As we age, we tend to get more light sleep and less deep sleep, losing about 10-12 minutes per decade of age as our bodies produce lower levels of growth hormone and melatonin. Total sleep time can decrease and we may wake more often because we get less deep sleep.
Taking naps or spending too much time in bed can weaken your sleep drive. You may lose some of your ability to sleep normally, and as a result, you may get less deep sleep. Substance use and medications. Caffeine, benzodiazepines , and opioid pain medications can all affect deep sleep.
Exercise regularly: Exercise has been shown to help people fall asleep faster and stay asleep. Working out might also increase the amount of time spent in deep sleep and improve the quality of deep sleep. Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, preferably more than three hours before bedtime.
Typically as people age, they spend more time each night in light sleep. There is no specific amount of time needed in this phase since it's not as refreshing as deep sleep. However, light sleep is still a necessary sleep stage for proper brain activity.
Adults need an average of 84-108 minutes of deep sleep each night. This makes up roughly 25% of total sleeping time in adults, though the percentage increases for babies and decreases for people over 65 years old. Failure to get adequate deep sleep can result in short and long-term health problems.
On average you'll go through 3-5 sleep cycles each night and 40-50% of that consists of light sleep. The average for WHOOP members is between 3.5 and 4 hours of light sleep per night.
While deep sleep is vital, light sleep has its benefits as well. For example, when we wake naturally during this part of our sleep cycle, we are more likely to feel rested, refreshed, and ready to start the day – quite a different morning experience to when your alarm goes off while you are in a deep sleep stage.
“While all the stages of sleep are important to the cycle, stage 3 is the deepest, most restful sleep. During this stage, your body releases hormones that help repair muscles, bones and tissues, and your brain works on consolidating your memories,” says Dr. Ghacibeh.
One study. View Source of older adults with insomnia found that magnesium supplementation at a dose of 500 milligrams daily for eight weeks helped them fall asleep fast, stay asleep longer, reduced nighttime awakenings, and increased their levels of naturally circulating melatonin.
Fitbit sleep tracking feature has been found to be generally accurate in tracking sleep duration. However, its accuracy in tracking sleep stages (light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep) has been questioned by some researchers.
Garmin and Polar overestimated light sleep and underestimated deep sleep, Garmin significantly, with MAE up to 64.94 min and MAPE up to 116.50%.
Specifically, vitamin D deficiency (VDD) can increase risk of sleep disorders and is associated with sleep difficulties, shorter sleep duration, and nocturnal awakenings in children and adults [13,14,15].
Most adults, but not all, require 7 – 9 hours of sleep. Deep sleep must be a part of this nightly sleep. If you do not routinely get enough deep sleep, a number of issues can arise or be exacerbated including heart disease, a weakened immune system, an increased risk of stroke, and (for men) erectile dysfunction.
You should aim for about 13 to 23 percent of your sleep to be in these stages. So, if you get 8 hours of sleep, you should be getting anywhere between an hour and just under two hours of deep sleep. However, it's important to note that what time you go to bed can greatly influence how much deep sleep you get.
An average sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes. Ideally, you need four to six cycles of sleep every 24 hours to feel fresh and rested. Each cycle contains four individual stages: three that form non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and one rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
Most people get a score between 72 and 83. Sleep score ranges are: Excellent: 90-100. Good: 80-89.
On average you'll go through 3-5 REM cycles per night, with each episode getting longer as the night progresses. The final one may last roughly an hour. For healthy adults, spending 20-25% of your time asleep in the REM stage is a good goal. If you get 7-8 hours of sleep, around 90 minutes of that should be REM.
Sleep tracking, which uses your motion to detect sleep when you wear Apple Watch to bed and the Sleep Focus is active.
Yes, the Apple Watch can track deep sleep and REM sleep. With the upgrade, it's going to show the user how long they were asleep, and the amount of sleep they got in every stage of sleep such as awake, REM, core, and deep by leveraging the Watch's heart rate sensor, accelerometer, and some machine learning.
Fitbit vs Garmin: Our verdict
These two brands will have something to suit your needs. Fitbit is a great health tool, while Garmin offers products with advanced fitness features. Garmin trackers have a traditional watch look, whereas Fitbit trackers are more sleek and discreet.
So far, research has found that compared to polysomnography tests – which experts use to diagnose sleep disorders – sleep trackers are only accurate 78% of the time when identifying sleep versus wakefulness. This accuracy drops to around 38% when estimating how long it took participants to fall asleep.
Light Sleep: Eye movements and muscle activity begin to slow down as the body prepares for deep sleep. Deep Sleep: Eye and muscle movements stop completely. Heart rate and breathing slow down.