The norm of deep sleep in an adult and its correction

For any person to be healthy, it is important to have a healthy and regular sleep. Every night you need to sleep a certain number of hours in order to feel good and be productive the next day. But sleep is a complex set of biological rhythms, including at least 4-5 cycles. Each of these cycles is characterized by a short and a long phase of sleep. Moreover, it is the last phase that is very important, because it is responsible for the restoration of the body. What is the norm of deep sleep and what is this concept, we will consider below.

What is deep or non-REM sleep?

As soon as a person falls asleep, a slow phase begins, which includes deep delta sleep. After a while, it is replaced by a fast or paradoxical phase. It is characterized by the presence of sleep, but at the same time, a person may have movements and sounds.

The ratio of deep and light sleep changes throughout the night and towards the end it is more and more deep sleep that prevails.

In addition, if a person suffers from some pathologies, his deep sleep time may increase, since during this period the body recovers as much as possible. And in case of illness, recovery is needed much more, so this phase increases.

How does the quality of deep sleep affect intelligence?

Scientists have repeatedly conducted experiments, the purpose of which is to find out what is the norm of deep sleep and how this process affects the state of the body. It has been proven that during deep sleep there is a recovery of the body and an increase in mental abilities. So, the volunteers were called some words that had no connection with each other just before going to bed. It was found that the longer the phase of delta sleep lasted, the more words the subject could remember.

These studies allowed scientists to conclude that depriving a person of the deep phase of sleep is tantamount to the complete absence of this physiological process. If you shorten deep sleep, concentration of attention will begin to be lost, working capacity will drop, and memory will deteriorate.

What happens during deep sleep

I must say that each person has his own rate of deep sleep per night. Some can sleep 5 hours, and this is enough for them, while others do not have enough and 9. The older a person is, the less need he has for sleep. So, the rate of deep sleep in children (and it is up to 80% of the total sleep duration) should be 7-9 hours in total, and for adults this figure is already slightly less - 5-7 hours.

In general, the deep sleep phase is divided into the following stages:

1. At the first stage, all the events that happened during the day are recorded in deep memory. The brain analyzes the difficulties it has encountered and looks for solutions to them.
2. The next stage is the so-called "sleep spindles". At this time, the heartbeat and breathing slow down, the muscles completely relax.
3. The third stage is a deep delta sleep phase lasting 15-20 minutes.
4. Then comes the most pronounced delta sleep, during which it is difficult to wake a person. It is at this time that the body resumes its working capacity as much as possible.

If you wake up in the deep sleep stage, you will feel tired, overwhelmed, so it is important to wake up at the end of the REM phase. It is during this period that the senses are most active, so even minimal noise can wake a person up.

So, during deep sleep, the human body performs the following actions:

• all metabolic processes are slower, as the body tries to save energy;
• the brain consumes less oxygen;
• the activity of the parasympathetic system increases, which causes a decrease in blood pressure, heart rate and blood flow velocity;
• the activity of the digestive system decreases;
• the adrenal glands synthesize the main hormones with less intensity;
• growth hormone is produced;
• all body cells are restored;
• the immune system is activated to the maximum.

How long should deep sleep last?

It is impossible to say exactly what is the rate of deep sleep in a person. For example, Napoleon stated that four hours of sleep a day is enough for him, and Einstein slept all 10. But nevertheless, a certain norm of deep sleep in adults, by which one can navigate, has been established. For this, an experiment was conducted in which many patients of different ages participated. The results showed that at a young age, you need to have 7 hours of deep sleep, on average - half an hour less, and for retirees, the duration of this phase is reduced to 6 hours.

Thus, the duration of the delta phase depends on age, daily routine, psychological characteristics, weight and general health. At the same time, it is very important that everyone gets enough sleep just as much as he needs it, so that the body has time to recover. Otherwise, psychological problems will begin first, and then deviations in the work of the endocrine system will appear.

Causes of disturbed delta sleep

Occasionally, sleep disturbances can occur in everyone, but such rare manifestations do not cause serious changes in the body. So, if one night you need to not sleep for the sake of completing a project or term paper, preparing for an exam, and other goals, the body will be able to compensate for the loss of rest. To do this, you can spend more time on another day and sleep.

But if a good rest is lost or reduced for a long time, you need to look for the cause of this phenomenon. Most often, the problem with the delta phase is observed in the following situations:

• psychical deviations;
• internal diseases;
• chronic stress;
• diseases of the musculoskeletal system;
• diabetes;
• high blood pressure;
• heart disease;
• prostatitis and other male diseases.

To get rid of violations of deep or delta sleep, it is necessary to find out the cause of this phenomenon. Most often, this can be done on your own, but sometimes it is recommended to seek help from a somnologist.

For example, sleep is often disturbed by workaholics who have a very busy working day. They try to do as much as possible in a day to increase their earnings. But at the same time, such people do not take into account that chronic lack of sleep leads to a decrease in working capacity, loss of concentration and ability to memorize. Therefore, all the work still cannot be done, and the body suffers greatly from processing and lack of sleep.

Especially such a habit is in people who are engaged in mental work. Due to the absence of severe physical fatigue during work, they try to do as much as possible in a day. As a result, constant chronic fatigue leads to the following consequences:

• Periodically, infectious diseases appear, as the body is depleted, and the immune capacity cannot cope with the increased load.
• The person becomes less attentive. He makes more mistakes. In this condition, it is especially dangerous to drive a car.
• Lack of sleep increases body weight.
• Cardiac pathologies appear, the risk of developing oncological neoplasms increases.
• Appearance deteriorates significantly. Bags appear under the eyes, skin color becomes unhealthy, wrinkles may form.
• Due to the fact that the brain does not rest normally, it ceases to cope with the entire load. Memory problems begin, difficulties arise with the processing of a large amount of information.

Methods for correcting deep sleep

Despite the fact that each person has his own individual length of the deep sleep phase, its lack has serious consequences for the body. Therefore, it is important to make every effort to maximize the percentage of delta sleep at night. To do this, you can do the following:

• Make a sleep schedule, which will indicate what time you need to go to bed and wake up. If you stick to it constantly, the body will get used to it, and sleep will be better.
• Shortly before bedtime, it is recommended to visit the fresh air and perform light physical exercises.
• It is necessary to give up bad habits, especially smoking.
• Prepare a room for sleep - remove light sources, ensure complete silence.

Those who are professionally engaged in the study of sleep and its deviations also give their advice on how to make delta sleep longer.