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What Is Deep Sleep?
Deep sleep is the third stage of non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep.
Deep sleep is also known as slow-wave sleep.
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This is the stage of sleep where your brain waves are at their slowest.
Your heartbeat and breathing also slow down.
This phenomenon is known as sleep inertia.
Growth hormones that help with organ, muscle, and tissue repair are also released from your pituitary gland.
Stages of Sleep
When you fall asleep, your body doesnt go straight into deep sleep.
In fact, throughout the night, youll go through several stages of sleep.
Non-REM and REM are the two main phases.
Non-REM sleep is the first part of sleep and is made up of three stages.
Next is REM sleep.
Your heart rate and breathing begin to quicken, andyou are most likely to dreamduring this stage.
Throughout the night, your body will continue to cycle through these stages until you wake up.
Each time you go through the cycle, youll spend less time in the deeper stages of sleep.
You are most likely to go through this cycle four to five times a night.
Why You Need Deep Sleep
Gettingquality deep sleepis essential for your well-being.
One of the most critical functions of deep sleep is theconsolidation of new memories.
This is typically referred to as sleep-dependent memory processing.
People with insomnia or some other sleep disorder typically suffer an impairment of this function.
As we grow older, the amount of deep sleep we get reduces.
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