Rarely wake up ready to take on the day? You may need more deep sleep.
A great night’s sleep makes anything feel possible. You wake up refreshed, your energy is up (sans a pot of coffee), and your mind is sharp. But for most people—myself included—this isn’t a regular experience. The reason? Lack of deep sleep.
Needs vary by person, and decline as you age, but generally, adults who are healthy sleepers get about 10 to 20 percent of deep sleep per night. In sleep math, that equates to 42 minutes to an hour and 24 minutes of deep sleep for about seven hours of sleep.
Unlike REM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep, when your brain is active and your dreams are most vivid, deep sleep is the slow wave sleep stage that’s a key part of feeling rejuvenated and restored. During this stage, your pulse and breathing rate drop, and your muscles relax.
But if deep sleep only makes up a small part of the sleep cycle, why is it so important? And how can you increase your deep sleep if you’re not getting enough?
Here’s why deep sleep is so essential, how to tell if you’re not spending enough time in deep sleep, and tips for getting more of it.
Read more: How Sleep Impacts Metabolic Health
What is Deep Sleep So Important?
Aside from allowing your body and mind to sink into an intensely calming state, deep sleep plays a crucial role in several biological systems.
Growth and Repair
During slow wave sleep, your body repairs muscles, tissues, and bones. At this stage, it also produces a high level of growth hormone, which helps it regenerate new cells. That’s why, for example, kids spend a considerable amount of time in deep sleep—they’re literally growing and developing while they snooze.
The Immune System
Long-term immune health is also influenced by deep sleep. When you get enough of it, deep sleep promotes a strong immune system by helping the body build stronger immune responses and reduce inflammation.
Metabolic Health
The slow wave sleep cycle is connected with healthy blood sugar levels and appetite regulation. According to one study, when you don’t get enough deep sleep, your body may produce more of the hunger hormone ghrelin and less of the satiety hormone leptin, causing you to overeat. Lack of deep sleep is also associated with higher blood pressure.
Cognitive Function
Deep sleep also supports mood, memory, and mental health. While the brain is not as active as it is during REM sleep, the slow wave stage allows it to consolidate memories, engage in learning, and flush waste material, which may help protect against dementia. One study even found that insufficient deep sleep is linked to higher rates of depression.
Read more: Is “Girl Dinner” Ruining Your Sleep? What the Science Says.
Signs You May Not Be Getting Enough Deep Sleep
Even if you’re getting the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep per night, too little deep sleep can leave you tired and groggy. Here are a few other signs your amount of deep sleep may be lacking.
- Moodiness or irritability
- Trouble remembering or learning new things
- Anxiety or depression
- Feeling less alert
- Consistent tiredness or fatigue
- Overeating
How to Get More Deep Sleep
If you’re having trouble getting regular deep sleep, all is not lost. There are a handful of easy ways to get more deep sleep so you feel rested, restored, and rejuvenated.
1. Go to Bed Earlier: If you find yourself yawning a lot in the evening, or have a habit of staying up too late, start by simply going to bed earlier. This will give your body more time to wind down, drift off to dreamland, and engage in elusive deep sleep.
2. Keep Your Sleep on a Schedule. Establishing a regular bedtime and wakeup time–and sticking with it—helps regulate the body’s natural circadian rhythm. A consistent sleep-wake routine trains your body to know when it’s time to rest, making deep sleep more likely.
3. Develop a Relaxing Wind-Down Routine. Another signal to your body that it’s time for shuteye is a soothing wind-down routine. Bedtime yoga stretches, a calming meditation, a hot bath, even lighting a candle and reading in bed are all simple ways to get your body and mind ready for deep sleep.
4. Don’t Drink Caffeine and Alcohol Too Close to Bedtime. Especially if you struggle with deep sleep, put down the coffee, Coca-Cola, or matcha at least eight hours before bedtime. That means no afternoon espresso shots. And when it comes to alcohol, enjoying that glass of wine three to four hours before bedtime will help keep it from disrupting your sleep.
5. Create an Optimal Sleep Environment. We sleep better in cool temperatures and in the dark. So no matter what time of year it is, make sure your bedroom thermostat is set to 65-69 degrees to promote optimal sleep. To keep morning sunlight from waking you up prematurely, invest in black out curtains so you can get the sleep your body needs, even when the sun has come up.
6. Avoid Blue Light. It’s tempting to doomscroll in bed as you get close to quitting time, but if deep sleep is what you’re after, avoid blue light an hour before you want to drift off—that includes TVs, too. Blue light suppresses the production of the sleep hormone melatonin, making it difficult to fall asleep even if your body is ready.
Read more: Deep Sleep Meditation
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