For most people, sleep is the most natural thing in the world. Many aren't aware that the topic of "sleep" is very complex and not as simple as one might think.
While you sleep, your body goes through four sleep stages as well as various regeneration and rebuilding processes that can make the difference in how fit and rested you feel the next morning.
In this article, you'll learn all about the different sleep stages and how sleep trackers can help you monitor and optimize your sleep.
Table of contents
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1. The cycle of the 4 sleep phases
Do you want to understand what happens in your body while you sleep? First of all, sleep can be roughly divided into two phases: the REM (rapid eye movement) phase and the non-REM phases , which are further divided into the falling asleep phase, light sleep, and deep sleep.
Strictly speaking, no two hours of the night are the same, and your body and mind are performing a variety of tasks. During a single night, your body goes through four different phases every 90 minutes , each of which is different and all linked to the sleep hormone melatonin .
1. The falling asleep phase
This sleep phase initially serves only as a transition between wakefulness and sleep . Your body prepares for sleep; blood pressure drops , breathing slows , and body temperature drops . In short, your body begins to relax, and you slowly drift off to sleep.
2. Light sleep
You're probably familiar with light sleep, a sleep phase , in the form of a power nap . During light sleep, you can easily wake up again due to something else. Nevertheless, your brain is tightly closed , your muscles are relaxed , and your blood pressure drops .
Lower blood pressure protects your blood vessels and heart. Sufficient sleep can significantly reduce the strain on your cardiovascular system and thus prevent disease. You spend approximately 50% of your night in this sleep phase. A study from Harvard University shows just how much sleep can make a difference.
This study demonstrated that short power naps provide enormous regeneration for the brain and can thus optimize concentration by 30% . [1]
3. The deep sleep phase
During deep sleep, the third stage of sleep, all your bodily functions are reduced to a minimum . Your breathing is shallow, your heart rate is slow, and your body temperature is lower. All of this happens solely to provide your body with as much energy as possible for the various regenerative tasks.
During the deep sleep phase, for example, particularly large amounts of growth hormones are released , which play an important role in strengthening the immune system and cell regeneration . The deep sleep phase is also crucial for the brain .
This is where new memory structures are created , separating and storing the day's relevant information from the unimportant. Learning while you sleep: Not wishful thinking, but truly true!
4. The REM phase
REM stands for "rapid eye movement ." During this sleep phase, not only does eye movement increase, but heart rate and breathing also increase . Not only are your bodily functions activated, but more activity also occurs in your brain .
The Sleep Medicine Center in Munich discovered that the same brain waves are active during the REM phase as during learning processes while awake. [2] The REM phase is, in a sense, our subconscious processing mechanism for thoughts , feelings , and fears .
During this time, you dream a lot . This phase is therefore often called dream sleep . During the REM phase, your imagination is stimulated, and the logical centers of your brain are switched off. This explains your often confusing and bizarre dreams.
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Source: www.melissengeist.de
2. What are sleep trackers?
Anyone who wants to check their sleeping habits and sleep quality no longer needs to go to a sleep lab, as sleep trackers now easily perform this task from home. Sleep tracker is actually just a collective term for technical devices that record your sleep in some way.
Through the recordings they make, you can, for example, identify your sleep phases . By measuring stimuli like heart rate and movement, sleep trackers can not only record how much restorative REM sleep and deep sleep you get, they also detect how often you wake up during the night, how long it takes you to fall asleep, and whether you wake up during the night.
There are different sleep trackers, such as wearables , which are usually worn on the body in the form of a bracelet, or smartphone apps that are designed to monitor sleep.
Wearables record what's happening to your body during the night in more detail. They measure body temperature, breathing rate, and heart rate. This comprehensive data allows wearables to provide very precise information about which sleep phase you're currently in.
Another practical feature: By detecting your sleep phases, the wearables wake you up with a gentle vibration when you're in a light sleep phase. Waking up during a light sleep phase will help you feel fitter and more rested during the day.
The best-selling self-trackers currently on the market are from the "Fitbit" brand and cost €115 and up. Compared to apps, these wearables are definitely more accurate, but also significantly more expensive.
Anyone interested in self-tracking should opt for wearables and take advantage of their numerous additional features. However, if you just want to monitor your sleep, an app is perfectly sufficient to start with.
Smartphone apps record the vibrations of the mattress you're lying on, triggered by your movement and breathing. Simply place your smartphone next to your pillow and it will track your sleep, even in airplane mode.
This way, you don't have to worry about harmful influences from your smartphone. The apps also offer the opportunity to track other behavioral patterns that can affect your sleep. How much coffee do you drink per day? How often do you exercise?
The "Sleep Better" app from Runtastic, for example, offers all of these features. The basic version is free, but some options are missing, and you'll need to purchase the advanced version for a few euros to fully utilize the app.
Just like wearables, it has a sleep phase alarm that wakes you up during light sleep and monitors your sleep quality and phases. A fun side feature of the app: It even monitors your dreams. Based on body movement and heart rate, the quality of your dreams is assessed in a dream diary.
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3. How to optimize your sleep with sleep trackers
Usain Bolt and Mark Zuckerberg have been doing it for a long time. Outstanding athletes and thinkers use their own data to monitor and optimize their sleep. To check how deeply and restfully they sleep, they use a so-called sleep tracker.
They perfectly harness the natural power offered by the different sleep phases. Sleep trackers help you achieve the goal of good sleep more easily. Their greatest strength lies in their ability to continually remind you of your successes and progress.
The longer you use the tracker, the more data you collect that you can compare. A study by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology examined the relationship between self-tracking and self-reflective learning. It found that knowledge of one's own data can accelerate learning processes. [3]
In short, the data about your behavior helps you be consistent and therefore successful. This makes it easier for you to adjust your routines for restful sleep and stick to them successfully.
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4. Conclusion
Sleep trackers are technical devices or apps that help you optimize your sleep. Depending on the device, they record your movements, breathing, or even your heart rate, and document your waking and sleeping phases throughout the night.
They also have the added feature of waking you up when you're in the light sleep phase, so you can start your day off right.
5. Sources
[1] healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/science
[2] schlafzentrum.med.tum.de/index.php/page/normaler-schlaf
[3] dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2330631
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