The Science of Sleep

 We all know how we feel when we sleep well and when we don’t sleep enough. We can feel the effects of sleep on our brains and bodies, but we may not understand why we sleep.

How Sleep Works

The specific reason why humans sleep remains one of the most lasting and intriguing mysteries in health science, despite decades of investigation. Experts examine how sleep works and what happens when we don’t get enough sleep to try to answer this question. Sleep is very complex, according to studies, and has an impact on nearly all physiological systems. The production of hormones and substances that govern sleep and wakefulness involves multiple areas of the brain.

Stages of Sleep

Each cycle progresses through each stage of sleep in the following order: wake, light sleep, deep sleep, REM, and repeat. Early-night cycles have a higher amount of deep sleep, while later-night cycles have a higher proportion of REM. Your body may decide to forego deep sleep entirely at the end of the cycle.

Madison Muire