What is sleep?

Although many of us take sleep for granted, the health relevance of sleep is often neglected. Sleep is understood to be a state of external rest in which the human pulse, breathing and blood pressure are lowered while the brain continues to work. Humans spend around 30 % of their time asleepSleep is absolutely essential for humans and promotes good health. Those who sleep too little run a number of health risks.

Heart disease
Reduced performance
Diabetes
Mental illnesses
Overweight

These are just some of the consequences of sleep deprivation. Many people also fail to reach their full potential because they are unable to concentrate at work, school or training due to too little sleep, are more irritable and are not fully productive. In the world of work in particular, this is often a vicious circle: we stay awake longer and work more, while at the same time our performance decreases due to this additional stress and more working time is required.

Some important functions of sleep for the human body

Good sleep is important

Good and restful sleep has a whole range of important functions for the body.

The body regenerates itself during the night and it comes to muscle growth. Anyone who does physically demanding training or work needs these regeneration phases in particular, as this is when the muscles regenerate and grow. Too much training with too little regeneration can lead to premature exhaustion and injuries.
Harmful and unhealthy substances are broken down during sleep.
During sleep, the experiences of the day are processed and the memory is reorganized. Newly learned information is consolidatedconnections between the learning content are deepened and ultimately unimportant things are forgotten. For this reason, anyone who has to learn a lot of new things should make sure they get enough sleep. Unfortunately, sleep is often neglected, especially during exam periods.
Sufficient sleep is also important for the immune system. Medical studies have shown that little sleep makes it easy for cold viruses, for example. Those who sleep seven hours or more, on the other hand, have significantly better immune systems.

In a nutshell: Sufficient sleep is important for your health. But what exactly happens during sleep? We briefly summarize some sleep phases.

The most important sleep phases in brief

Falling asleep phase

The phase of falling asleep is characterized by general relaxation and a feeling of coming to rest. Pulse, breathing and blood pressure relax. Muscular relaxation can be felt by many people through uncontrollable muscle twitching. Sleep tends to be superficial for a few minutes after falling asleep, so that small disturbances can lead to waking up again or to sleep disturbances.

Light sleep phase

The phase of falling asleep is followed by a phase of light sleep. In this phase the brain processes the information of the daythe muscles continue to relax and the vital parameters are further reduced. Most people spend about half of their sleep in this phase.

Deep sleep

In this phase of sleep, we are less sensitive to noise and therefore difficult to wake. If we are woken up from this phase, we are dazed and groggy and have to get ourselves together before we are fully conscious. In the deep sleep phase, our body is shut down to a minimumbreathing, pulse and blood pressure as well as brain activity.

Dream sleep phase / REM phase (Rapid Eye Movement)

The phase of rapid pupil movement (REM phase) is a phase of intensive dreaming. Although we also dream in other sleep phases, the REM phase is a particularly intense dream phase. Our muscles are paralyzed during this sleep phase so that we do not injure ourselves with uncontrolled movements during this intense dream phase, when our brain is very active. Many people have experienced that they wake up during a nightmare and the paralysis continues for a while. This often leads to further anxiety, because the feeling of not being able to move often leads to further anxiety.

In order for sleep to be restful, the deep sleep phases are particularly important. If you don't get enough sleep or this sleep cycle is disrupted, you won't get the rest you need. Typical disturbances are that the first phase, the phase of falling asleep, is excessively long. One reason for this can be that you don't get enough rest when falling asleep, that you can't relax due to stimulating drinks - e.g. coffee - and much more.