Behind The Scenes Of Bed Time

Did you know we normally go through
4-5 sleep cycles when hitting the hay?

Based on brain activity, we can tell that each cycle has four distinct stages that add up to
a refreshing night’s rest.

Stage 1
Transition

Spending
0-30 minutes
falling asleep is best

The lightest stage where you drift between being awake and falling asleep. You probably won’t even realise you’re dozing off. Almost anything can wake you at this point, like your cat hopping up for snuggles.

Ideally, you’ll spend between 0-30 minutes drifting off to sleep and into the next stage.
Stage 2
Light Sleep

Half our bedtime
is spent in light sleep.

This stage happens to be the longest - we spend at least half our night in light sleep. Much of this phase remains a scientific mystery. We’ll clue you guys in once we get more fascinating facts about it!
Stage 3
Deep Sleep

Deep Sleep
is crucial
for renewing energy.

We spend 20-25% in this stage, and it’s the most restorative part of sleep. Here, we stay relatively motionless. And we won’t wake up easily - our alarms (and mums knocking on our doors) will have to try harder!

Deep sleep is vital for recharging our inner batteries. The body gets to work restoring and repairing itself, so we wake up the next day refreshed. Deep sleep also keeps our memory and learning capacity sharp. It’s the phase where kids physically grow too!
Stage 4
Rapid Eye Movement
(REM) Sleep

REM sleep gives us
The most intense dreams.

Finally, the last stage! Like the name suggests, you can tell someone’s in REM sleep when their eyes dart around quickly in different directions. It makes up another 20-25% of our night’s sleep.

During this stage, our brain processes our emotional memories - an important part of maintaining our mental health. It’s also when we have our most vivid, story-like dreams. But most of our muscles are inactive, so we don’t physically act out what we’re dreaming.
… And back to the beginning

Before the cycle repeats, we usually wake up for a moment - even if we don’t remember it! Our sleep cycles also fluctuate through the night. The first few cycles have longer stretches of deep sleep. In the last half of the night, we’re in light sleep and REM sleep most of the time

To keep our health up, we need to complete 4-5 cycles, which takes 7-9 hours of shut-eye. That’s why a regular bedtime routine that helps you wind down and get a solid rest is incredibly important.