Deep sleep: how to achieve it - 10 tips to achieve it

Sleep is the natural and perhaps the best way to restore your body's energy. It is the perfect way to take care of your health as it promotes skin rejuvenation, concentration, happiness and helps the body fight infection and inflammation. Sleep deprivation, or lack of good sleep in general, can cause sleepiness, lack of motivation, depression, anxiety, weight gain, and overall prevents the body and mind from functioning properly. It is known that everything that benefits us while we sleep happens in deep sleep. During this stage of sleep, the body is in a state of repair, correction and improvement. It is also the stage when we dream the most and experience the deepest benefits of sleep. So, in the following paragraphs, we will not only look at how you can start sleeping better, but also how you can sleep more deeply. So let's get started! What is deep sleep? Deep sleep is the slow-wave sleep phase in the three-stage sleep cycle. The slow wave sleep phase occurs between 45 and 90 minutes into the sleep cycle. This means that the body goes through stages of alertness, high brain activity, and finally reaches the stage known as deep sleep. During deep sleep, the body manages to recover. It gathers energy for the next day and manages to heal injuries and fight infections and inflammations. Overall, deep sleep is a period of rest and healing for the entire body. During deep sleep, the brain processes memory, promotes the production of growth and other hormones, and repairs damage to the body. How much deep sleep do I need? If we take for example a healthy adult who is generally a good sleeper, we can say that he usually sleeps between 6 and 8 hours. In these 6 to 8 hours, deep sleep usually occurs, as long as there are no sleep disturbances. In general we can say that a period of 60 to 90 minutes of deep sleep is enough for a healthy adult with good sleeping habits . However, we must emphasize that the amount of deep sleep one gets depends largely on one's needs. Dangers of not getting enough deep sleep

• Drowsiness - lack of sleep leads to drowsiness. This can lead to slow reaction time, inability to focus and concentrate, inability to properly operate heavy machinery or other responsible tasks, etc.
• Insomnia - lack of deep sleep can leave your body exhausted and sleep-deprived. This usually leads to serious sleep disorders such as insomnia.
• Heart problems - lack of deep sleep can lead to many heart problems like heart attack, heart failure, stroke, diabetes etc.
• Dementia and forgetfulness - deep sleep is responsible for memory processing. Lack of deep sleep can lead to regular forgetfulness, which can develop into dementia in the long run.
• Rapid skin aging - lack of deep sleep can cause the skin to age faster than normal. Sleep deprivation at these levels can promote wrinkles, dark circles under the eyes, loss of collagen in the skin, larger pores, etc.

How can I sleep longer (and more deeply)? Sleep hygiene refers to establishing good sleep habits. These habits will help you achieve the best possible sleep that will also ensure you get enough deep sleep that your body needs.

1. Enjoy a cup of soothing herbal tea before bed.
2. Warm bath or shower before bed. Showering or bathing helps people fall asleep faster. It also reduces stress levels, calms you down and ensures you have a restful, undisturbed sleep.
3. Go to bed at the same time every night.
4. When you go to sleep, try to think about positive things. Think of, for example, five nice, positive, good things that have happened to you during the day or in general that make you feel pleasure!
5. Try breathing exercises while in bed.
6. If you can't sleep, get out of bed. Try doing something distracting, like reading, for about 10 or 20 minutes. By then you should feel sleepy, so make sure you go back to bed and try to go back to sleep.
7. Try to associate your bed only with things that happen exclusively in it, like sleeping. Don't spend time in bed working, eating or watching TV. Your bed should not be a center of activity, because your brain will associate it with wakefulness and focus, rather than relaxation and sleep.
8. Disconnect from electronic devices and TV early enough to better relax your brain and the stimuli it receives.
9. Air your bedroom about an hour before bed, keeping it dark
10. Avoid long naps during the day (only 10 to 20 minutes at noon are enough).

Article originally written for TerryCralle , official sleep information portal of Terry Cralle, Certified Nurse Practitioner & Sleep Clinician