Do you think sleep is a time of rest? It may appear so on the outside but on the inside it’s a different story as an active sequence of events unfold through the night-time hours.

There are 5 main stages of sleep

Stage 1 Reflective Sleep

As you begin to nod off you may look relaxed and asleep on the outside but on the inside your brain is busy working hard. Brain waves are small and fast as the brain rapidly processes information from your working day.

Stage 2 Dozing Sleep

At last your brain begins to mimic the physical appearance of your body; brain waves start to slow down and increase in size as you begin to doze off.

Stage 3 Immersed Sleep

Now you are really beginning to get the hang of this sleeping thing. Within an hour of getting into that cosy warm bed the brain waves increase further in size, become more slow and you enter your deepest stages of sleep.

Stage 4 Delta Sleep

In this stage the brain waves are at their slowest and largest and referred to as ‘Delta Waves’. You are sleeping so heavily by now it would be difficult to disturb you from your slumber.

Stage 5: Rapid Eye Movement

Your brain never sleeps and in this stage it’s busy dreaming. The name refers to the fact that your eyes are frantically moving around in response to the images your dreams are conjuring up. REM is another form of deep sleep and while you are enjoying dreaming of all those wonderful things in life your body is recuperating from the previous day and re-energising for the day ahead.