How Much REM and Deep Sleep Should You Have A Night?

How much rem and deep sleep should you have per night - People often associate REM sleep with dreams. While dreams can occur in other deep sleep stages, most dreams occur during REM sleep.

Researchers are still trying to learn exactly why people need REM sleep, why we dream, and what purpose our dreams serve

Did you know during an 8 hour sleep pattern, the average adult only spends approximately 20% of total sleep time (1.5 hours) in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep?

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What is REM Sleep?

REM Sleep or Rapid Eye Movement Sleep is the 2nd type of sleep we go into at night after NREM sleep.

We first encounter REM around 1.5 hours after falling asleep. The length of time we spend in REM becomes greater as the night progresses, so we get most of our REM sleep in the second half of the night.

It’s a common misconception that REM is the deepest stage of sleep.

It’s actually a very light stage of sleep, so light that EEG graphs of people in REM still are very similar to ones of people who are awake.

Although anyone in REM sleep undoubtedly knows that they have been sleeping, unlike the lightest stage of NREM sleep known as stage 1.

How Much REM and DEEP Sleep Should You Have A Night?

The amount of deep and REM sleep an average adult needs will be about 20-25% of their total sleep, depending on how many hours they actually sleep.

At 7 hours, that would be approximately 84 to 105 minutes. At 9 hours, that would be approximately 108 to 135 minutes.

People tend to require less sleep as they get older, which will cause that average to shift.

The average adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep at night. Once a person dips below 7 hours of sleep at night, they start to experience negative effects of their physical health and mental acuity.

The amount of REM sleep is greatest in young children:

50% of sleep in newborns is REM sleep
Falling to 25% by the age of two
Then staying at around same level

What is Deep Sleep?

Deep sleep is the stage of sleep we need to feel refreshed when we wake up in the morning.

Unlike Rem sleep, deep sleep is when our body and brain waves slow down.

It’s hard to wake from deep sleep, and if we do, we may feel particularly groggy.

We begin the night in non-REM sleep followed by a brief period of REM sleep. The cycle continues throughout the night about every 1.5 hours.

Deep sleep occurs in the final stage of non-REM sleep.

What Are The Benefits of Deep Sleep?

Glucose metabolism in the brain increases during deep sleep, supporting short-term and long-term memory and overall learning.

Deep sleep is also when the pituitary gland secretes important hormones, like human growth hormone, leading to growth and development of the body.

Other benefits of deep sleep include:

energy restoration
cell regeneration
increasing blood supply to muscles
promoting growth and repair of tissues and bones
strengthening the immune system

How Much Deep Sleep Should You Have in 8 Hours?

Deep sleep is also known as delta sleep, slow wave sleep or N3. It is a restorative sleep state where dreams do not occur, and still relatively little is known about it.

What we do know is that deep sleep is the 3rd stage of sleep. During this stage, heart rate and breathing slows and your muscles relax to the point where you barely move.

Deep sleep is necessary for our body to repair itself and recharge for the next day. Our organs detoxicate, our kidneys clean our blood, and our body replaces cells, heals wounds, and builds muscle tissues as well.

Most deep sleep happens in the 1st sleep cycle. If someone is awoken during deep sleep, he or she will usually feel disoriented for sometime after waking up. It can be very difficult to wake a person during deep sleep.

In healthy adults, about of our sleep is deep sleep. So if we sleep for eight hours a night, that’s roughly 62 to 110 minutes.

However, as we get older we require less deep sleep.

During deep sleep, memories are consolidated, learning and emotions process, physical recovery takes place, blood sugar levels and metabolism balance out, our immune system is energized, and our brain detoxifies.

Without deep sleep, these functions cannot take place and the symptoms of sleep deprivation kick in.

How To Increase Deep Sleep?

If we sleep 8 hours but toss and turn all night, we may not be getting enough deep sleep.

It’s impossible to force our brain to go into deep sleep, but there are a number of strategies that have shown some promise in terms of increasing our percentage of deep sleep.

These include:

reducing stress
establishing sleep rituals and routines
using an eye mask to block out light
sleeping in a cool room
exercising
eating a healthy diet
listening to white or pink noise
brainwave entrainment
meditation

Although the science is still new, a number of sleep trackers are available that may help us track our sleep patterns and see how much light, REM, and deep sleep we are getting.