Sleep cycles

During my time at college I have learned many things. Not many of them do I use everyday, but there are a few that I do.

A few months back I was reading an article online about sleeping. The article was talking about REM cycles and how they last on average about 1.5 hrs. The article said that when woken up during the middle of a cycle a person is usually more tired during the day than a person that wakes up at the end of a cycle. They also said that the average person needs 4-5 cycles per night to be considered "well rested".

When I found this out I decided that I would plan my sleeping times in 1.5 hr increments. So each night before would go to sleep I would quickly do the math and decide when I should get up. If it didn't fit the 1.5 hr increment I would stay up the extra 15- 50 min , so that I too could be well rested.

To my surprise I found myself more alert in class and work and it was also slightly easier to wake up in the mornings.

Since I got an iPhone the sleep cycles have been better because like the commercials say "there's an app for that". This application measures your movements in bed with the accelerometer in the phone determining when you are in the deepest sleep. (when in a deep sleep you move very little if at all).

To anyone that desires to have better sleep, wake up easier, be more alert during the day, or is just interested to see if it's true, I recommend that you give this 1.5 hr sleep cycle theory a try.