Just like food and water, sleep is an essential requirement for us to live. What actually happens during sleep? For the most of us, it's very easy to fall asleep. After a long day at work or out with family, we lay down on our comfortable bed and go straight to sleep; no thinking, no planing and no energy needed right?

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Although sleep does not require any cognitive thinking, many processes occur during sleep:

• The brain stores new information and detoxifies toxins

• Nerve cells communicate, grows and recognises each other, which helps with brain functions

• most importantly, bodily repairs, energy restoration and hormones get released!

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Stages of sleep

REM sleep also known as rapid eye movement sleep. Have you heard of it? Although we don't think about it, our sleep can be broken into cycles which repeat 4 or more times during a 7-9 hour sleep period. 3 of these stages are non-REM sleep.

1.  Brain waves, heart rate and eye movement slow down; this stage is roughly 7 minutes in duration.

2.  Body temperature decreases, eye movements cease heart rate and muscles continue to slow down. 

3. Deep sleep begins. Eyes and muscles don't move and brain waves slow down further. This is where  the body restoration period begins.

4. The 4th stage is REM sleep, where your heart rate, breathing, brain waves and eye movements all increase. REM sleep occurs roughly 90 minutes after you fall asleep and is also when dreaming occurs. This stage is also important for learning as you brain starts to store new information. 

What happens when you don't get enough sleep?

So what happens if we are sleep deprived? many studies show that sleep deprivation are linked to major health conditions which affect our heart, brain, kidney, blood and mental health. 

Sleep deprivation may include: mood changes, anxiety, fatigue, poor motor function and chronic diseases like diabetes. 

What happens during SLEEP?