Sleep is just about one of the most important and vital things that you need to focus on in order to have good health. There are few things that can affect your health more than not getting enough sleep, and we all know what it can feel like when you have night after night of poor sleep. There are many things that can affect your sleep cycle, and one of the main ones that you will want to be aware of is noise.
In truth, excess noise can be one of the most effective ways to interrupt and disrupt your sleep cycle, so keeping on top of this and keeping noise to a minimum is important. Let’s take a look right now at just how this happens and what you can do about it, to ensure you have a much better sleep cycle every night.
Hearing In Your Sleep
One of the main takeaways to keep in mind here is that you are still hearing noises around you when you are sleeping. Your brain is still taking in some noises and processing them, and this is why noise can disturb or interrupt your sleep and cause havoc with your cycle itself.
The trouble is when this sound causes you to wake up in the night. You might not even notice that you have woken up, but these mini awakenings can lead to you feeling tired, irritable and annoyed and can contribute to many health conditions that you would rather do without.
Stages One and Two
Looking first at stages one and two of the sleep cycle, when you are in a relatively light sleep, noise is much more likely to interrupt your cycle than at the later stages. That’s because, of course, you are only in a very light sleep and it is just generally going to be a lot easier to wake you up. In general only a small noise would be necessary here. Even if it doesn’t wake you up, you might shift to a lighter sleep stage, which in itself can disturb your feeling of having a good night’s rest.
Stages Three and Four
These stages are characterized more as deep sleep, and this is where the real restoration that sleep provides happens. Of course, as you would expect, it is much more difficult to be woken up by sound during these stages, but it is by no means impossible and it’s something that you are going to want to prepare for just as much as stages one and two.
Again, if you are disturbed here, you might slip back to an earlier stage, so you could end up in light sleep from an external sound that has disturbed you, even if you are not consciously aware of any of this happening.
Which Sounds Are Most Likely to Wake You?
As it happens, not all sounds are made equal when it comes to disturbing your sleep. In fact, there are certain kinds of sounds which are more likely to wake you and keep you awake. For instance, anything emotionally charged, such as a crying baby, is much more likely to wake you up. This makes sense, of course, as you need to wake up for a baby in need. But it means that having a television on could be a bad idea – because you just don’t know what kinds of sounds are going to come out of it.
White Noise
However, there are other sounds which are not so bad for your sleep and might even help you out. This is where white noise comes in. Many of us have used white noise in order to aid sleep, and there is actually some science behind it. White noise reduces the impact of other sounds and can help you to sleep more soundly.
Studies have proven that having white noise on while sleeping encourages a more peaceful sleep with fewer awakenings throughout the night. White noise is simply a constant, soft sound, such as you might get from a fan or air purifier – or of course, a white noise machine.
Minimizing Noise
So, as you can see, it is very important to make sure that you are keeping noise to a minimum, to make sure that you are sleeping well. Consider investing in white noise of some kind and do all you can to shut out external sounds. The results will be great. To find out more, contact GL Wyeno Hearing Specialists PC at (402) 463-2431.
