There is nothing more satisfying than having an eventful day followed by a peaceful good night’s sleep. But how many of us are able to catch on a good sleep routine? Thanks to our busy work schedule, stress, overuse of technology, your body’s need for sleep is deprived.
All of this adds on to a major health crisis. Poor sleep is linked to diseases like Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes. In addition, poor sleep quality also impacts your mental state and energy throughout the subsequent day.
We should understand that more than the quantity of sleep, it is the quality of the sleep that matters. Even if you sleep only for six hours, if you are able to achieve the state of a deep sleep, you are good to go. In this article, learn all about the benefits of deep sleep and how to get more of it.
The Stages of Sleep
Sleep is not a uniform state of being. Generally, it has three stages – light sleep, REM or Rapid Eye Movement and Deep Sleep. During the light sleep and REM stage, the brain waves are very similar to the brain waves in the wakeful state.
During light sleep, the brain produces alpha waves which are low frequency and resembles that of someone who is very relaxed, yet awake. As an individual passes to the REM stage, there is an increase in theta wave activity. These waves are of even lower frequency. It is very easy to wake up an individual during these stages.
Finally, during the deep sleep stage is where delta waves are produced. These are long burst brain waves which are low frequency up to 4 Hz and during this time an individual’s heart rate and respiration slow down dramatically.
Benefits of Deep Sleep
When your body does not get the right period of deep sleep it needs, it can inhibit your ability to learn and for the cells to recover and rejuvenate. Deep sleep is how we convert all those interactions that we make during the day into our long-term memory and personalities.
As we get older, we’re more likely to lose these regenerative delta waves. So in a way, deep sleep and delta waves can actually be an indicator for biological youth.
How to Get More Deep Sleep
Naturally, everyone wants to get more deep sleep and improve the next day’s mental performance. Here are some proven ways you can get to that state of deep sleep and induce the brain’s delta waves:
1. Deep Sleep Stimulating Music
A research done by Dr. Dmitry Gerashchenko and Dan Gartenberg showed that when you play certain sounds at the right time in people’s sleep, you could actually induce the mode of deep sleep naturally.
This deep sleep stimulating sound has the same burst frequency as the delta waves when your brain is in deep sleep. The sound pattern similar to waves lapping on a beach or trees rustling in the wind stimulates your mind to have more of the regenerative delta waves.
When the participants in the study were asked the next day about the sounds, they were completely unaware of those sounds played, yet their brains responded with more of these delta waves.
2. It’s not just light in the night, it’s light during the day, too
Blue light inducing technology and gadgets tend to disrupt the production of the hormone melatonin. As you stay away from blue light, your eye receptors signal your body to make more melatonin and help your body to regulate sleep.
At the same time, light exposure during the day time helps to regulate your body’s natural biological clock called the Circadian Rhythm. Sitting in the office all day long is not going to help, even a short break outside during the day time will expose you to light and reorganize your Circadian cycle, helping you unwind at the night.
The adage “All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy” bears testimony to this fact and to induce high levels of a deep sleep, natural light exposure during the day is as important as switching off the lights during the night.
3. Meditation
Luckily, mediation is the world’s best deep sleep inducing IV fluid that can be a potent solution for insomniacs. Numerous scans show that mediators have dominant Delta brainwaves while in-session and while asleep.
Meditation not just deepens your sleep state, but also adds another dose of rejuvenating battery recharge when in session. In addition, mediators also report that they need fewer hours of shuteye since they tend to get more qualitative sleep than quantity.
Apart from a healthy lifestyle including a nutrient-dense diet, regular exercise, low caffeine consumption, and de-stressed life, the above important pointers will help you get better sleep. The Deeper your Sleep, the Better You Are.