

"The longer you spend in deeper sleep, the more refreshed you'll feel in the morning," she says. N1 and N2 sleep are thought of as light sleep while N3 and N4 are considered deep sleep. But, in general, people alternate among several different levels of non-REM and REM sleep every night.

Deep sleep also promotes immune system functioning. During deep sleep, your body releases growth hormone and works to build and repair muscles, bones, and tissue. Krahn says not everyone goes through all of the stages. While all stages of sleep are necessary for good health, deep sleep offers specific physical and mental benefits. "They're paralyzed, and that's actually felt probably to be a rinsing function - to clear the brain of toxins and byproducts that have collected during the waking day."ĭr. "Things speed up except a person cannot move," says Dr. The final stage is REM sleep, which is typically when you dream. The brains slightly active state means that, compared to deep and REM sleep, the first two stages of sleep are easier to be awakened from during N1 and N2. "And that just allows the body a chance to recover from the busy day." Your sleep doesn’t get deeper throughout the night but rather moves between deeper and lighter stages (which may explain why you wake up more easily at certain times). "When we're in deep sleep, our heart rate and our breathing really slows down," says Dr. Krahn says the three types of non-REM, which stands for rapid eye movement, include level one, which is light sleep level two, intermediate sleep and level three, deep sleep. Lois Krahn, a Mayo Clinic sleep medicine specialist.ĭr. "We basically divide sleep into wake, non-REM - three types - and REM sleep," says Dr. Deep sleep typically occurs in the first few hours of sleep. Light sleep happens during stages 1 and 2, and deep sleep happens during stage 3. Light sleep promotes mental and physical recovery. When we talk about light and deep sleep, we mean NREM sleep stages. Breathing and heart rate typically decrease slightly during this stage. Deep or N3 sleep is known as Slow-Wave Sleep (SWS), and is easy to stay in when you’re very young, says Michael Perlis, PhD, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at University.

You may be somewhat alert and can be easily awoken. When your head hits the pillow, your body can go through several stages of sleep. During the early part of light sleep, you may drift between being awake and asleep. Many factors affect a person’s threshold for waking up. Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (1:00) is in the downloads. Causes A person who is a light sleeper may have a different arousal threshold than deeper sleepers.
