7 Ways to Get More Deep Sleep

Sleep is essential for life. Like water and oxygen, the body can only go so long without healthy sleep before shutting down. If you’re clocking the recommended eight hours a night, but still waking up feeling tired and groggy, reflect on your quality, not quantity, of rest. You may not be getting enough deep sleep.

Deep sleep, also known as slow-wave sleep or delta sleep, is the most reparative stage of the sleep cycle. During this time, our bodies and minds are refreshed and restored. Sleep medicine is still trying to understand exactly how deep sleep works, but its importance is undeniable.

There is no foolproof way to monitor short wave sleep at home. The best thing you can do is allow yourself to get the recommended 7 to 9 hours of uninterrupted rest each night— this ensures your body will cycle through each stage of sleep five or six times.

To improve your night’s sleep, we recommend brushing up on your sleep hygiene and following a nightly bedtime routine. In this post, we provide some pointers.

Many of us wind down at the end of the day by looking at some type of screen. Whether it is your TV, phone, computer, or tablet, it is not helping you relax before bedtime. Instead, it is doing the opposite. The blue light emitted by screens impacts your circadian rhythm. Your body does not realize its bedtime and delays melatonin production. This can affect not only the amount of sleep you get each night, but also the quality.

If you cannot fall asleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed and leave your bedroom. Read a book, practice breathing exercises, or do another calming activity until you begin to feel tired. Forcing yourself to sleep rarely works, instead, it creates an association between being in bed and not being able to fall asleep.

Caffeine wakes us up by increasing adrenaline and blocking sleep-inducing chemicals in the brain. This is good news for us in the morning but bad news at night.

For most people, partaking in caffeine in the morning and stopping by 3 p.m. (or approximately 6 hours from bedtime) is sufficient. Nevertheless, some people are more sensitive to caffeine and should limit it to mornings only or abstain altogether. To figure out whether you have a sensitivity to caffeine, keep a sleep journal tracking your caffeine intake — including coffee, tea, and chocolate — and your sleep patterns.

Go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. Yes, that means on weekends too.

When you do not go to sleep and wake up at the same time, your body’s internal clock is constantly resetting itself. The result is difficulty falling asleep in the evening and trouble waking up in the morning. Irregular sleep patterns have been linked to cardiometabolic disease.

Get at least 20 minutes of exercise a day –– just not before bedtime. Regular physical activity reduces sleep latency and facilitates deeper, more undisturbed rest. Research shows early morning and afternoon workouts— specifically cardio exercises— increase the length of time people spend in slow-wave sleep.

If you want to utilize exercise to improve your night’s sleep, start by penciling an early morning run into your routine. Studies have found morning runs bolster your natural sleep cycle and prompt you to start producing melatonin earlier in the evening.

Your bedroom should be dark and quiet. Use blackout curtains if you can see street or car lights from your bedroom windows. Unless safety is a concern, skip the nightlight. A dark room sends a signal to your body that it is time to sleep.

Set your room temperature between 60 and 67 degrees. It may feel good to bundle up with flannel pajamas and warm covers while you fall asleep, but overheating can influence your sleep quality.

Avoid heavy foods or large meals too close to bedtime. Not only does your body expel energy digesting these foods while you sleep, but because you are lying flat on your back, eating too close to bedtime can cause heartburn and GERD.

Eat your last meal three hours before bedtime, and try to incorporate some of the best foods for sleep into your dinnertime diet. Eating sleep-promoting foods, such as whole grains or fruits like cherries, can induce drowsiness and help you sleep more soundly.

If you are getting 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep, each night and you are still not feeling well-rested, consult a physician. You may have an undiagnosed sleep disorder, like sleep apnea, that is affecting your deep sleep. Your doctor may request a sleep study to analyze your sleeping habits.

Understanding sleep can help you get better rest. Many people believe that REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is deep sleep, but this is not the case. During REM sleep, your brain activity increases. During deep sleep, brain activity decreases. Brain waves, heart rate, and breathing all slow down so your body can restore itself— this is why deep sleep is the most rejuvenating part of the sleep cycle. It is hard to feel like you have a good night’s sleep without it.

After a period of wakefulness, the sleep cycle is divided into four stages:

• Stage W (Wakefulness): Stage W is the first stage of sleep when your head hits the pillow and you close your eyes. The brain produces beta waves, followed by alpha waves as you relax.
• Stage 1 (Non-REM 1): In this stage, the brain produces high amplitude theta waves. N1 is the transition period between Stage W and sleep. It lasts no more than 10 minutes.
• Stage 2 (Non-REM 2): During N2 sleep, the brain produces rhythmic spindle waves. Body temperature drops and heart rate slows down. Half of your time sleeping is spent in this stage.
• Stage 3 (Non-REM 3): Stage N3 starts with spindle waves, then slower delta waves begin. This is when deep sleep occurs. People are difficult to wake during Stage N3, even when surrounded by activity and noise. Sleep disorders, like sleepwalking, often occur during Stage N3.
• Stage 4 (REM):  REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is when the brain transitions out of deep sleep and becomes more active. Dreams occur during REM sleep and muscles relax. People spend about 20% of their sleep in Stage 4.

Every sleep cycle takes about 90 minutes to complete. You usually enter Stage 3 of deep sleep five or six times a night as your body goes through the sleep cycle. The first period of Stage 3 sleep is the longest— lasting about 45-90 minutes. Each subsequent period of deep sleep is shorter until you wake up.

Without an EEG to show the high-amplitude, low-frequency delta waves of deep sleep, the surest way to know if someone is sleeping deeply is if they are difficult to awaken.

Deep sleep is essential to overall health. During slow wave sleep, your body consolidates memories, repairs tissue, recovers from stress, and prepares for the next day.

The best answer as to how to get more deep sleep is to increase your total sleep time. Getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night will usually ensure you are going through the restorative deep sleep stages. Lastly, if you are getting enough hours of sleep, but do not feel rested, consult with your doctor to see if you have a more serious sleep disorder.