Napping for less time is perfectly okay, too, though, as it helps you to process memories and remember facts, faces and places. This is the average length of your sleep cycle, so napping for 90 minutes will allow your body to go through an entire sleep cycle (including REM sleep) and be more beneficial for you. If you feel tired or didn’t get a good night’s sleep, then a nap during the day could help.īut, to feel refreshed and more alert after a nap, you’ll probably need to sleep for around 90 minutes. Between 12 - 17 hours for toddlers and babies 13Ĭan you get into a sleep cycle during a nap?.How much sleep you need each night varies throughout your life.īut it is thought that the average sleep time is: 12 How many hours of sleep should I get a day? When your sleep cycle is interrupted, you might have trouble focusing, being creative, making decisions, solving problems, remembering things, and controlling your emotions. Your lifestyle: smoking, drinking alcohol and caffeine can all affect your ability to fall asleep.Chronic pain: conditions that cause chronic pain can make it difficult to fall and stay asleep.Nocturia: if you have nocturia, you’ll wake up frequently at night to go to the toilet.Your mental health: sleep can become more complex with things like anxiety and depression.Sleep disorders : conditions like obstructive sleep apnoea, restless leg syndrome, and delayed sleep-wake phase syndrome can keep you up at night.Your age: your sleep becomes lighter as you age, so you will naturally wake up more often.Many things can interrupt your sleep cycle, including 10: When you wake up during the night, this can cut short your sleep stage and interrupt your sleep cycle as a result. This is called “interrupted sleep”, where your sleep is not continuous throughout the night. Whenever you struggle with falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night, your sleep cycle will be affected in turn. What happens when your sleep cycle is interrupted? This is also an excellent time for your body to fight off illness and infection to keep you feeling healthy. REM sleep is crucial, it allows your body to repair and build cells, secrete hormones, and promote muscle and bone growth. But it is thought that it is during REM sleep that your brain processes emotions and emotional memories. Like N3, your brain gathers and consolidates memories during REM sleep. your breathing rate increases and becomes more irregular.your body completely relaxes, and your muscles become temporarily immobilised.It is thought that REM sleep occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep. But your muscles become immobilised to prevent you from acting out what happens in your dreams. When you’re in REM sleep, your brain activity closely resembles its activity whilst you are awake. REM sleep is the fourth, final stage of your sleep cycle and the second stage of deep sleep.

You might have heard about this stage of your sleep cycle, but what is it, and when is REM sleep in the stages of your sleep cycle?

Average amount of deep sleep a night