Improve rem sleep

8 Tips, Medications, and Supplements to Try

How to Get More REM Sleep: 8 Tips, Medications, and Supplements to Try

Medically reviewed by Raj Dasgupta, MD — By Jaime Herndon, MS, MPH, MFA on June 29, 2021

Insomnia, undiagnosed sleep disorders and chronic sleep deprivation can result in a lack of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which can have a serious impact on your quality of life — and your health.

Good sleep is important for our bodies and minds. Without it, it’s hard to concentrate, our immune system is weakened, and we can become short-tempered, just to name a few things.

There are ways to get better sleep, with or without medications.

There are some things you can do to help you get better REM sleep. You might have to try one or more to see what works for you.

Develop a sleep schedule. Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. This primes your body for sleep and waking.
Don’t drink caffeine or smoke cigarettes later in the day. These are stimulants and can interfere with sleep.
Avoid alcoholic drinks at night. Though they may initially make you sleepy, they actually interfere with sleep, particularly REM sleep.
Put together a relaxing sleep routine before bed. Warm baths, relaxing music like classical music, or quietly reading are all good activities.
Get regular exercise. Try to get about 20 to 30 minutes a day, but do so several hours before bed.
Create an ideal environment for sleep. That means no bright lights, not too hot and not too cold, and don’t watch television or work on the computer in the bedroom.
If you can’t sleep, don’t lie in bed awake. Get up and go into another room and do something quietly, like read or listen to relaxing music, until you’re sleepy.
Replace your pillows. If you’ve had your pillows for more than a year, consider replacing them. This might make you more comfortable for sleep. Want suggestions? Browse our market, filled with editor-trusted and expert-verified pillow recommendations.

If nothing works, talk with a medical professional. They may have other suggestions, run some tests to see if there’s an underlying cause for your sleep issues, or talk with you about prescribing medication.

Without deep sleep and REM sleep, you might find yourself becoming cranky, unable to focus, and it may impair your work performance and quality of life. Chronic sleep deprivation can be very unpleasant.

It’s essential to make sure you’re getting not only the appropriate quantity of sleep but quality of sleep also. So, be sure to be evaluated by your doctor or primary care provider before taking any medications or supplements to help you sleep. Especially because some sleep medications can be addictive.

Mental health conditions

Certain psychiatric conditions are known to affect sleep and REM sleep. These include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. All have been associated with disturbances in REM sleep. Treating the underlying psychiatric condition along with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) both help to normalize sleep.

Chronic insomnia

Chronic insomnia often has multiple causes and the correct assessment and treatment of all contributing causes is critical for maximum therapeutic benefit. A broad assessment should be performed in all patients to identify predisposing and precipitating factors such as depression, anxiety, pain, and medications that may be interfering with sleep.

If you’re living with chronic insomnia the main treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy as first-line therapy, rather than medications. If your doctor prescribes a sleep aid, the specific medication they prescribe will depend on things like:

your symptoms
the goals of treatment
your medical history and preferences
the cost
potential adverse effects

There are also supplements you can use to help with sleep in combination with good sleep hygiene. It’s important to remember that even though they aren’t prescription and they may be considered all-natural, that it doesn’t mean they’re necessarily safe.

Talk with a medical professional before using any supplements to make sure they’re safe and won’t interfere with any medications you may be taking.

Supplements that may be helpful with sleep include:

melatonin
valerian root
magnesium
chamomile
tryptophan
glycine
L-theanine
gingko biloba

We all need sleep — good sleep — in order to function. Sleep restores our bodies and minds, and without enough REM sleep, you won’t feel rested or rejuvenated. If you have daytime sleepiness or exhaustion that’s interfering with your work or day-to-day functioning, talk with a medical professional.

They might want to run sleep tests or do a physical to rule out any underlying causes.

Adequate REM sleep is necessary for good health and proper functioning. Chronic sleep deprivation can negatively impact your quality of life — but it doesn’t have to. There are ways to get better sleep. If lifestyle changes don’t help with sleep, talk with your doctor about medications, either over-the-counter or prescription, that might be helpful to you.

Last medically reviewed on June 29, 2021

How we reviewed this article:

Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

Abbasi B, et al. (2012). The effect of magnesium supplementation on primary insomnia in the elderly: A double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3703169/
Boyle NB, et al. (2017). The effects of magnesium supplementation on subjective anxiety and stress – a systematic review.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5452159/
Brain basics: Understanding sleep. (2019).
ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/patient-caregiver-education/Understanding-sleep#8
Feriante J, et al. (2021). Physiology, REM sleep.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK531454/
Ferracioli-Oda E, et al. (2013). Meta-analysis: Melatonin for the treatment of primary sleep disorders.
journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0063773
Hemmeter U, et al. (2001). Polysomnographic effects of adjuvant gingko biloba therapy in patients with major depression medicated with trimipramine. DOI:
10.1055/s-2001-15182
Kim S, et al. (2019). GABA and L-theanine mixture decreases sleep latency and improves NREM sleep.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6366437/
Lie JD, et al. Pharmacological treatment of insomnia.
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Roehrs T, et al. (n.d.). Sleep, sleepiness, and alcohol use.
pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh35-2/101-109.htm
Yamadera W, et al. (2007). Glycine ingestion improves subjective sleep quality in human volunteers, correlating with polysomnographic changes.
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Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

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Jun 29, 2021

Written By

Jaime R. Herndon, MS, MPH, MFA

Edited By

Allison Tsai

Medically Reviewed By

Raj Dasgupta, M.D.

Copy Edited By

Naomi Farr

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Medically reviewed by Raj Dasgupta, MD — By Jaime Herndon, MS, MPH, MFA on June 29, 2021

How To Get More REM Sleep? Meet Your Overall Sleep Need

Perhaps you’ve been analyzing your sleep stages and noticed REM (or rapid eye movement sleep) is a small percentage of your night. You might think getting more REM could help you have more dreams or even beat sleepiness during the day. Either way, you may want to know how to get more of it.

But, it’s not as simple as that. Not only are all sleep stages important to general well-being and energy levels, there’s actually not a lot you can do to control how long you spend in certain stages of sleep. Plus, at-home sleep tracking is often inaccurate, so you may be getting more REM than you think and it can be difficult to know if any changes you make actually lead to you getting more of it.

The one thing you can control, however, is how long you sleep for overall — and that will directly affect how much REM you get.

Below, we’ll dive into what REM sleep is, how you can get more of it, and why you shouldn’t worry too much about how much of it you get (and what to do instead).

‍

What is REM sleep?

Why is REM sleep needed?

How much REM sleep should I get?

How to get more REM sleep?

Should I worry about how much REM sleep I get?

‍

What is REM Sleep?

REM sleep stands for rapid eye movement sleep. It’s one of the stages of sleep that we cycle through each night. In total, REM sleep makes up about 20% to 25% of the night.

You’ll most likely have dreams during REM sleep and your eyes can be seen moving quickly underneath your eyelids — hence the name.

A night of sleep is split between non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM sleep) and REM sleep, and it usually looks something like this:

Stage 1: This is when we’re first drifting off and we can easily be woken up. We spend 2% to 5% of our total sleep time in this stage.
Stage 2: We spend about 45% to 55% in stage 2, also known as light sleep. This is where our breathing, heart rate, and brain activity all begin to slow down as we move deeper into sleep.
Stage 3 or deep sleep: This phase is also known as slow-wave sleep because it’s characterized by slow-wave brain activity. Most of this stage happens within the first third of the night, and it's the stage that’s the hardest to be woken up from.
REM sleep: In this stage, our muscles are temporarily paralyzed to stop us acting out our dreams. If you wake up remembering a vivid dream, you were probably in this stage. Brain wave activity, breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure all rise. In the first sleep cycle, we may only spend one to five minutes in REM, and the amount of time we spend in REM usually increases as the night progresses. This is why you need to get enough sleep overall to get enough REM, as most REM happens in the second half of the night.

When you’ve moved through all of the sleep stages, you’ll begin a new cycle from the beginning. Each cycle could last between 70 to 120 minutes.

‍

Why is REM Sleep Needed?

While deep sleep sounds like the most needed stage of sleep, every stage is in fact important. And that includes REM — it’s not just for dreams!

It’s thought that REM is important for:

Memory consolidation
Brain development and learning motor skills
Regulating emotions
Creativity: REM may enhance creativity and a lack of sleep lowers it.
Pain response: One study found that when we don’t get enough REM sleep, our response to pain increases the next day.
Executive function: This includes working memory, self-control, and flexible thinking. Research suggests more REM sleep and fewer awakenings during the night are significantly associated with better performance tests measuring executive function.
Accuracy: In the study above, accuracy was reduced in individuals who had less REM sleep.
Reducing dementia risk: Research has found less REM sleep is associated with a higher risk of dementia.
Language learning: According to sleep expert and author of Why We Sleep Matthew Walker, REM may even play a role in language acquisition in babies. A six-month-old may spend 50% of their time asleep in REM.
Quality of sleep: One study found self-reported sleep quality was positively associated with the duration of REM sleep — although there’s no agreed-upon definition for sleep quality yet.

‍

How Much REM Sleep Should I Get?

There’s no one single answer to the question of how much REM sleep you should get. Although research shows REM makes up 20% to 25% of total sleep time, the amount of sleep we all need is highly unique.

This is called your sleep need. It’s determined by genetics and one study suggests the average sleep need is 8 hours 40 minutes, plus or minus 10 minutes or so. However, 13.5% of us may need 9 hours or more sleep a night.

You can find out your sleep need with the RISE app. RISE uses your phone use behavior and proprietary sleep-science-based models to work this out, and it gives you a number to aim for each night in hours and minutes.

RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to view their sleep need.

Plus, the amount of REM sleep you need can change from night to night. If you’ve had a few nights of sleep deprivation, for example, you’ll experience REM rebound. This is when your body takes the opportunity to get more REM than usual to make up for what it lost out on.

One study looked at participants who only got six hours of sleep a night for six nights, followed by three recovery nights of 10 hours of sleep. The researchers found the amount of deep sleep didn’t change by much between the six-hour sleep nights and the 10-hour sleep nights. The amount of REM, however, decreased significantly during the restricted nights and then increased significantly during the 10-hour nights (in what’s known scientifically as a ‘REM rebound’, which describes the increased frequency, depth, and intensity of REM sleep following a bout of sleep deprivation).

The researchers said this suggests: “a stronger biological drive to retain deep sleep than REM sleep.”

But, that doesn’t mean REM isn’t needed. Participants experienced hormonal changes and their neurobehavior was impacted, even though deep sleep stayed roughly the same. The researchers said this shows that other stages, like stage 2 and REM, are necessary.

The REM rebound following this period of restricted sleep also shows your brain is very good at self-optimizing and getting the REM it needs when you allow yourself to catch up on lost sleep.

You can learn more about how much REM sleep you need here, and why we say you don’t need to know.

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How to Get More REM Sleep?

Your sleep tracker might give you the full breakdown of how long you spent in each sleep stage, but even if it were accurate (which studies show it most likely isn’t), the reality is you can’t really do much about it. If you spend eight hours asleep, for example, you can’t decide how those hours will be allocated to different sleep stages.

But, your body is very good at self-optimizing and spending the right amount of time in each sleep stage. You just have to give it the chance by focusing on getting enough sleep overall and making sure this sleep is healthy naturalistic sleep through good sleep hygiene (more on that soon).

Here’s how to make sure you’re getting enough REM sleep.

Find Out (and Meet) Your Sleep Need

Use the RISE app to work out your individual sleep need and start aiming for this number each night. When you don’t get enough sleep, you can actually deny your body REM sleep in particular.

While we get some REM sleep as part of each cycle, we get much more of it in the second half of the night, as the time we spend in REM increases with each cycle. So, if you don’t sleep for long enough, your body won’t get to spend as much time as it would like to in REM.

For example, if your sleep need is eight hours and you sleep from midnight to 6 a.m., you’ve lost out on two hours of sleep. But, while that’s just a 25% reduction in total sleep time, that may translate to 60% to 90% of lost REM sleep.

So, getting enough sleep in general is the key to getting enough REM.

Bonus tip: Think about sleep efficiency, or how long you spend in bed actually sleeping. It takes some time for you to fall asleep (also known as sleep latency) and you wake up during the night (also known as sleep fragmentation). So, if your sleep need is 8 hours 30 minutes, you need to be in bed for longer than this to meet your sleep need. Add 30 minutes to an hour to your sleep need and spend this long in bed to ensure you get enough sleep and REM sleep.

Practice Good Sleep Hygiene

The RISE app can guide you through 20+ sleep hygiene habits.

Sleep hygiene is the set of daily behaviors you can do to help you fall asleep faster and wake up less often during the night. When your sleep hygiene is on point, you’ll have a much higher chance of getting enough sleep each night, and therefore getting enough REM sleep, too. The sleep you do get will also be set up to include enough REM sleep, as poor sleep habit behaviors like drinking alcohol too close to bedtime can suppress this sleep stage.

Here’s what to do:

Get light first thing: This will reset your circadian rhythm, or body clock, for the day, helping you feel sleepy at the right time that evening. Aim for 10 minutes of natural light as soon as possible after waking up, and make that 30 if it’s an overcast day or if you’re getting light through a window.
Avoid light in the evenings: Light suppresses the sleep hormone melatonin. Dim the lights and put on blue-light blocking glasses 90 minutes before bed.
Avoid caffeine, alcohol, exercise, and large meals too close to bedtime: All four can keep you up or wake you up during the night. RISE can tell you the best time to avoid each one depending on your circadian rhythm.
Make your bedroom dark, cool, and quiet: Set the thermostat to 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, wear an eye mask, and use blackout curtains and earplugs to help you fall asleep and reduce sleep disruptions.
Do a relaxing bedtime routine: Give yourself time to unwind before bed each night. This helps to reduce stress and anxiety and helps you fall asleep faster. Use this time to read, do yoga, journal, or listen to music. Learn more about how to create the perfect “adult” bedtime routine here.

To start getting better sleep, you can learn more about sleep hygiene here. And to stay on top of all of these sleep habits, RISE can remind you when to do them at the right times each day.

RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to set up their 20+ in-app habit notifications.

Live in Sync with Circadian Rhythm

The RISE app can tell you the best time to go to bed.

Your circadian rhythm is your body’s internal biological clock. It runs on a roughly 24-hour cycle and dictates things like your energy levels, hormone production, and body temperature throughout the day and night.

You might be out of sync with your circadian rhythm if:

You’re a shift worker.
You have social jet lag, or go to sleep later on the weekends than during the week (87% of us do).
You’re ignoring your chronotype, like a night owl forcing themselves to be a morning person.

When you’re living out of sync with your circadian rhythm, it’s much harder to get the sleep you need, as you might not feel sleepy when you head to bed, for example.

You can sync up by:

Honoring your chronotype: If your body naturally wants to go to sleep and wake up later, let it. If this doesn’t fit with your lifestyle, you can reset your circadian rhythm and shift it earlier.
Keeping a consistent sleep pattern: Find the best sleep schedule for you and then stick to it, even on weekends.
Going to sleep at the right time for you: Check RISE for your Melatonin Window, the roughly one-hour window of time when your body’s rate of melatonin production will be at its highest. Head to bed in this window of time and you’ll have a much higher chance of falling and staying asleep.

RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to set up a daily Melatonin Window reminder.

What Science Says to Get More REM Sleep

While we recommend not worrying about REM, or any other sleep stage, and focusing instead on getting enough sleep overall, there are a few things you can do to make sure you’re not getting in the way of getting your REM.

Avoid alcohol too close to bedtime: Alcohol suppresses REM sleep. You take longer to reach the REM stage and you get less of it overall. Either skip the drinks altogether or finish your drinks three to four hours before heading to bed. RISE can tell you the best time to do this. RISE users on iOS 1.202 and above can click here to set up their limit alcohol reminder.
Avoid sleep aids: Research says sleep aids like benzodiazepines decrease how long you spend in REM and increase the arousal threshold when in REM, or how easily you can be woken up. Barbiturates, which can be used to treat sleep disorders like insomnia, are also associated with decreased REM sleep.
Avoid marijuana: Research suggests marijuana reduces total REM sleep and REM density. It may also increase how long it takes you to get to the REM sleep stage, but results here are contradictory.
Avoid antidepressants (if possible): Antidepressants increase how long it takes you to reach the REM stage and decrease how much of it you get overall — and this is true for both healthy and depressed patients. For some antidepressants, this reduction is only seen in the first few weeks of treatment and REM slowly increases again.

‍

Should I Worry About How Much REM Sleep I Get?

The short answer is no. You can’t do too much about it. Of course, you can cut down on alcohol and avoid sleep medicines, but you should be doing that anyway as part of good sleep hygiene to help you get a good night’s sleep overall.

What’s more, sleep tracking is often unreliable. So, if your fitness tracker says you spent a certain percentage of your sleep time in REM, and you’re trying to get this number up, it may not be something you can trust. In fact, when using just electrical brainwave activity, it’s often impossible to tell REM sleep and wakefulness apart.

Beyond that, it’s important to remember all sleep stages are important for your overall wellness. Deep sleep, for example, strengthens your immune system, and stage 2 is associated with overnight motor skill improvement. So, you shouldn’t focus on just one stage.

Finally, if you’re trying to get more REM sleep to get more energy, improve your mental health, or boost your productivity, for example, meeting your overall sleep need and living in sync with your circadian rhythm are the two most important things to focus on.

If you’re meeting your sleep need and following good sleep hygiene, then you don’t need to worry too much. You’ll be setting your brain and body up to get enough REM sleep, without any additional work needed from you.

Heads-up: You don’t need to worry about how to get more deep sleep, either.

You Don’t Need to Worry About REM Sleep

While getting enough REM sleep is important, there’s not much you can do to control how your body cycles through the sleep stages. What you can do, however, is get enough sleep overall, sync up this sleep with your circadian rhythm, and practice good sleep hygiene.

The RISE app can help with all three. The app can work out your unique sleep need, predict your circadian rhythm each day, and guide you through 20+ sleep hygiene habits to help you stay on top of them.

So, you can stop worrying about getting more REM sleep. If you focus on getting enough sleep overall, your body will take care of the rest.

‍

How much sleep is right for you?

How much sleep do I need? It's more than you think
Only 5 hours of sleep? It's worse for you than you think
Is 6 hours of sleep enough? 5 reasons why it's not
Is 7 hours of sleep enough?
Is 8 hours enough sleep? First, find out your sleep need
Why am I still tired after 8 hours of sleep? 3 likely culprits
Is 9 hours of sleep too much?
Why am I always tired and have no energy?
How much deep sleep do you need? You don't need to know
How much REM sleep do you need? You don't need to know
How much sleep debt do I have?

‍

How to improve sleep quality - The-Challenger.

People spend a third of their lives sleeping. If you are unhappy with how this third is going, rather read our material. Together with the BOSE brand, we tell you what happens while a person sleeps and how to improve the quality of sleep using simple tools.

What happens when we sleep

Sleep is a natural state for the human body. It affects physical and mental health and is regulated by brain activity cycles. The dream consists of

two main states

: REM (REM) and non-REM (non-REM) sleep. REM - Rapid Eye Movement - literally translated as "rapid eye movement." During the night, the brain switches from non-REM to REM sleep and back again several times. When a person is just falling asleep, the body

is in a state of slow sleep

. Then comes the phase of REM sleep - at this time, brain activity is similar to daytime. And so in a circle.

Sleep at least 7-9 hours and go to bed before 12 at night. But in addition to the amount of sleep, its quality is equally important. The slow, deep sleep period is responsible for how well you rest at night. nine0003

Non-REM sleep

The period of deep, slow-wave sleep consists of

three stages

First stage. Falling asleep. Breathing slows down, heart rate slows down, brain activity decreases by 50% compared to daytime.

Second stage. Immersion in sleep. Muscles relax, breathing becomes measured, body temperature decreases. Brain activity slows down, but there are short bursts of activity. nine0003

Third stage. The period of deep restorative sleep. It is he who is the most valuable - during this stage, growth and restoration of tissues occurs, the blood supply to the muscles increases, hormones are synthesized, the energy level is restored for the next day. At this stage, the person is most difficult to wake up.

Infants are the ones most in slow-wave sleep: they sleep 16-17 hours a day. Least of all - people over 65 years old. Adults under 30 - about two hours each night. As people age, they spend more and more time in REM sleep rather than deep sleep. nine0003

REM sleep

REM sleep usually occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep. During REM sleep, breathing quickens and brain activity increases, muscles relax, arms and legs may twitch. The first period of REM sleep lasts about ten minutes, the duration of each subsequent period increases. By morning, the duration of REM sleep reaches an hour. It is in this phase that people dream.

How to improve sleep quality

To sleep soundly and get enough sleep, you need to maximize the amount of non-REM sleep. The ratio of sleep phases is influenced by surrounding sounds, light, time of day and temperature.

Sleep in silence

The noise of the road, the rustles in the room, the sounds from the neighbor's apartment - all this prevents you from getting a good night's sleep. Chinese scientists came to the conclusion

long ago

that earplugs and sleep masks help produce melatonin (sleep hormone) and reduce cortisol (stress hormone). Ordinary drugstore earplugs are not suitable for everyone, they are not very comfortable, sometimes it is difficult to sleep in them, during sleep they can pop out of the ears. There is a technological alternative:

Bose Sleepbuds electronic earplugs

with ambient noise masking.

Bose Sleepbuds fit comfortably in your ears and help you sleep better. Bose Sleepbuds work with the free Bose Sleep app for iOS and Android, through which you can turn on relaxing songs and their duration. The sounds of nature will help you go to sleep comfortably. Through the application, you can also set the time to wake up - the alarm clock will sound only in your ears and will not wake up others. Earplugs are suitable for all people - in the kit there are three pairs of nozzles of different sizes. Bose Sleepbuds are easy to take with you on your travels thanks to the convenient pouch. The kit includes a case where the earplugs are charged and stored. This case has a microUSB connector for charging. One charge of the case is enough for two additional recharging of electronic earplugs. nine0003

Anton Angel

creator

- I exercise a lot, so it's important for me to control my sleep patterns. I usually try to go to bed and wake up at the same time, whether it's a weekday or a weekend. I feel like I sleep better this way. I have been sleeping with Bose Sleepbuds for the last week. According to the sports watch I wear, the average amount of deep sleep has doubled from 40 to 90 minutes per night. I do wake up more rested and feel good. In addition, the alarm function in the earplugs works perfectly and does not interfere with the people around me from continuing to sleep.

Remove all lights

Try to sleep in total darkness. If street lights are shining, cover windows with blackout curtains and wear sleep masks. Do not look at your smartphone or computer before going to bed - the blue light from gadgets excites the nervous system and prevents you from falling asleep quickly. nine0003

Go to bed at the same time

The human body knows how to adapt to any circumstances in order to ensure good health. If you go to bed at about the same time every day, the body will get used to the regimen, you will begin to fall asleep faster, and the quality of sleep will improve.

Adjust temperature

You have probably noticed that in the summer it is hard to sleep in the heat. The ideal bedroom temperature for falling asleep is 17-19degrees. If the battery temperature is not regulated at home, just ventilate the room before going to bed.

What else needs to be done to sleep well

exercise every day for 20-30 minutes;
go out for a walk before going to bed;
do not drink coffee and energy drinks after 3 p. m.;
Take a hot bath before bed.

Subscribe to The Challenger!

nine0102

Optimizing sleep: how to sleep less but better

David Robson
BBC Worklife

December 1, 2019

Image copyright Getty Images

Scientists have already learned how to deepen and speed up the recovery processes that occur in our brain during sleep. Will it make us feel better even when we go to bed too late and wake up too early? nine0032

We often talk about our sleep difficulties with some pride. After all, they testify that we lead an extremely busy life.

Let's remember Thomas Edison, Margaret Thatcher - yes, the same Donald Trump. All of them are famous for their short night rest - 4-5 hours of sleep, much less than the 7-9 hours recommended by doctors for adults.

We cut our own sleep, and the consequences are very disturbing

Why getting enough sleep in the morning is good for your work

Is it true that with age a person needs less time to sleep

How long can one go without sleep?

Many of us seem to follow suit: According to the US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, more than a third of US adults regularly lack sleep.

The consequences are known - from memory impairment to increased risk of infectious diseases, from difficulty making decisions to obesity. But they are often ignored. nine0003
Alas, when our work needs exceed our normal daily schedule, the first thing we sacrifice is hours of sleep.

But if we could optimize the hours we spend sleeping, make them more efficient? Would we then need less time to sleep, and would it be deeper?

This possibility is closer than we think. Techniques for optimizing sleep already exist, and experiments around the world are proving that we can improve the efficiency of our brains at night. nine0003
First we speed up our deep sleep, and then we increase the quality of our rest.

Do you think it sounds too nice to be true? Let's figure it out.

Slowing down the rhythm

During a normal night, the brain goes through different stages of sleep, each with its own characteristic "brain wave" pattern. At the same time, neurons in different areas of the brain work synchronously, in a certain rhythm (like a large crowd chanting something in unison). nine0003
During the phase of REM sleep, also called the phase of rapid eye movements (REM), the rhythm of neurons is relatively fast - at this time we usually dream.

But at certain moments our eyes stop moving, dreams stop dreaming and the rhythm of brain activity drops to one "beat" per second.

And here we plunge into that very deep unconscious state, which is called the phase of slow sleep.

It is this stage that is of most interest to scientists studying the possibilities of optimizing sleep. nine0003
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,
Margaret Thatcher, among other things, was known for getting four to five hours of sleep a night, at least during her years as British Prime Minister

Research since the 1980s has shown that non-REM sleep is critical to maintaining normal brain function. During it, the corresponding areas of the brain transfer memories of what happened during the day from the category of short-term memory to long-term - so that we do not forget what we have learned and learned. nine0003
"Slow-wave sleep facilitates this transfer of information," says Jan Born, Head of the Department of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Tübingen (Germany).

How some people manage to get by with little to no sleep

The best recipe for a broken heart or clouded mind is to take a nap

Slow-wave sleep also triggers blood and spinal fluid flow to the brain, thus "flushing out" potentially damaging neurons. blockages". nine0003
At the same time, levels of cortisol (hydrocortisone, the “stress hormone”) are lowered, which helps to restore the immune system, preparing it for future attacks of infections.

Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,
Many companies are now working to develop methods to help their customers achieve deeper NREM sleep, much like children do.

Born and other scientists wondered if we could to improve the quality of sleep and, in particular, the phases of non-REM sleep so much that it will improve our daytime functioning? nine0003
One of the most promising techniques is to use a kind of metronome for the sleeping brain. Participants in the experiments put on a kind of helmet on their heads, which captures the phases of their brain activity during sleep - including when they are immersed in the slow phase.

And then the device begins to reproduce short impulses, barely audible sounds with a frequency that matches the brain impulses of the non-REM sleep phase.

These sounds are not loud enough to wake up a sleeping person, but a person subconsciously perceives them. nine0003
Bourne came to the conclusion that such gentle sound stimulation is quite sufficient to ensure that the correct brain rhythms enhance the state of deep sleep.

Circadian rhythms: why is daylight so important for good sleep?

Scientists have found how sound sleep can prevent the onset of Alzheimer's disease slept with a device that produced no stimulation. nine0003
The signals sent by the device changed the hormonal balance, helped to reduce the level of cortisol in the body.

To date, none of the participants in the experiments reported adverse effects or side effects of such brain stimulation, Born says.

For sound sleep - to the store

In most experiments to deepen the phase of non-REM sleep, small groups of young and healthy volunteers took part. So, in order to be fully convinced of the benefits of such techniques, research should be wider and in groups with more diverse composition. nine0003
But the technology has already made its way into some household devices, mostly in the form of headbands worn at night.

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The French start-up Dreem, for example, produces such a headband (it costs about 400 euros), as in the experiments described above, stimulating the brain with sound impulses that immerse a person in the phase of slow sleep. The effectiveness of this device is confirmed by a peer-reviewed scientific study. nine0003
The French gadget comes with a mobile application that analyzes your sleep and offers practical advice and exercises to improve it - including meditation and breathing exercises.

Philips, the manufacturer of the SmartSleep device, explicitly states that it wants to help alleviate the negative effects of sleep deprivation.

The device is for those people "who, for whatever reason, simply can't afford to get as much sleep as their body needs," says David White, Chief Scientist at Philips. nine0003
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,
Philips has joined the research to improve sleep efficiency with its own device for sleep-deprived people

Launched in 2018. Like the Dreem, it's a headband that detects electrical brain activity and periodically sends out short beeps to stimulate the vibrations that are characteristic of non-REM sleep.

The gadget relies on software that offers the optimal level of stimulation for a particular person (SmartSleep is currently only available in the US, its price is 39$9).

David White agrees that such devices cannot completely replace healthy sleep throughout the night. But, he says, those who suffer from sleep deprivation are extremely difficult to convince of the need to change their lifestyle. And the device should at least help them feel better during the day.

Philips' own research has reportedly confirmed that SmartSleep stimulates slow-wave sleep in those who are regularly sleep deprived and mitigates the effect of this sleep loss on the effectiveness of nightly memory consolidation. nine0003
No doubt, in the future, new experiments will lead to new devices and innovative ways to optimize sleep.

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Auror Perrault of Concordia University, Montreal, recently tested a bed that gently rocked back and forth every four seconds, much like a cradle holding a baby.

According to her, her colleague suggested this after she had a baby and had to rock him to sleep. Scientists have a question: but will it work with adults too? nine0003
Image copyright, Dreem
Image caption,
French startup Dreem's device uses sound brain stimulation to improve sleep quality. Similar products are beginning to appear on the market

Indeed, it turned out that the participants in the experiment fell into slow-wave sleep faster and spent more time in it. Their brains synchronized with external movement.

As expected, they reported feeling more rested afterwards. In addition, this was accompanied by positive effects on their memory. nine0003
If such a bed is available for sale, it will perform the same function as head-mounted devices.

Perro is particularly interested in whether she will help the elderly. As we age, the amount of time we spend in non-REM sleep decreases, and memory problems may be associated with this.

Perrault hopes that the gently rocking bed will help counter this.

Sleep anyway

While such studies are at the very beginning of their journey, they are nevertheless promising. Perrault and Bourne are optimistic about the potential of commercial products that use sound pulses for health purposes. nine0003
Perrault emphasizes that more research is needed on the effectiveness of such methods - and no longer in the laboratory. "It's great that they keep trying to use external stimulation - we know it works," says Perrault.

Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,
Some research has found that long-known environmental stimuli like bed rocking can help adults sleep better too

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Will these techniques have long-term effects? We know that chronic sleep deprivation increases the risk of developing diabetes and even Alzheimer's syndrome. Can artificially optimized sleep reduce these risks?

For now, the only way to ensure you get all the benefits of healthy sleep (both in the short and long term) is to make sure you get enough sleep each night. nine0003
Whether or not to test the devices described here is up to you. But you should definitely try going to bed early more often, not drinking alcohol and caffeine before bed, and not browsing social media and your favorite Internet sites for too long while lying in bed. All this harms the quality of sleep.

Our brain cannot function properly without the recharge that sleep provides. And it would be better for us not to oversleep the moment when it will be too late to fix something.
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