs are also paralyzed, so you don't act out your dreams. During REM sleep, your eyes move rapidly behind your eyelids, and your breathing and heart rate increase. It’s also the most difficult stage to awaken from, with many people experiencing mental fogginess and disorientation upon waking up in the middle of the N3 phase.Īfter your brain progresses through the stages of NREM sleep, it enters what is known as REM sleep, the final stage of sleep and the one where you dream. Also known as slow-wave sleep and delta-wave sleep, N3 is the deepest stage of sleep and is generally associated with slow frequency, high amplitude signals called delta waves. This stage is what people are referring to when they talk about deep sleep. This phase is also marked by the presence of spindles, which are thought to play an important role in memory consolidation. The drowsy N1 stage is followed by the N2 stage, which facilitates a drop in body temperature and breathing rate. During N1, your breathing and heart rate are regular, and your body relaxes in preparation for sleep. This is the shortest and lightest stage of sleep. This sleep phase is broken down into three sub-stages: NREM sleep is characterized by a lack of eye movement and increased slow-wave activity and bursts of neural activity, known as spindles. During each sleep cycle, your brain alternates between two phases of sleep: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. When you fall asleep at night, your brain progresses through several sleep cycles, each one lasting approximately 90 minutes. Sleep isn't a linear process like many people assume, but rather a cyclical one. So, what is deep sleep? Before we can answer that, let’s talk about the different stages of sleep. Shop Weighted Blankets What Is Deep Sleep? Our brains cycle through four different stages of sleep every night, and researchers say that the third stage - aka, deep sleep - is key to getting more high-quality snooze.īut what is deep sleep, exactly, and how do you ensure you’re getting enough? In this guide, we’ll break down the basics of deep sleep and explain how to increase deep sleep for optimal health and wellness (hint: a weighted blanket can help!). But equally important as the duration of sleep is the quality of our sleep. According to the CDC, one in three American adults isn’t getting the recommended amount of shut-eye they need on a regular basis. It's no secret that most people could stand to get more sleep.
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