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For something that all of us experience almost every day, there is little we remember or understand about sleep. Because we are unconscious during sleep, there is a tendency to oversimplify how it works. Fortunately, we’ve made quite a bit of progress through our natural sleep cycle.

The natural sleep cycle is something that everyone (regardless of timezone or environment) goes through while sleeping. While the stages that make it up can be altered by diet, temperature or our activities beforehand, it’s possible to divide the stages of a sleep cycle by how deep we are in it and what exactly happens in each one. Knowing how it works may just be the ticket to getting that sweet slumber you’ve always wanted.

An average sleep cycle lasts from 90-110 minutes, with each stage lasting for 10-15 minutes. There are four stages, and here’s what happens in each one of them:

Stage N1: Falling asleep

This is the stage where we can accurately describe ourselves as “starting to fall asleep.” Our eyes close, and we may experience sudden muscle contractions and a falling or sinking sensation. We can still be easily woken up, but this stage is where we truly start to slow our bodies down. 

Stage N2: Slowing down

Stage N2 is where all eye activity completely stops, and our breath, heart rate and brain waves starts to slow down. Typically, half of our sleeping time every night are spent on stage N2. Our bodies are now almost done with preparing to fall asleep, and waking us from this stage would require some effort. 

Stage N3: Rejuvenation

Stage 3 can also be called the transitory stage, due to the emergence of slow brain waves called delta waves with our usual, short bursts of brain activity. This marks the beginning of our transition from non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep to REM sleep. During this stage, parasomnias, or sleepwalking activities, become more common.

Deep sleep is achieved in this stage and our body starts to rejuvenate. Our body would start to repair and heal itself. When this process happens for the first time at night, it usually lasts for 45 - 90 minutes. Then, the process will last for shorter periods of time throughout the night. The N3 stage gradually decreases and completely disappear as we get older. This happens to perfectly normal people and is not a sign of problem or sickness.

Being awoken from this stage is difficult (since the brain is somewhat still in flux, making the sleeper extremely disoriented upon waking up), but still somewhat possible.

Stage R: Welcome to REM (Rapid-Eye-Movement)

Finally, we enter REM sleep, where our brain suddenly picks up the pace and mimics the usual patterns it goes through while we are awake. In this stage, we have our most vivid dreams, as well as the most time devoted for our brain to process the activities for the day.

But why bother?

Knowing these stages - as well as what happens in each one and how long it lasts - can vastly affect the quality of our sleep. Even just knowing the extent of how a stage lasts can make things work in our favour: for example, setting the temperature so you reach each stage with relative ease.

While it’s not as simple as putting the stages together, to understand sleep is to understand what happens to your brain while you slumber. Making things easier for it - and subsequently, yourself - is what can help you have better sleep.

How to create the perfect sleeping environment?

If you are looking for ways to get a better night of sleep, creating a perfect sleeping environment might be a great solution.

Colors, noise, bed sheet fabrics are just a few elements that can affect your sleep. Eating any kind of food in bed should definitely be avoided. If your bed is messy and have too many things laying all over your bed, that will probably reduce your sleep quality too.

We have compiled all valuable information on the topic of sleeping environment and turned them into a FREE Ebook. It will definitely help you sleep better, click on the link below to download now.

Creating a comfortable bed climate to improve sleep quality

Building a comfortable sleeping space is essential to better sleep. By creating a perfect "Bed Climate" with the perfect temperature and humidity, you will be able to relax and get a better rest. Products such as Wellcare's unique 4D temperature electric underblanket and heating pad series can help you achieve this.

Wellcare's unique electric heating products release heat through specially designed holes. The heat then merges and blends into cold air, forming a moisturized warmth flow. We gave this new technology the name of 4D DWF (Dynamic Warmth Flow).

This brand new invention should resolve the traditional electric blankets problems such as being too dry, too hot or too stuffy. We believe this technology advancement can help deliver a better and more comfortable sleeping environment.

Know more: Let's sleep well! Here is everything you need to know.