Any person’s sleep is divided into natural sleep cycles, which last for about 90 minutes during which we move through 5 different sleep stages. The first 4 stages are non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep of various depth. The 5^th and last stage is referred to as REM (“Rapid Eye Movement”) sleep.

The deep sleep phase is important as it offers recovery. It strengthens the immune system by increasing hormone production in various areas of the brain. During deep sleep, muscles relax while blood-pressure and blood-circulation decrease. Deep sleep is of key importance as our brain consolidates what we have tried to learn during the day. NREM deep sleep is most frequent during the first half of our rest and makes up about 15-20% of our total sleeping time.

Deep sleep is interrupted by dream and REM phases (“rapid eye movement phases”). In adults, REM sleep takes about 20-25% of total sleeping time, mostly concentrated in the second half of our nightly rest. The longer our sleeping time lasts, the higher the frequency and length of our REM sleep. There are many hypotheses about the function of REM sleep. Amongst other things, it is believed that the learning process is generally closely linked to REM sleep. Information processing and stress management take place in this sleep stage. Research amongst persons with REM sleep deprivation indicates that these persons have difficulties dealing with more complex and new intellectual challenges.

While chemical sleeping pills and alcohol interfere with our natural sleep cycle and disturb the most important sleep stages, a natural sleep drink, based on herbs only promote natural sleep cycles and can thus contribute significantly to better and healthier sleep.

And When They Finally Do Sleep, They Often Sleep Badly, Due to Stress

According to sleep tracking studies, more than 80% of working adults don’t sleep enough. A majority sleep less than the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep, which the National Sleep Foundation recommends for a healthy life. This is alarming, especially because 78% of working adults say they need more than 8 hours of sleep to feel fit and well rested the next day. Almost everybody (97% of working adults) agree that they would perform better tomorrow if they would sleep better tonight.

More than half of all working adults surveyed say they regularly have difficulty falling asleep at night. 64% have trouble sleeping through the night, whereby women seem to be affected a little more (45%) than men (34%). Considering these facts, it is not surprising that 93% of working adults say that they feel lethargic in the morning.

Work-related stress and stress from everyday family-life are the most common reasons for sleep problems. And although almost everybody agrees that a good night’s sleep leads to better performance, most do not realize they have chronic sleep debt or sleep deficit, the cumulative effect of not getting enough sleep.

Lack of sleep feels similar to stress. This has hormonal reasons. Our adrenal glands produce stress hormones, with the brain controlling their secretion. If the brain experiences stress, adrenaline and cortisol are sent into the bloodstream in fractions of a second. While the effects of adrenaline (acceleration of cardiac and respiratory rates, perspiration, restlessness) disappear within minutes, cortisol remains active for hours. Unfortunately, these longer lasting effects of Cortisol have a negative effect on the function of almost all organ-systems in the body. Blood-pressure, blood-sugar and blood-lipids (fats) are increased as a result of increased Cortisol levels. In addition, muscle mass deteriorates, fats are stored, brain functions shrink and the immune system is weakened.

While the sleeping brain soothes our adrenal glands to dampen cortisol released, lack of sleep causes higher levels of Cortisol with extreme disadvantages: