Best Rest 30 Day Challenge: How Lack of Sleep Impacts Cognitive Performance and Focus

Non-REM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Each stage plays a distinct role in physical and mental restoration. When we sleep, our body goes through different stages, kind of like levels in a video game. These stages help our body and brain rest, grow, and get ready for the next day. 

Two Main Types of Sleep

• Non-REM Sleep (Non-Rapid Eye Movement): This is the part of sleep where you aren’t dreaming a lot, and your body is doing most of the resting.
• REM Sleep (Rapid Eye Movement): This is when you're dreaming, and your brain is really active, even though your body is mostly still.

Stage 1: Falling Asleep (Non-REM)

• This is the very first stage, like when you’re drifting off but not fully asleep yet. Duration: 1 to 7 minutes
• Characteristics: This is the transition between wakefulness and sleep. In this stage:
  • Muscle activity slows down, and you may experience brief muscle twitches.
  • Your breathing, heartbeat, and eye movements begin to slow.
  • It's easy to wake up during this stage, and you may still feel aware of your surroundings.
• Function:
• This stage helps the body transition into deeper stages of sleep and is the first step toward restorative rest.
• What happens? Your eyes start to close, your muscles relax, and you’re still half-aware of things around you.
• Example: Have you ever felt like you were falling right when you're about to sleep? That’s stage 1, where you might twitch or jerk a little as your body relaxes.

Stage 2: Light Sleep (Non-REM)

• In this stage, you're asleep, but it’s still easy to wake you up. Duration: 10 to 25 minutes in the first cycle
• Characteristics:
• Body temperature drops, and heart rate continues to slow.
• Function:
• This stage is crucial for memory consolidation, where short-term memories are transformed into long-term ones. It's also the stage where the body starts to repair tissues and cells.
• What happens? Your body cools down, your heart beats slower, and your brain starts slowing down too, but with some quick bursts of activity.
• Example: Imagine someone whispers your name or the TV is still on—this is the kind of sleep where you might wake up and say, "Huh, what was that?"

Stage 3: Deep Sleep (Non-REM)

• This is the deepest, most restful sleep, where your body gets a lot of work done. Duration: 20 to 40 minutes in the first cycle.
• Characteristics:
  • Brain activity becomes extremely slow, dominated by delta waves (slow brain waves).
  • There is minimal muscle activity, and it's very hard to wake up during this stage.
  • Heart rate, breathing, and brain activity are at their lowest levels.
• Function:
  • This stage is critical for physical recovery, tissue repair, muscle growth, and immune system strengthening.
  • Growth hormone is released, helping with cell regeneration.
  • Deep sleep is also essential for cognitive processes like problem-solving and decision-making.
• What happens? Your brain is super slow, your muscles are relaxed, and it’s really hard for someone to wake you up.
• Example: If you've ever slept through loud noises or didn’t wake up when someone shook you, you were probably in stage 3. Your body is repairing muscles, growing, and boosting your immune system.

REM Sleep: Dreaming Time

• After going through Non-REM sleep, you move into REM sleep. Duration: 10 minutes in the first cycle, increasing up to 60 minutes in later cycles
• Function:
  • REM sleep is critical for emotional regulation, memory consolidation, and brain development.
  • This stage also plays a significant role in processing emotions and stress, supporting overall mental health.
  • It helps with creative problem-solving and integrating new information into existing knowledge.
• What happens? Your brain becomes really active, like it’s awake, and you start to dream. But your body stays mostly still, so you don’t act out your dreams.
• Example: If you ever had a weird or exciting dream, that’s during REM sleep. Even though you’re dreaming, your eyes might be moving fast under your eyelids—this is where REM gets its name!

The Sleep Cycle

• These stages don’t happen just once during the night. Your body moves through these stages over and over in cycles that last about 90 minutes.
• Example: Think of it like riding a roller coaster. You go through the stages several times each night. As the night goes on, you spend more time dreaming (REM) and less time in deep sleep.

Why Sleep is Important

• Stage 3 (deep sleep) helps you grow, heal, and feel refreshed.
• REM sleep helps you think better, remember stuff you learned, and process your feelings.

Without enough sleep, you might feel grumpy, have a hard time focusing in class, or even get sick more often because your body hasn’t had enough time to recharge.

Fun Fact:

• Babies spend almost half their sleep in REM sleep because they’re learning so much, while adults spend more time in deep sleep because they need to rest their bodies!

Sleep Cycle Overview

A full sleep cycle typically lasts about 90 to 120 minutes, and a person goes through multiple sleep cycles during a night. As the night progresses:

• Stage 3 (deep sleep) becomes shorter, while REM sleep becomes longer.
• Most deep sleep happens during the first half of the night, while REM sleep dominates the latter half.

Why These Stages Matter

• Restorative Functions: Stages 3 (deep sleep) and REM are essential for the body’s physical and mental recovery, including muscle repair, memory processing, and mood regulation.
• Health Implications: Disruptions in these stages can lead to various health problems, including weakened immune function, poor cognitive performance, and emotional disturbances. For example, chronic sleep deprivation (especially a lack of deep sleep and REM) is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and mental health disorders like depression and anxiety.

Understanding the sleep stages highlights the complexity of sleep and its importance in maintaining overall well-being. Each stage contributes to different aspects of recovery, both physical and mental, which is why getting uninterrupted sleep is vital for health.

The average person experiences about 4 to 6 sleep cycles each night. Each sleep cycle typically lasts around 90 to 120 minutes, meaning the total time spent cycling through these stages is roughly 6 to 8 hours.

 Other Resources:

• https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-deprivation/lack-of-sleep-and-cognitive-impairment
• https://sleepdoctor.com/how-sleep-works/