Sleep Awareness Month 2021: 10 things your brain and body goes through when you sleep

Sleep Awareness Month 2021: Ever wondered what happens to your body and mind after you sleep? Here is everything you need to know.

In the hustle and bustle of life, it gets difficult to get a good night's sleep. Since most people crave it, they try to look for methods that may help them sleep faster, more peacefully. But have you ever wondered what goes on inside your body and mind when you fall asleep? Here is what your body goes through when we get some shut-eye, right from when we close our eyes to when we wake up. Sleep largely consists of two parts NREM (non-rapid eye movement phase) and REM (rapid eye movement stage) which are divided into five stages. Each stage leads to a deeper state of sleep.

What Happens When You Sleep?

Stage 1

Your mind and body step into the first stage of sleep. This is a very light state where you are easily woken up and your brain is slowly progressing towards the deep sleep state.

Stage 2

A part of the NREM phase of sleep, your body slowly starts to relax. Your muscles relax, your breathing slows down and your muscles relax. In some people, there may be some slight muscle twitching or jerking known as 'hypnic myoclonia or myoclonic jerks. Some people have also reported experiencing a feeling of falling which is usually due to the motor areas of the brain being spontaneously stimulated. The next stage is a step closer towards deep sleep and astonishingly you spend about 50% of your sleep cycle in this stage. Known as stage two this is when your brain starts slowing down the number and amount of brain waves it sends out. Sometimes there are brief stages of higher brain activity known as 'sleep spindles'. Your breathing slows down, your heart rate drops and you slowly slip into a deeper state of sleep moving further down the NREM phase. The most interesting part about this stage is that your body tends to slowly lose control over the mechanism that is responsible for regulating your body temperature leading to a slight drop.

Stage 3

As you move into stage three of the sleep cycle your brain waves slow down to such an extent that there are only about 0-4 hertz being transmitted between the neurons of your brain. Also known as delta waves, these slow brain waves help you move into the 'deep sleep state'. In this stage, it is quite difficult to wake up and if you are woken up while you are in this stage you will feel a bit disoriented for a few minutes.

Stage 4

At this stage, you are in the deepest state of sleep. This stage is normally seen after about 90 minutes of sleep and is when the brain is in the REM phase. This is the most wonderous phase of sleep when you start to dream, your breathing becomes shallow and quick, your heart rate and blood pressure increase and your brain's activity is quickened to such an extent that it is equal (and sometimes more) than the activity it performs in the day. The most interesting part of this phase is that your body is essentially paralysed in this phase of sleep. This paralysis is your brain's defence mechanism against you acting out your dreams. It does this by releasing the amino acid 'glycine' from your brain stem to your motor neurons (neurons that are responsible for movement). When you are about to wake up your body goes through the same stages only in reverse. The first thing that happens to your body is that your motor centre is activated and your body ceases to be paralysed. Your heart rate and breathing become normal and you reach a state of wakefulness.

Stage 5

The last stage -- just before you wake up -- is one of the most difficult to beat. Your brain is still getting out of the dream state and is not fully equipped to handle the assaults of the day. This is why most of us need a few minutes to wake up. So the next time you need that fifteen-minute nap, don't hit the snooze button, get out of bed instead -- you will feel much more 'awake' throughout the day. Remember the quicker you get out of bed the faster your brain will adapt.