{"id":36,"date":"2019-07-02T22:58:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T22:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleepsnoringtmj.com\/blog\/?p=36"},"modified":"2020-12-09T16:53:29","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T16:53:29","slug":"sleep-cycles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/2019\/07\/02\/sleep-cycles\/","title":{"rendered":"Discover What is Happening To Your Body As You Go Through Sleep Cycles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You may think going to sleep is all about getting rest\nand essentially, \u201crecovering\u201d from the day\u2019s events. While this isn\u2019t entirely\nuntrue, you\u2019d be surprised to learn just how active your brain is while you\nsleep. In fact, your body and brain do a lot of work during sleep cycles<\/a>. Find out\nexactly what happens to your body while you snooze, and why it\u2019s beneficial to\nget the sleep you need and deserve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Just Nodding Off: Stage 1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When your head hits the pillow and you nod off, within\nminutes or sometimes seconds, you are in what is officially known as the \u201clight\nsleep\u201d stage. This isn\u2019t surprising since you\u2019ve only been asleep for a short\nwhile, but even in this short amount of time, your eye movement slows down and\nyour brain is still in the stage that makes it easy for you to wake up. This is\nwhat is known as the \u201ccatnap\u201d stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Power Nap: Stage 2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just a bit longer than a \u201ccatnap\u201d is a power nap, and during\nthis stage, your brain waves will increase and produce \u201csleep spindles\u201d before\nslowing down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deep Sleep: Stage 3 and 4<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is when your body completely relaxes. It is the stage\nwe all strive to reach each night when we go to sleep. Your muscles relax and\nyour eye movement ceases. Although some individuals are considered \u201clight\nsleepers,\u201d this is the stage most individuals have difficulty waking up, even\nif there is a massive thunderstorm keeping the whole neighborhood awake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During this stage, your body is working to repair its muscles\nand tissues, as well as improve immune function and generate enough energy, so\nyou can wake up and get started on the day ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is REM Sleep?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

REM stands for \u201cRapid Eye Movement,\u201d and this typically\noccurs after you\u2019ve been asleep for 90 minutes or more and can last an hour. On\naverage, you can expect to have 5 or 6 REM cycles, and once you\u2019ve reached this\nfinal stage, your brain hits overdrive! If you think about all those crazy\ndreams you\u2019ve had, this is when those nighttime images are happening. Whether\nit\u2019s enjoying a vacation on the beach with your children or running from a\ncrazed clown, your eyes move quickly, and your heart rate might even increase.\nLearning and memory function are occurring at a rapid rate during this phase,\nenabling you to remember what occurred throughout the day and store it in your\nlong-term memory bank. So, now you finally have the answer as to why your ex,\nwho you saw earlier in the day, showed up in your dream!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each sleep cycle plays a big role in how your body functions\nthe next day.  Most patients that snore\nor have sleep apnea experience \u201cinterruptions\u201d in their sleep cycles. These\ninterruptions never allow their body to get past Stage 3 sleep and cause them\nto bounce back to Stage 1 and start the cycle all over.  An interruption could be a snore, a gasp or\njerk, or even your spouse\u2019s elbow in your side nudging you to wake.  This is another reason most people with sleep\ndisorders don\u2019t have many dreams, have foggy memory, or develop other health\nissues caused by lack of Stage 3, 4 or even REM sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you\u2019re not getting the rest you need or are suffering\nfrom a disorder such as sleep apnea, it is suggested you talk to a sleep\ndentist about next steps. If you receive an official diagnosis, your dentist\ncan help you review treatment options that will help you get the sleep you\nneed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Author
<\/strong>Dr. Mitch Conditt, DDS, graduated from Baylor College of Dentistry in 1985 and has been practicing general and restorative dentistry ever since. Noticing many of his patients having problems with TMJ, he also discovered many were suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. Dr. Conditt pursued advanced training on ways to help people with TMJ and sleep apnea, and he now works with his patients to help them overcome sleep and pain issues. To learn more about Dr. Conditt and Fort Worth Snoring & Sleep Center, visit our website<\/a> or call (817) 527-8500<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may think going to sleep is all about getting rest and essentially, \u201crecovering\u201d from the day\u2019s events. While this isn\u2019t entirely untrue, you\u2019d be surprised to learn just how active your brain is while you sleep. In fact, your body and brain do a lot of work during sleep cycles. Find out exactly what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fortworthsnoringandsleepcenter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}