Written by:
SARAH DUTT, LMT, LR
Sarah can be reached at sarah@apexptwellness.com.
We use caffeine to stay away, sleeping pills to fall asleep just to get a night’s sleep.
Sleep…we’re not doing it enough, and we’re doing it all wrong. We’re dosing ourselves with caffeine to stay awake, and knocking ourselves out with alcohol and sleeping pills, stopping ourselves from getting the healthy, normal sleep that lets our brains function and bodies heal.
There are four key stages to your sleep cycle and you must make sure to pass through in order to get quality sleep.
Stage 1 – is within the first ten minutes of falling asleep. Your muscles start to relax during this stage but can be woken easily.
Stage 2 – more than half of your sleep will be spent in this stage. Your breathing relaxes and slows down as your body temperature drops, breathing slows as this also reduces heartbeat giving that important muscle a rest.
Stage 3 – is deep sleep, only lasting about 20 minutes. The brain waves slow and muscles and tissues are repaired. Without this stage of sleep, your brain is unable to process and repair properly which is why your immune system may suffer.
Stage 4 – REM at this stage brain kicks back on while muscles are relaxed.
This traditional Chinese biorhythm organ clock shows what is believed to be happening to our bodies and organs as we sleep.
SARAH DUTT, LMT, LR
Sarah can be reached at sarah@apexptwellness.com.
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