Nidra Charya

As I mentioned previously, there are 4 stages of sleep Stage type A.K.A. Duration(undisturbed) Stage 1 NREM N1 7-8 min Stage 2 NREM N2 15-25 min Stage 3 NREM N3, slow-wave-sleep(SWS), deep sleep 20-40 min Stage 4 REM REM sleep 10-60 min   Stage 1-3 are NREM, as in non rapid eye movement. Basically this means that only in stage 4 is there rapid movement of the eyes which is caused due to vivid dreaming. All 4 stages make up one sleep cycle and at least 4 cycles are required per night for proper sleep. Every cycle on an average takes 90-120 min and this 4 sleep cycles take 6-8 hours to complete. More information on these stages will be there in further articles.  Incomplete/ disturbed cycles can lead to tiredness during the day. Chronic(permanent) disruption in the circadian rh...

Now, it was mentioned earlier, how the circadian rhythm is sort of like the body's 'internal clock'. elaborating.... ABOUT THIS 'CLOCK' Firstly, this so called clock is not an isolated💀contraption buried somewhere in the body, rather its cleverly spread throughout. Imagine a  main clock that is connected to all the other clocks. Now, this main clock here is present in the hypothalamus(a region in the brain🧠), while the other clocks called the peripheral clocks are distributed to various organ and tissue systems. There are also smaller units called clock genes that are present in almost all cells.  These contain special proteins that are produced and deteriorate in a constant 24 hour cycle. This is used to govern the rhythm. This rhythm is affected by many external factors, the most major of them being exposure to 💡light. when we are in the dark, a hormone called melatonin is released, causing sleepiness😴. Inversely, when we are exposed to light, melatonin reced...