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We’ve all heard it by now: “make sure you get 8 hours of sleep.” Sleep plays a huge role in our development, rest, and general well-being. Just think, an AAA study found that driving while tired is on the same level as driving drunk,1 as drivers who miss 2–3 hours of sleep compared to people who get 7 hours of sleep are 4x more likely to get into a car crash.¹
We all probably know that sleep is really important but what might be lesser known is what does ‘good sleep’ actually mean? Why is it that some nights we sleep like a baby and some nights we’re lucky to get a few hours here and there?
Understanding Sleep Stages & Cycles
Our sleep cycle is very important to how rested we are when we wake up. There are 4 stages of sleep, and we typically go through these stages 4–6 times per night.
- Stage 1: The body and brain are starting to slow down² and you transition from awake to resting.³ It only lasts about 1–5 minutes and it’s easy to wake somebody in this stage.²
- Stage 2: The brain significantly slows down and the brain activity that dose occur actually…
