Can you recall the days that you wake up completely exhausted? It’s usually due to lack of sleep. There are also days in which you sleep in, past the sufficient amount of time, and still feel tired. On the other hand, you sometimes hardly sleep at all, yet you wake up feeling refreshed.
Humans have sleep cycles. Knowing your sleep cycle will help you manage your time and find the most efficient and beneficial sleep hours that will rest your mind and body. There are two common sleep cycles, REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-rapid eye movement). The first of both these cycles generally run 70 and 100 minutes; the latter cycles are about 90 to 120 minutes. Approximately at the end of each cycle, your body will be close to wakefulness.
Just because you would feel awake after 90 minutes of sleep, in order to experience the wonders of sleeping well, you would need to sleep around seven to 10 hours. However, the benefits of sleep can be achieved with a variety of multiple sleep cycles. Check them out here:
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/07/13/alternative-sleep-cycles-7-10-hours-is-not-needed/
Typically, you would want to set your alarm for multiples of 90 minutes. You can try out the bedtime calculator from:
Good night, sleep tight ☾