Sleep is one of the basic needs of everything living thing. The popular belief is that the body and brain “shut down” but we now know that is quite the opposite of what the body does. The body only “slows down” while still working on creating new cells. During your rest time, the body and brain produce new cells, process information and improve your overall health.

A good night’s sleep makes you feel rested and refreshed. But just how much do you need per night? It is recommended that a grown adult should get at least 7 hours, anything less than that is doing your body more harm than good. Your body is not well rested and your brain will not have enough time to renew cells. Circadian pattern is a natural 24-hour pattern that determines your sleeping habits. Hormones are released into your system when it is time for you to sleep. Any disruption in this pattern can lead to disorders such as insomnia.

We go through a number of cycles that takes about 90 minutes to complete, each cycle has 5 levels of sleep which must be completed before another begins. Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) is evident in stages 1-4 while stage 5 is the Rapid Eye Movement (REM)

Stage 1 – 2 begins from when your breathing slows, the body begins to relax and you are in a light sleep.
Stages 3 – 4 ushers in the deep sleep mood and there is no eye movement or muscle twitching.
At Stage 5, the body enters the REM stage where there is rapid eye movement and dreaming occurs. At this stage, it is easy to wake a person up.
The quantity of sleep you get is important, but what is truly special is the quality. That is what you should pay attention to. Some people sleep for ten hours every night but don’t feel well rested. This is because the quality is low.



How do you monitor your sleep?
Without external help, it would be difficult to determine how long you spent in each stage during rest. Most times when your alarm clock wakes you up you are in a deep state of rest. Waking up this way can cause adverse effects such as disorientation, grogginess, and even headaches.

A way to figure out if your sleeping needs are being met is to monitor how you feel when you wake up. For more accurate measurements, you can use Kampefit smart watch.

The smart watch has an inbuilt sleep tracker that monitors your sleep cycle. It also lets you know the condition of your body during rest. This way you know the duration of each stage and if you need to take a quick nap during the day. Ensuring you never have to worry about waking up feeling like you didn’t have any rest in the first place.

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