Important Tests Your Doctor Can Run to Determine Your State of Health

Going to the doctor is one of the best investments you can make in yourself. By getting some fairly simple tests done, it can help your doctor determine whether or not you’re as healthy as you should be. You can avoid many common issues that can hurt your long term health if you know how to take care of them now.

Checking Blood Pressure

Having your blood pressure tested at your doctor’s office is a fairly routine test. But it’s an important one. Your blood pressure can be one of the determining factors to your heart health.

However, it can also be an indication of something much simpler and far less dangerous than a problem with your heart. High blood pressure can mean a variety of things. When it’s elevated, it can mean that your diet consists of foods that contain too much salt.

Overuse of salt makes your body hold onto fluids. That raises your blood pressure. If your doctor catches this and you reduce your salt intake, it’s better for your heart in the years to come.

Your doctor can do a blood pressure check and compare it to other blood pressure tests that you’ve had done in the past. This will give him an overall picture of how well (or not) you’re doing physically.

Some things can make your blood pressure go up besides salt. One of these is smoking. When you smoke, it increases your chances of having a heart related health problem.

It might surprise you to discover that drinking too much alcohol can also make your blood pressure rise, too. Not getting the right amount sleep can cause a rise in blood pressure and so can sleep problems such as sleep apnea.

If you don’t exercise regularly or if you’re carrying more weight than you should, these can also make your blood pressure abnormal. Both short term and chronic stress can give you an elevated reading and so can crossing your legs while your pressure is being checked.

If you’re relatively healthy, there’s not a problem with an elevated reading every now and then. It’s only when the pressure reads high on a consistent basis that it can mean something more serious is going on.

Since a higher blood pressure has been linked to kidney, adrenal and thyroid malfunction, as well, it’s always best to make sure you get it checked regularly and maybe even get a small machine at home to check at various times.

Why Your Doctor Needs to Check Your Eyes and Ears

Your family physician will routinely exam your eyes when you come in for a visit. The test he’s performing is a simple one to determine if any potential health issues are being revealed through your eyes.

When he looks into your eyes, if he notices that your inner eyelids are more pale than pink that’s a clue that you could have anemia. Blurred vision, a heavy feeling in your eyes, and chronic irritation can be a sign that your glucose level is out of control.

Heaviness and itching can be a sign of chronic dry eye. Your doctor checks for this because chronic dry eye can lead to corneal scarring. The doctor checks your eyes to look for things like signs of STD or ocular herpes, which can be visible as redness and irritation on the eye.

Many people mistakenly assume redness, irritation or itching is simply allergies. Since herpes can cause blindness, it’s important that your doctor checks your eyes. Your doctor checks your ears because sometimes you can get a wax build up and may not realize it.

Some of the signs of that are ringing in the ears, itching and dizziness. The reason that the doctor checks your ears when you go in for treatment for a cough is because that’s also one of the signs of earwax build up.

He also checks for any problems with the ear - such as fluid or changes in your hearing.

Besides checking things such as your blood pressure, eyes and ears, the doctor will check your blood to see what’s going on inside your body.

The CBC and Other Blood Tests

A complete blood count or CBC test can tell you a lot about your overall health. Even when you feel great, you might have some issues going on. Checking your blood is one of the quickest and easiest ways for your doctor to have a peek at what’s going on inside your body.

Most CBC tests are done for preventative reasons. The faster the doctor picks up on anything that’s off, the faster you can get treated for it. This test will check your platelets and your red and white blood cells.

The results can show the condition of your blood cells. The doctor looks for things like inflammation, infections, anemia and sometimes he can check to see if there are certain antibodies present.

When you have this test done, it can show if you’re dealing with something that’s easy to fix such as dehydration or a vitamin deficiency. But it an also show if you’re dealing with something more serious.

This blood test will let him know what your cholesterol range is as well. It’ll show the level of your good cholesterol as well as your bad cholesterol. This can help him see if you need to change the way that you eat to either lower the bad or raise the good cholesterol.

Some people think this is a test for those who are 40 and over, but you should get this test done in your 20s in order to determine your health. Your doctor will also know when he looks at the range of your blood test results how your overall health is doing.

Changes in your blood cells that are outside the normal range would mean you’d have to have more testing. Usually, what the doctor is looking are noticeable cell changes such as the production of too many red blood cells - which can signify a problem with the heart.

Your doctor may also check your A1C. This would be done if you’re having symptoms of diabetes, such as excessive thirst, frequent urination, sores that are slow to heal or numbness in your fingers or lips.

Routine checks of your A1C can often head off diabetes before it develops if it’s caught in the pre-diabetic stage. A blood test your doctor may conduct is a thyroid stimulating test to see how your thyroid is functioning.

Sometimes doctors routinely order a liver panel if you’re taking medication that can impact the health of your liver. If you’re a woman and have reached a certain age, your doctor might do a blood test to see if you’re in menopause.

The reason for this is because menopause can mimic other health conditions. When menopause hits, you may experience weight gain, thinning hair, skin dryness and moodiness. Those symptoms are also related to thyroid problems, so to rule out one or the other, your doctor may routinely test for this.

Important Medical Tests for Women

Starting at a certain age, your doctor should routinely examine you for certain health issues that need to be checked. For women, this means having a pap smear done. While some women use an OB/GYN, your family doctor can also perform this test if you feel comfortable.

This test is one that checks to make sure that you don’t have any issues with your cervix and other issues involving your reproductive health. This test should be performed when you become sexually active.

Guidelines recommend that women have this test done every 3 years until they reach the age of 65. During the pap smear exam, the doctor will check to make sure that there are no signs of an STD since some people are asymptomatic.

When you have a pap smear done, your doctor can also check your breast health. In addition to self exam, getting doctor screened breast exams may help them spot any changes quicker.

While the recommended screening for getting a mammogram done starts at the age of 50, if you have a family history of breast cancer, your doctor may order one sooner. A common test for women that your doctor may do is an abdominal check.

This involves the doctor gently pushing down on your abdomen. He’s checking for anything out of the ordinary. This might be something like a hard abdomen versus a soft one or lumps that could be ovarian cysts. You may also get a routine urinalysis. This test can check for urinary tract infections as well as the performance of your kidneys.

Important Medical Tests for Men

Getting these routine tests done can help your doctor understand your current health as well as determine the possible implications to your health if a problem is uncovered. Your doctor will want to perform certain tests that can pinpoint possible health conditions that are more common among men.

He’ll want to check your heart health because men are twice as likely as women are to develop health problems with the heart. And they’re twice as likely to die of a heart attack than women are.

The doctor may want you to have a blood pressure check sitting, standing and lying down. He may also test your blood pressure readings more often if you have borderline readings.

Blood tests to check your cholesterol level as well as one to test for diabetes may also be ordered. More often than not, these are simply screening tests. Your doctor is trying to be proactive in order to get ahead of any potential problems.

If you’re overweight and a smoker, your doctor may also perform an EKG. This test will determine the performance of your heart. It can show what your heart rhythm is as well as point out anything that’s abnormal with your heart.

If there is a problem, your doctor may order a prolonged EKG which is known as a Holter Monitor. For any test results that show you’re at risk for heart health problems, your doctor might prescribe a change in habits for you.

He may suggest that you give up smoking and change the way you eat if your diet isn’t one that’s heart healthy. Another common test for men that your doctor may run is a DRE - also known as a digital rectal exam.

This is a routine test that checks men for prostate cancer. He may also perform a test for testicle lumps or ask you if you’ve noticed any during self exams. Because it’s a fact that men are more likely than women to have health issues with their lungs, your doctor will listen to your breathing through the stethoscope.

If he hears anything out of the ordinary, he may send you for a lung x-ray - especially if you smoke. A urinalysis done for men is performed to check for the bacteria that can cause urethritis. Though it’s less common in men than among women, a man can still get UTIs. Screening through urinalysis can help the doctor work to prevent future health problems.

BMI Test

Your doctor may perform a BMI test. This is a screening that checks body mass index. By determining what your BMI is, your doctor can tell how healthy you currently are and what your odds of developing future health problems will be.

If your test is higher than 24.9, you’re considered overweight. If your BMI results show that you’re at 30 or over, you’re considered obese. The higher your BMI, the higher your disease risk is.

When you have a high BMI result, it can affect your entire body, which is one reason many doctors calculate a patient’s range. It can cause problems with your blood pressure.

A high BMI can mean that your heart health is at risk. Many people who have a BMI that’s out of the normal range also have high cholesterol, which can lead to the narrowing of blockages in the arteries.

It also means that you’re at a higher risk for developing diabetes. When you have an unhealthy BMI, it can also cause issues such as back and joint pain. It may also mean that you’re getting less than the best sleep.

Being overweight often causes insomnia - plus it can impact your immune system. When you carry more weight than you should, it can make your endocrine system work harder than it should. You may also experience problems with things like rashes and skin inflammations due to moisture build up in areas where there is excess skin.

Testing Your Skin

One of the tests that a doctor may run to determine your state of health is to check your skin. There’s a good reason for this. Your skin is often the first outward sign that there may be health issues going on.

Most people think that skin cancer is a condition that only occurs when you’re older. But thanks to unprotected time spent in the sun as well as use of tanning beds, skin cancer has become more common in people as early as in their twenties.

More men than women will have an occurrence of skin cancer. They’re also less likely than women to seek early intervention when a spot occurs on the skin or a mole changes color or consistency.

Your family doctor can often be the first person to notice unusual changes on your skin that may be cancerous. Another thing the health of your skin might point to is diabetes. People who have diabetes can often have changes in their skin’s texture.

There can be rashes around the ankles or a rash than rings around the neck. Excessive skin tags can also be a sign of diabetes - so can itchy skin, frequent skin infections and numerous raised, red bumps.

Your doctor will check your skin for signs of darkening. This can be a sign that there’s a problem with your adrenal function. Another reason the doctor performs skin examinations is because swollen blood vessels with a noticeable center can be an indication of liver problems.

It’s always good to have your doctor run the various tests that not only confirm whether or not there’s a problem going on, but also gives them a base line to gauge future test results against to see how your body is changing over time.

​And how you can get on track for a more restful night

The relationship between sleep and diet is a complicated one. Recent news that fiber, sugar, and fat intake can cause sleep problems adds to a growing body of research connecting the two.

In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, researchers found that diets lower in fiber and higher in saturated fats and sugar are linked to less restful, more fragmented sleep with more frequent awakenings throughout the night. These diets also were associated with less time in slow-wave sleep, a highly restorative phase of sleep.

A vicious circle of sleep-affecting-diet, diet-affecting sleep occurs: Insufficient sleep spurs appetite, in part by altering hormones that regulate feelings of hunger and fullness. Short on sleep, our levels of the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin spike, while levels of leptin—a hormone that promotes feelings of fullness—drop.

As a result, when you're sleep deprived, you tend to consume more calories than your body needs. In addition to spiking overall appetite, insufficient sleep specifically increases your desire for fatty and sugary foods and also reduces your ability to withstand these food cravings (there's a strong scientific connection between insufficient and poor quality sleep and obesity)...

Read on by clicking ​here https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/health/sleep/diet-sleep-problems/​​

Imagine this: Someone walks up to you and pitches you on a brand-new, magical pill.

This pill can measurably improve your memory, overall cognitive performance, ability to learn new information, receptivity to facial cues, mood, ability to handle problems, metabolism, risk for heart disease and immune system.

Would you buy it?

Yeah, yeah, you saw this coming: That pill exists, but not in pill form. You can have all of those benefits cost-free, and all it takes is going to bed a little bit earlier. That’s it.

Yeah, yeah, you saw this coming: That pill exists, but not in pill form. You can have all of those benefits cost-free, and all it takes is going to bed a little bit earlier. That’s it.

And yet! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called sleep deprivation a public health crisis, saying that one-third of adults don’t get enough sleep. Some 80 percent of people report sleep problems at least once per week, and according to a 2016 study, sleep deprivation “causes more than $400 billion in economic losses annually in the United States and results in 1.23 million lost days of work each year.”

Read on by clicking here 

Menopause and Sleep Changes

When women get to a certain age, they start going through menopause. During this time of your life, you go through various hormonal and physical changes, including mood swings, night sweats, a change in your weight and metabolism, and an end to your period. Among these other changes in your body, you might also start experience a disruption in your normal sleep pattern.

What is Menopause?

During menopause, your reproductive hormones slow down, which is when you typically stop menstruating and no longer have a menstrual cycle each month. This often happens gradually, with perimenopause first. This is often referred to as a transition phase, in which your progesterone and estrogen starts declining gradually, starting in your 40s (for most women). Full menopause is usually reached by the type you are 50, though of course this can vary a lot.

With the changes in your hormone levels, your body and mental health goes through a lot of changes as well, including lack of sleep, increased anxiety and depression, mood swings, hot flashes, and many other physical symptoms.

How Does it Affect Your Sleep?

The first thing you should know is that just because you are a woman around these ages with sleeping issues, doesn’t necessarily mean it is from menopause. That is simple one of the factors. However, if you are struggling with sleep deprivation around the time you started menopause, they are probably linked.

Your body is going through a major change during this time in your life. You just went through 40 or more years of having monthly menstrual cycles and a certain hormone level, so to suddenly have those drop, your body is going to need time to adjust.

The good news is that the insomnia won’t last forever, and there are quite a few things you can do to get better sleep.

Sleep Changes When You Are Pregnant

When you find out you are pregnant, you mentally prepare yourself for how much your life is going to change. Not just in your home and your schedule, but your body as well. Another thing you should be aware of is that your sleep habits will change dramatically during pregnancy, with different sleep patterns during each trimester.

First Trimester Sleep Changes

You will notice that your sleep will change during each trimester of pregnancy, and often depending on outside factors like stress, your emotional state, diet, and chronic pain.

During the first trimester, it can include a lot of waking up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. After the first few weeks of pregnancy, you urinate more frequently, often linked to needing to hydrate more than usual.

This can continue throughout your entire pregnancy, though there might be certain stages where it isn’t quite as noticeable.

During the first trimester, you might be even more tired during the day and at night, so you could sleep more than usual. Even so, you may have difficulty sleeping when you start experiencing difficult physical changes, especially if you start getting “morning” sickness, which can happen at any time.

Second Trimester Sleep Changes

Many women describe the second trimester as the best trimester. This is when the frequent urination isn’t quite as frequent, you are tired but not overly tired, and your morning sickness might dissipate as well. Take advantage of how much better you feel, and especially of how much better you sleep!

You might notice that your overall quality of sleep is improved. You feel more rested at night, don’t have as much discomfort from nausea or cramping, and your emotional stress is often less severe during this trimester as well.

If you are experiencing insomnia, it is a good time to speak to your doctor, just to rule out any other causes for it.

Third Trimester Sleep Changes

The third trimester is a beautiful time as you feel more movement from your baby and get closer to labor and delivery, but your sleep might suffer once again. A lot of the sleep issues during this trimester are from body aches and pains.

You are growing a human, and that means a lot of pressure is put on your back and hips. You might notice that you have to wake up a lot at night to move positions, have chronic back pain, and maybe even some cramping. You might also notice other physical discomforts that keep you from getting quality sleep, like heartburn, shortness of breath, leg cramps, increased urination, and sinus congestion.

The best thing you can do is try to be as comfortable as possible at night, whether that means upgrading your mattress, getting different bedding, or using a body pillow to help support your body and decrease the cramps and back pain.

Soon you will have a brand new baby to love, so try to take advantage of as much sleep as possible during your pregnancy.

How to Help Children Get Better Sleep

It is hard enough getting your own quality sleep, but when your kids aren’t sleeping, neither are you in most cases. Here are some easy tips for helping your kids get the best sleep possible.

Set Your Child’s Bedtime

The very first thing you should do if your children are struggling with sleep is to choose a bedtime. There might be some nights where they don’t quite get to be don time, but the more consistent you are with when they need to be in bed, the better off everyone will be.

Choosing a bedtime isn’t just good for ensuring they get enough sleep before having to wake up the next morning, but for the purpose of good sleep habits. By knowing their bedtime, they also understand when it is time to start their nightly routine of getting ready for bed. It is really important for your children’s development.

Be Consistent with Bedtime Routines

Once you have chosen their bedtime, you can start working on their bedtime routine. This is a routine that should be done every night, which helps get them ready for bed. It might include taking a bath or shower and brushing their teeth, reading a book in bed, drinking a glass of milk to get them sleepy, and maybe taking medications if they have anything they need to take in the evening.

It is also when your kids usually stop watching TV or playing games, and do more relaxing activities. Maybe you start the routine an hour before their bedtime, so they can change into their pajamas and sit on the bed to relax and talk a bit before bed, or you read them a story. These activities get both their brain and body used to the idea of bedtime coming soon.

These sleep habits are a lot more important that you might think, and it is equally important that the routines are consistent.

Do You Have a Problem with Oversleeping?

Oversleeping can seem like a great thing when your schedule allows for it, but this is actually a lot worse for your health and wellness than you might think. Both inadequate sleep and too much sleep are not good for you. The best thing to do for your health is get a normal amount of sleep, without going too far under or over.

Here are some of the more common signs that you are oversleeping.

You Always Wake Up Tired

It is normal to be a little tired in the morning, especially when you were woken up by an alarm or you went to sleep a little later than normal. However, there is a difference between being sleepy because you just woke up, and being exhausted and severely fatigued. People who are oversleeping have similar effects to waking up after not sleeping much at all. It might feel similar to having jet lag or a bad hangover. When this keeps happening, it is usually a sign that you might be sleeping too much.

You Have Brain Fog

You might also be oversleeping if you are experiencing brain fog. Of course, brain fog can occur from many different situations and conditions, but oversleeping is definitely one of them. When you have brain fog, you feel out of it. Almost like you are walking around like a zombie without being able to really focus or concentrate on anything much. There are different levels of brain fog, but typically you just feel like your brain can’t quite focus on any one thing at a time.

You Wake Up with a Headache

If you find that you are waking up with headaches, that might be a sign that you have slept too much. Before assuming your headaches are from oversleeping, consider other potential causes, including sleep deprivation, stress, hormones, or clenching or grinding your teeth while sleeping.

Unusual Weight Gain

Any time you gain weight without changing your diet or habits, it is something you should look into. You might be gaining weight for any number of reasons, including medical conditions like thyroid disease, so it is not something you should ignore. However, your weight gain might actually be from oversleeping. People who sleep too much have a tendency to gain weight due to lack of energy throughout the day, a poor diet, and less time spent with physical activity during the day. Oversleeping can also be linked to changes in your appetite, so without realizing it, you might be eating more than usual.

Physical Discomfort

Lastly, consider if you have more body pain than you used to. This might include arm and shoulder aching, your hips hurting, or your legs aching. These types of body pains come from laying for too long in one position, or just because you are not stretching out your muscles and joints enough. If the physical pain has come on after you started sleeping a little more than usual, it is often linked to oversleeping.

Sleeping too much might seem like a blessing if you have struggled with insomnia in the past, but it can be detrimental to your health just like lack of sleep can.

Sleeping Aids: Natural VS Over-the-Counter Remedies

If you are having trouble sleeping, and just switching up your habits isn’t enough to help, you might need to turn to sleeping aids. There are three main categories of sleeping aids – prescription, over-the-counter, and natural. We are going to discuss all three of them, but focus mainly on OTC and natural options for improving your sleep.

Prescription and OTC Sleep Aids

The first types of sleep aids are either available at your local drug store over-the-counter, or by prescription from your doctor. There are some pros and cons for every sleep aid, whether it is natural or not. It is good to understand what each medication can do for you in order to make a decision on which might help you the best.

Prescription Sleep Aids

First we have the sleep aids available by prescription. Benzodiazepines are a type of prescription medication that help to slow the activity in your brain. These are often given to people for anxiety and other mental health disorders, but they can also help rest your brain to help you sleep better. These include medications like lorazepam, diazepam, triazolam, and temazepam.

There are also non-benzo prescription sleep aids like eszopiclone and zolpidem, or names you might recognize more easily – Lunesta and Ambien. These are good when your insomnia is from a short-term situation, like an increase in your anxiety or following a traumatic event. They are not intended for long-term use.

Your doctor might also recommend antidepressants, which can help with the serotonin levels in your brain to encourage better rest at night. The most common antidepressants prescribed for insomnia are amitriptyline and trazodone.

Over-the-Counter Sleep Aids

The OTC meds are good because they don’t require a prescription, but you also need to be careful about tolerance and addiction.

Most OTC sleeping aids are a type of antihistamine or diphenhydramine. There are drowsy formulas of drugs often taken for allergies, sinus, and colds. These might include Benadryl, Advil PM, Unisom, and Sominex.

These are also not recommended on a long-term basis, since they can cause drowsiness throughout the next day after taking them.

Natural Sleep Aids

For something you can take more on a continued basis, look at the natural options. These are not as harsh on your body, and can often help with long-term sleep issues.

Melatonin

The first natural sleep aid to consider taking is melatonin. This is a hormone you already have in your body that will help you decide when it is time to sleep. Unfortunately, you might have a decline in this hormone, and need to take a melatonin supplement. It is really beneficial for people who need to sleep during the day or at different times each day from a shift work schedule.

Magnesium

You can also try adding a magnesium supplement to your daily routine. If you are not getting enough magnesium through natural food sources, you might notice a decline in the quality of your sleep. There are different types of magnesium, from supplement pills you can take, to powder you add to your water.

Natural Herbs

If you are a fan of herbs and essential oils, there are a few that can help you get better sleep. Some o the best ones are lavender, rose, and chamomile.

How Eating Disorders Affect Your Sleep

You are probably aware of the side effects of eating disorder and how they affect your body and mental health. But did you know it could also be affecting your sleep? There have been studies that show a correlation between certain types of eating disorders and unhealthy eating behaviors, and having issues sleeping.

Unhealthy Habits Beget Unhealthy Habits

The first way your lack of sleep could be affecting your eating disorder, and vice versa, is that one unhealthy habit often leads to another. People who suffer from eating disorders often find many different areas of their life and health is at jeopardy. Not just the immediate health concerns, but things like your mental health and problems sleeping. Your body might not get the nutrients it needs to find good rest at night, so you find yourself with insomnia.

It also can work the other way around. Where you are having issues sleeping, and suddenly you have a larger appetite, or unhealthy eating habits you used to suffer with suddenly come back. It is all related to how you feel and your emotional health, which sleep deprivation unfortunately can really have a negative effect on.

Sleep-Related Eating Disorder

There is also an eating disorder called sleep-related eating disorder, where you tend to have unusual eating patterns at night. This is often related to a type of sleepwalking, where when you get up at night, you tend to eat whatever you can find in the kitchen, and in the morning, you don’t remember doing so.

This isn’t just an issue with sleepwalking, but with your emotional health when you wake up and realize how much you have eaten. It is an unconscious form of overeating that can develop into other types of eating disorders and unhealthy eating patterns. This is why sleepwalking should be treated properly to avoid this type of behavior

Binge Eating from Lack of Sleep

You might also notice that on the days when you have a larger appetite or eating without even thinking about how much you are eating, you didn’t get good sleep the night before. One of the side effects of sleep deprivation is having appetite changes, usually where your body craves more food. You might notice binge eating behaviors when you have continued lack of sleep, particularly cravings for unhealthy food like sugar and refined carbohydrates.

It is important that you really focus getting on proper sleep for your mind and body. Your health and wellness rely on you to get proper rest in order for the other functions of your body and mind to work properly. When you don’t get enough sleep, it can lead to overeating, not eating enough, or developing otherwise unhealthy eating habits.

It can also lead to disordered eating if you have a history of mental illness, which is often linked to eating disorders or any unhealthy eating behavior.

Make sure you talk to a doctor about your sleep and eating disorder issues, as they might very well be linked.

Understanding the Different Stages of Sleep

Each night when you go to sleep, your body and mind goes through a lot of changes. This is why it seems like you are in a lighter or deeper sleep, or sometimes you dream and other types you don’t. Each of these changes will occur during a different stage of sleep. Here are the stages of sleep and what you can do to improve them.

Stage One – Light Stage Sleep

The first stage of sleep is naturally the lightest sleep, which is often what people experience when they take a brief nap in the daytime. Even at night, you go through stage one first, but it can last just a few minutes. During the light stage of sleep, your eye movements will start to slow down, and while you are slightly unconscious, you are also a little alert.

If you have ever drifted off while in bed or lying on the couch, but are instantly alerted to what’s going on a minute or two later, you were caught in the first stage of sleep. Some people have jerky body movements as well, especially when going between stage one and two of sleep.

Stage Two – Preparing for Deep Sleep

When you get through stage one, you start preparing for a deep sleep. This is stage two, when your eye movement has stopped and your brain waves start to slow down. Your body temperature will also likely drop in order to prepare for a deeper sleep.

Stage two is still a lighter sleep since you are not yet in a deep sleep yet. Your heart rate slows down, and there is an increase in brain wave activity. If you are trying to take a short nap, you wouldn’t want to get past stage two, or it would be hard to wake back up without an alarm.

Stage Three – Beginning of Deep Sleep

The start of a deep sleep occurs in the third stage of sleeping. Your brain produces waves called slower delta waves, which is when you might start having night terrors or other effects of sleep if you have a parasomnia. Do you struggle with sleepwalking or talking in your sleep? If so, it will probably occur in stage three or four, but rarely during REM sleep (the final stage).

When you reach stage three of sleep, it is harder to awake you. You won’t be as responsive to sounds and other distractions, only waking to a loud noise or other sudden alert. You might not even hear your alarm clock right away.