N3: 20 to 40 minutes in our initial sleep cycle and makes up about 15-25% of our overall night of sleep.N2: 10 to 25 minutes in the initial sleep cycle and lengthens with each successive cycle, eventually constituting between 45-55% of our overall night of sleep.N1: 1 to 7 minutes in our initial sleep cycle, constituting 5-10% of our overall night of sleep.Here is how long each sleep stage is for adults: So, by the time you reach the early hours of the morning, you will mainly be alternating between the N2 and R stages of sleep.ĭuring each sleep cycle, the body experiences each sleep stage for differing lengths, depending on how long you have been at rest. Throughout the night, each sleep cycle is different, with most deep sleep occurring in the first half of the night and most REM sleep occurring in the last half (if enough sleep occurs). So, if you sleep for eight hours a night, your body will complete multiple sleep cycles, repeating until you wake. How long is a sleep cycle?Īll the above sleep stages combine to form a whole sleep cycle, generally lasting around 90 to 110 minutes. REM sleep is vital for our memory and emotional regulation, as our brain is processing and clearing what we no longer need. It is the type of sleep associated with vivid dreaming and a kind of sleep paralysis when our muscles lose their ability to move to stop us from acting out our dreams (so this is not the stage when people sleepwalk, for example). Stage R is REM sleep which, as the name suggests, is when our body experiences bursts of rapid eye movement and brain activity, in a surprisingly similar way to how our body behaves when we are awake. During this stage, the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle and strengthens the immune system. It is very difficult for us to wake up during stage 3. N3: often referred to as deep sleep or slow-wave sleep.

This stage is characterized by sleep spindles: rapid bursts of high-frequency brain waves that are thought to be important for learning and memory. N2: a deeper stage of sleep, where our heart rate and body temperature drop, but loud noises can still wake us.Our entry point, where we begin the transition into a deeper sleep but are still easily woken by noises around us. It’s also the type of sleep that is rarely associated with a dream state (although it is still possible to experience vivid dreams, just less likely). All activity associated with our brain waves, heartbeat, breathing, and muscles reduce to lower levels than when awake as our body uses this time to repair and enhance our various systems. Stages N1-3 are NREM sleep, which is when our body slows down. In order to journey into sleep, we start out in this stage in a non-resting state. However, before we reach these periods of sleep there is Stage W, which is simply when we are awake. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, there are four stages of sleep in a cycle, which are formed by two different types of sleep: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. Our sleep stages form the basic structure of how a typical night of rest and recovery occurs. This means that we are never simply at rest – and why every night’s sleep is different. The reality is that our mind and body experience different sleep stages throughout the night, each with distinct characteristics and benefits. A singular process that we (ideally) emerge from refreshed, recovered, and ready to tackle what the new day may bring us. We usually think of sleep as one uniform experience when we lay down to rest each night.

Average amount of deep sleep per night