Have you ever experienced a completely restoring sleep? You might have heard the need for deep sleep in many health magazines, but what exactly is deep sleep? For all these years, experts have researched this topic. In this blog, we have gathered all the information to help you understand how to get more deep sleep, its advantages, and much more. Let’s get started by understanding what deep sleep is.
What Is Deep Sleep?
Deep sleep, also referred to as slow-wave sleep, is a kind of non-REM sleep. In this type of sleep, the brain waves slow down, and the body feels much fresher after waking up. Slow-wave sleep also restores the body from the daily activities that include healing of injuries, releasing growth hormones, strengthening the immune system, and regeneration of cells. As per studies, the average adult needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep and roughly spends 10-15% of his night sleep in a deep sleep cycle.
Why Is Deep Sleep Important?
Deep sleep is unarguably the most significant part of our sleep cycle. Deep sleep is also known as “sleep-dependent memory processing,” meaning it consolidates new memories. Slow-wave sleep also improves declarative memory, which includes both semantic and episodic memory. Deep sleep also facilitates a High arousal threshold and Presumed restoration of the body and brain. Let’s understand how to induce deep sleep in the next section.
Tips for Getting More Deep Sleep
Here are the tips to improve deep sleep continuity.
1. Prepare a Sleep Schedule
Preparing a proper sleep schedule is the stepping stone to getting more deep sleep. Decide a fixed time to go to bed, and try to go to bed at that particular time itself, without any excuse. Similarly, set up a wake-up time and wake up at a fixed time every day. It will regulate the circadian rhythm of your body and helps you get a quality deep sleep.
2. Limit the Use of Digital Devices
The best way to get deep sleep is to avoid the blue light from electronic devices; it disrupts melatonin production and disrupts the circadian rhythm. So, if you’re trying to get your cycle to run normally again, we recommend avoiding screens like mobiles, television, tablets, laptops, etc., within an hour before bed.
3. Exercise Daily
Exercising daily for about 30 minutes increases the chances of deep sleep by increasing your heart rate and movement of your muscles. It also releases endorphins that help you be awake. It also increases your exposure to the sun and decreases the production of melatonin during the daytime.
4. Consume a Healthy Diet
Consuming heavy meals before getting into bed leads to acid reflux, indigestion, and heartburn, which may disrupt your deep sleep. Still, if you want to snack at night, consume a light snack rich in protein and low in carbohydrates and fats like fruits, vegetables, dry fruits, milk, cheese, etc., which can have many health benefits without impacting your deep sleep.
5. Try Yoga and Meditation
What better than a natural way to increase your deep sleep. Not only is yoga a great way to center your body and mind, but it can also promote better sleep quality. According to a recent study, people who performed yoga and meditation daily got deep sleep quickly— If possible, try to practice yoga right before your bedding time; it is a great way to calm your mind.
6. Reduce Caffeine Consumption
We all are obsessed with caffeine. But consuming excess caffeine makes it hard for you to fall asleep quickly. Inevitably it also reduces the amount of deep sleep you get. We recommend you having caffeine at least six hours before bedtime. You can consume other noncaffeinated drinks such as water, tea, or milk. These beverages help in inducing sleep.
7. Keep the Nights Dark
Try keeping your bedroom dark. A dark room leads to melatonin production and sets the circadian rhythm.
The temperature of your room also impacts your deep sleep. According to studies, sleeping in scorching temperatures can decrease deep sleep. A process named thermoregulation maintains the core temperature of the body. If you cannot control your room temperature, try wearing light sleepwear and sleeping on cool, breathable Bedding.
8. Create a Relaxed Environment
As mentioned above, a boiling room can decrease sleep quality. Try cooling the room with the thermostat or other temperature controlling devices.
You can create a calm sleeping environment by using dim lights, keeping the electronic devices away, using soft and comfortable Bedding, curtains, and wearing earplugs.
9. Select the Right Bedding
All said and done; you cannot get a comfortable deep sleep without the right choice of Bedding. Try using soft foam bedding made up of natural materials such as cotton, latex, and bamboo to ensure you sleep cool. These materials are more breathable, comfortable, and cozy than fabrics like polyester or microfiber.
10. Try Aromatherapy
Using oils releases tension and lowers heart rate, and makes you feel more calm and relaxed. Using Oils such as lavender, Bergamot, Clary Sage, Valerian, Sandalwood, Ylang-ylang, and Jasmine daily can improve your deep sleep to a considerable extent.
Stages of Sleep Explained
You might be wondering how exactly does a deep sleep cycle occurs? What are the stages before deep sleep? Well, we have answered all your questions in this section.
There are typically two phases of sleep; The Non-Rapid Eye Movement and The Rapid Eye Movement. When you sleep, your body first enters the three stages of NREM sleep and then finally enters the fourth REM sleep stage. Let us have a detailed look at the sleep stages.
1. Stage One
Your sleep cycle begins with stage one; in this stage, your body starts to relax. Sleepers generally experience heavy and rolling eye movements, muscle contractions, or free-falling impressions. This stage disrupts your sleep the most.
2. Stage Two
During stage two of your sleep cycle, your body temperature starts to drop. Your slow eye movements begin to stop, heartbeats become sluggish, and your muscles begin to contract and expand, taking you into a deep sleep.
3. Stage Three
The deep sleep starts with stage three. During the deep sleep stage, your brain waves slow down considerably and become delta waves, making it difficult for you to wake up. The significance of this delta waves sleep can be understood by the fact that all the significant therapeutic changes like body repair, cell reproduction, injury healing, strengthing of immune systems take place during this stage.
4. Stage Four
No other stage of sleep is as deep as REM sleep. All your body functions right from blood pressure, eye movements, breathing, and heart rate picks up speed in this stage. The weird dreams scaring you all day also occur in stage 4 sleep, thanks to the increased memory-forming capacity of the brain in this stage.
What Are the Benefits of Deep Sleep?
During deep sleep, the brain’s glucose metabolism increases, supporting the brain’s memory and improving focus and overall learning.
During deep sleep, the growth and development of the human body take place thanks to the hormones discharged by pituitary glands.
Benefits of deep sleep include:
- energy recovery
- cell restoration
- increasing blood supply
- promoting body growth
- repair of tissues and bones
- stimulating the immune system
What Happens if You Don’t Get Enough Deep Sleep?
The main job of a deep sleep cycle is to process the information from the day-to-day activity battled by your brain every day.
Not getting enough deep sleep may lead to disorders such as:
- heart disease
- dementia
- diabetes
- Alzheimer’s disease
- sleepwalking
- bedwetting
- faulty memory
- sleep eating
How Much Deep Sleep Do You Need?
The chart below will help you understand how many hours of deep sleep do you require according to your age group.
| Age Group | Sleep Needed (Hrs) | Deep Sleep Needed (Hrs) |
| Newborn to 3 months | 12 – 18 | 2.4 – 3.6 |
| 3 months to 1 year old | 14 – 15 | 2.8 – 3.0 |
| 1 to 3 years old | 12 – 14 | 2.4 – 2.8 |
| 3 to 5 years old | 11 – 13 | 2.2 – 2.6 |
| 5 to 12 years old | 10 – 11 | 2 – 2.2 |
| 12 to 18 years old | 8.5 – 10 | 1.7 – 2 |
| Over 18 years old | 7.5 – 9 | 1.5 – 1.8 |
How to Know How Much Deep Sleep You Are Getting?
Waking up exhausted from sleep essentially means that you are not getting enough deep sleep. Knowing how much deep sleep you are getting plays a significant role in improving your deep sleep.
Latest technologies such as smartwatches help you track your deep sleeping hours. Although it may be an indicator of your sleeping pattern, it may not be a trustworthy indicator of your deep sleeping time.
Doctors recommend a polysomnography (PSG) test for measuring deep sleep continuity. This test measures your –
- breathing rate
- oxygen levels
- body movements
- heart rate
- brain waves
The doctor assesses this information to identify whether you are getting the required amount of deep sleep or not.
Want to know the secret of sleep from top-notch executives in the world? Check out the blog on The Secrets of executive sleep habits to learn the best way to sleep.
The Final Word
By now, you might have understood the long-lasting benefits of deep sleep. Deep sleep restores your body by enabling the growth and regeneration of various cells and tissues. Not getting enough deep sleep may result in you feeling groggy and losing concentration throughout the day. It is safe to say, Better the deep sleep better is your sleep quality. Hopefully, our detailed guide might have helped you understand the knows and hows of deep sleep so that you can practice deep sleep starting tonight.
