How to Get More Deep Sleep Every Night

Do you ever wake up feeling like you haven’t slept? Do you struggle to remember important things throughout the day after a night of tossing and turning? Do you experience brain fog that prevents you from thinking clearly?

These are all signs you’re not getting enough deep sleep. It’s time for you to explore how to increase deep sleep.

Almost everyone has heard of deep sleep, but few people understand just how important it is…and even fewer know how to get more deep sleep when it’s lacking.

Let’s dive in together and explore the best ways to improve deep sleep.

What is Deep Sleep?

Simply put, deep sleep is the stage of sleep when your muscles relax and your brainwaves slow down. Typically, you don’t dream during deep sleep.

You’ve heard of REM sleep, right? That’s the stage when your heart rate increases and you experience dreaming.

Deep sleep is part of the non-REM portion of your sleep cycle. It occurs at the end of your non-REM sleep, just before REM.

Remember, each sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes. Of your total sleep, around 13 to 23 percent is deep sleep and 25 percent is REM sleep.

The Benefits of Deep Sleep

Deep sleep is usually recognized as the most important stage of sleep. That’s because it’s the time when glucose metabolism increases in the brain, which supports both short- and long-term memory.

Deep sleep also gives the pituitary gland the opportunity to produce important hormones that enable the growth and development of the body.

Other gains from deep sleep include:

• strengthening your immune system
• increasing blood supply to your muscles
• energy restoration
• cell regeneration
• tissue and bone repair

Of all the advantages of deep sleep, the most surprising is perhaps its ability to protect you against the risk of Alzheimer’s.

Evidence shows a link between deep sleep and beta-amyloid and tau levels, which are indicators of the disease. The more deep sleep you get, the more your brain reduces levels of beta-amyloid and tau.

Scientists believe this is because the brain performs the task of washing out waste products during deep sleep…like a dishwasher!

Other medical conditions that may be prevented by sufficient deep sleep include:

• diabetes
• heart disease
• stroke

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Tips for How to Increase Deep Sleep

Because it’s so crucial for your overall health, it’s important to find ways to improve your deep sleep. There’s nothing better than waking up feeling fully energized and ready for your day.

Here are some tips for how to get more deep sleep:

Body Heating

According to research, passive body heating – such as taking a warm bath before bed – can increase deep sleep. This is because deep sleep requires your brain temperature to reach a certain threshold, regulated by your circadian rhythm.

If you’re not a bath person, try spending time in a sauna before bed. (No, I don’t have a sauna at my house either…but this could be the perfect excuse to get one.)

Deep Sleep Tools

In order to get more deep sleep, first, you need to be able to measure how much deep sleep you’re getting. That’s where Oura Ring comes in. Oura gives you a personalized measure of your deep sleep quality, duration, and sleep stages. 

Once you have a feel for the amount of deep sleep you’re getting each night, you might realize it’s not enough. In that case, it’s time to give Hapbee a try. Our Sleepy signal is one of the most popular signals because it helps you sleep without necessitating sleeping pills or other sleep aids. Users report higher sleep scores after using Hapbee.

Get Enough Sleep

The single most effective way to increase your deep sleep is to get enough sleep overall. The average adult gets 1 to 2 hours of deep sleep per 8 hours of sleep, so experts recommend sleeping 7 to 9 hours a night to maximize deep sleep. Try to be consistent about your sleep schedule, go to bed, and wake up at the same time every day.

Again, the reason you need plenty of sleep in order to get sufficient deep sleep is that deep sleep occurs for a short time during each sleep cycle. Your sleep cycle needs to repeat several times for you to get enough deep sleep.

Do you struggle to fall asleep at night? Find out which mistake you’re making here.

Exercise

Studies show moderate aerobic exercise can increase the amount of deep sleep you get. Dr. Charlene Gamado of the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep suggests at least 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise per day to improve your deep sleep.

You may find that exercising right before bed prevents you from being able to fall asleep…or it might not affect you at all. Regardless of what time of day you exercise, your deep sleep will be positively impacted. Listen to your body to determine what time is right for you.

Pink Noise

You’ve probably heard of falling asleep to white noise, but what about pink noise? Pink noise differs from white noise in that it has more intense lower frequencies, making it deeper than white noise. Examples of pink noise in nature include steady rain, wind, and rustling leaves.

Research has found that pink noise has the potential to improve deep sleep. You can incorporate pink noise into your sleep routine by buying a sound machine or playing a pink noise track on YouTube.

Diet

Developing a healthy diet typically improves overall health and body functionality. It’s possible that a short-term low carbohydrate diet may promote deep sleep as well as REM sleep, but more research is needed.

It’s important to reduce late-night caffeine and alcohol intake if you’re struggling to sleep well at night. Stick to water and herbal tea to relax your body before bed. Also, refrain from eating huge meals right before you go to sleep.

Consult Your Doctor

If you implement all of the above strategies for deep sleep and none of them make a difference, it’s time to talk to your doctor. There are many potential medical reasons why you’re not able to sleep well or get enough deep sleep.

One of the most common medical conditions that lead to reduced deep sleep is sleep apnea, which causes breathing interruptions that prevent deep sleep. Your doctor might order a sleep apnea test to see whether this is the underlying issue for you.

Getting enough deep sleep is crucial for your overall health. Put your Hapbee underneath your pillow and press play on the Sleepy signal to help you fall asleep faster and get the deep sleep you need. Send us your sleep success story at support@hapbee.com or on Instagram @gethapbee.

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