How does sleep cycle work?

Understanding how your sleep cycles work is important, but don't waste thousands of rupees on expensive smartwatches just to track your deep sleep percentage. A much cheaper and practical way is to just keep a manual diary of your sleep and wake times for a week. Plan your sleeping schedule so that you sleep in multiples of 1.5 hours.

Look, your sleep is not just one long block; it goes in waves. You start with light dozing, then go into a deep sleep where your body repairs itself, and then comes the dream phase. If you wake up in the middle of a deep sleep phase, you will feel extremely tired and groggy all day, even if you slept for 8 hours.

Actually, yaar, the whole system is about shifting between Non-REM and REM sleep. In the first half of the night, your brain prioritizes deep physical recovery, and towards the morning, you get more of that dreaming sleep. That is why if you sleep late and wake up early, you miss out on critical mental rest.

A proper sleep cycle is essential because during the deep sleep stages, your blood pressure naturally drops and your heart gets a break. When my sleep cycle was disturbed due to stress, my BP shot up significantly. Along with taking your daily medicines, keeping a fixed sleep routine and getting regular checkups is vital for heart health.