[brendanxx]

Hi, I’m concerned that i am not getting enough Deep Sleep. I’ve been using binaural beats and hget about 40 mins if I’m lucky once at the start of sleep. My REM, last night, according to my Garmin watch was1hr 29 mins and my Deep sleep was 30 minutes, my Light Sleep was 7hr 8m. How normal is this? I am 71 years old.

Should my sleep be in cycles, with each sleep phase being repeated through out the night? My REM and Light sleep does seem to go in cycles but my deep sleep is at the start and perhaps once a few hours later.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Chee2308]

Hello Brendan

I advise you not to play this dangerous game. Of trying to second-guess your body and attempting to override it. Firstly, it’s futile because there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. After you have fallen asleep, your body takes over completely. In the same way you don’t tell your body how to digest the food you eat. You can neither control nor tell your body what kind and how much of light, deep or rem sleep you get. Period.

Second reason, you may stumble upon some unsavory findings that cause you more misery because it’s not what you expected or had in mind. You then go into a downward spiral where you start to worry about sleep and taking unnecessary and ridiculous steps to try to control it. Then when you don’t the results you want, this leads to more conflicts between mind and body which makes sleep way harder or almost impossible. Not knowing is way better than seeking to know. This is a powerful way of letting go and accepting that some things are just beyond your control. And sleep is one of those things which sits right on top of that list. Let it go, buddy! Just enjoy your moment in bed and rest. Sleep, in whatever shape, form or duration will come when it comes. That’s how it supposed to be in nature.

[Jess84]

I’m dealing with the same problem of getting hardly any deep sleep and very fragmented or shallow sleep with awakenings, the only thing I could think is to not settle for the light sleep and wake up for an hour during my sleep window to build further sleep drive the next day.

It takes a lot of wakefulness to snap out of a bad pattern of shallow sleep while at the same time you must get some sleep so its very delicate balance.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Jess84.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Jess84.

[brendanxx]

I take your point but on the NHS site it says that both REM and Deep sleep are both deep – the REM is the deepest – and we need 1-2 hours of deep sleep per night. Of course the more one thinks about it the harder it is to stop thinking and sleep!

[brendanxx]

Hi Jesse,

your solution sounds rather complicated. What is probably true is that the healthy body will naturally go into natural patterns when sleeping. We live in such a problematic world at the moment it’s hard for many people not be always be in a state of anxiety. Might I suggest meditation an hour or so before sleeping as a means of preparing your mind for anxiety less sleep/ At first of course the attempt to mediate can be anxiety making, but if you persevere your mind well well revert to a natural anxiety-less state. I have also found binaural deep sleep music very helpful (though get a good one – they’re free to download on the web.)
Good luck and happy sleeping!

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum!

First of all, it’s important to emphasize that the body will always generate enough sleep and it will always generate the right kind of sleep. We have no control over sleep cycles or sleep architecture because we don’t need to have any control over this — the body takes care of that all by itself (just as we have no control over our heart rate; we don’t need to have control over it — the body takes care of that all by itself)!

Sleep does occur in cycles — but in real life these cycles are very rarely as neat and tidy as they appear in textbooks! It’s normal for deep sleep (N3 sleep) to occur at the start of the night (that’s when most deep sleep happens) and it’s normal for deep sleep to make up only a small proportion of our overall sleep, especially in older adults.

So, in short, nothing unique or unusual in what you’ve shared — but if you’re concerned, I’d suggest talking to your doctor.

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[Chee2308]

Ignorance is bliss. Your beliefs may have been biased based on what you heard or read, which aren’t necessarily true. Suppose you are blind and deaf and have no concept of time spent sleeping, do these things even matter anymore

[Jess84]

I’ve been meditating for the last 10 years as I also have anxiety disorder do it extensively to bring down adrenaline in my body.

The regular wake up time is beginning to work for me now, I’m sleeping deeper than before but it has taken months of trial and error with that said my sleep is still not as restorative as it was before so now I will attempt to get up during my sleep window for an hour so this is where SC will come in to further assist in creating building the remaining sleep drive.

This is all basically advice that has been on Martin’s youtube channel.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Jess84.

[Jess84]

Who are you responding to Chee.

[Author]

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