HOUSTON — A good night’s sleep is important for both the body and brain. It’s essential to understand the four stages of sleep and how to get more restful z’s. Stage 1: Transitional sleep The sleep ...

Light sleep is the beginning of your sleep cycle and your body's way of winding down. Breathing, heart rate and muscle changes prepare your body for the deeper sleep to come. Light sleep is broken ...

Sleep is kind of a big deal. It’s the best way for our bodies to recover after a hard day, and it also greatly influences our cognitive functions and immune responses. Yet while many of us focus on ...

Deep sleep refers to slow-wave sleep — a stage in the sleep cycle when brain waves slow down. Getting enough deep sleep is crucial for numerous bodily functions. But how to increase deep sleep isn’t ...

Learn facts about sleep, during which the body rests, recuperates and performs essential repairs. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

You may remember little to nothing when you wake up, but there’s a lot going on while you sleep. You just spent the previous seven to nine hours moving through a highly structured cycle of sleep ...

Deep sleep earlier in life could be the key to keeping healthy cognition. The key to keeping your wits about you as you age may lie in shut-eye during midlife. A study found that people over 60 who ...

Sleeping for 7 to 9 hours at night isn't the only way to catch some z's. Here are four alternative sleep cycles -- and they're pretty obscure. Annie Miller Medical Reviewer Annie Miller is a licensed ...

A groundbreaking study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine discovered a critical link between stress and disrupted sleep cycles. The study, published in Current ...

Ever wonder why some mornings you wake up ready to go, and others you feel like a zombie? The difference often comes down to when you wake up during your sleep cycle, and that’s exactly what a sleep ...