Did you know? We need at least seven to nine hours of sleep a night. However, while we often talk about how much sleep we’re getting, we rarely seem to talk about the quality of that sleep.
What you may not know is that as you sleep, your body goes through a sleep cycle. Deep sleep just one part of this cycle, but it’s absolutely necessary for rebooting both your body and mind as you reset.
Many of us find falling asleep and staying asleep difficult, especially during those harsh winter months. Being too cold, can make falling asleep even more difficult or wake you during the night, interrupting the sleep cycle and robbing you of the benefits of deep sleep. If this is happening to you, a water heated mattress pad can help.
Why is Deep Sleep So Important?
How Can a Heated Mattress Pad Help Achieve Deep Sleep?
What is Deep Sleep?
As we’ve mentioned, deep sleep is just one part of the sleep cycle. It’s the stage that’s necessary for helping you feel refreshed when you wake up each morning. Unlike other stages of the sleep cycle, like rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, in deep sleep, your body and brain waves slow down.
Waking up from a night of deep sleep is often difficult. However, if you are able to do it, you’ll feel tired until the rest of your body and mind catch up. Learn about mattress topper temperature control.
The Sleep Cycle
The sleep cycle involves non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. When you first close your eyes and drift off, you begin in non-REM sleep. When you sleep deep enough to dream, you’ll experience a brief period of REM sleep. This cycle will continue throughout the night every 90 minutes or so.
Deep sleep occurs in the last stage of non-REM sleep.
Light Sleep
The first two stages of sleep count as light sleep. You enter the first stage within minutes of drifting off to sleep. Your eye movements and muscle activity slow down; however, you’re still relatively easy to wake.
The second stage of sleep is still quite light, but the brain waves begin to slow and heart rate begins to go down as well.
Deep Sleep
The third and fourth stages of sleep are called deep sleep. Brain waves are extremely slow, as blood is rerouted away from higher brain activity and towards restorative functions. The body repairs muscles, builds bones and tissues, and restores immune function.
Reaching this stage of sleep every night is essential to remaining healthy.
REM Sleep
The fifth stage is called rapid eye movement or REM sleep, so called because the eyelids are closed but eye movement suddenly picks up. You enter REM sleep approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep. This is the stage of sleep where your brain becomes more active, heart rate and muscle activity goes up again, and you dream.
Why is Deep Sleep So Important?
While deep sleep is necessary for that feeling of waking up completely refreshed and ready to start a new day, it’s also important for a number of other reasons.
Cognitive Function.
During the stages of deep sleep, glucose metabolism in the brain increases to support memory and overall learning. It is in deep sleep that the brain consolidates information you processed during the day; if you don’t get enough deep sleep, you could have trouble committing new information to memory and could be at risk for cognitive issues like Alzheimer’s disease in the long-term.
Hormone Balance
Human growth hormone is released by the pituitary gland during deep sleep. This hormone is important in physical maturation in children and in tissue repair in adults.
Energy Restoration
Because your muscles are relaxed in this state, the body can focus on restoring energy for the next day.
Cell Regeneration
Deep sleep is when your cells restore themselves and fight off infection. This is why when you’re healing from an injury or illness, doctors tell you to get lots of rest because during deep sleep.
How Can a Heated Mattress Pad Help Achieve Deep Sleep?
Warmth
Achieving deep sleep can be difficult for those who are uncomfortably cold in their beds. Even if you keep your thermostat at the right temperature during the day, when night comes, the house can still have cold spots that make falling asleep and staying asleep impossible.
A bed warmer is an ideal solution for those who have a difficult time staying asleep during the night. Not only can you choose your own ideal temperature, but it can also keep the heating bills down during the winter, helping you to save money, which helps us all sleep better!
Relaxation
A bed warmer pad can help you relax enough to achieve an uninterrupted cycle of sleep, which means you’ll wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day. Being cold constricts blood flow and can cause pain in the joints. When you take a mattress pad to bed with you, your body will be able to relax so that it can more easily drift off.
Comfort
If there’s one thing all of us have experienced, it’s being uncomfortable when trying to fall asleep. A mattress warmer will keep you warm, cozy, and comfortable throughout the entire night so that you can reap the benefits of deep sleep.
The heat from the pad comes from below your body and offers consistent heating throughout, which means no cold spots or extremely hot spots like you’d find with an electric blanket.
If you’re someone who prefers cool air but a warm body at night, a bed warmer can help your body stay warm while still feeling the crisp, cold air around you.
A water heated mattress pad means that you’ll be able to fall into the sleep cycle easily and without worry. All night, every night, you can rest assured knowing you’re getting the best possible sleep so that you can wake up feeling ready to take on the day.
