Good ‘sleep architecture’ can boost physical recovery, help regulate your emotions and leave you feeling refreshed – but what is it?

We all have a unique relationship with sleep. Some of us may wake up a lot during the night; others will struggle to get to sleep. I’m reasonably blessed in the sleep department in that I fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow and don’t wake up during the night (I remain permanently exhausted, however, but that’s an issue for another day).

The point is, we all sleep in different ways. And there really is a lot that goes into those seven to nine hours between bedtime and waking up that we often don’t realise because we’re busy dreaming about our teeth falling out or leading a meeting in our underwear.

You can, of course, track a lot of elements of your sleep during the night to tell you what’s going on, from your heart rate to the amount of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep you get. Sleep trackers also tell us when we go through our different sleep cycles and stages – between light, REM and deep sleep. This is known as our sleep architecture, and it can tell us a lot about our health. 

“Sleep architecture refers to the natural structure and pattern of sleep across the night. It is made up of cycles of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which alternate roughly every 90 minutes,” says Dr Seeta Shah, a sleep expert for Panda London.

When you track your sleep through a smart watch, ring or other device, the next day you may see a graph that shows your sleep in waves or bars that gradually build up and drop – this is your body going through its different sleep cycles. “Within NREM sleep, there are three stages, moving from light sleep into deep, restorative slow-wave sleep. This architecture is not random; rather, it follows a predictable rhythm that allows the body and brain to undergo essential restorative processes,” Dr Shah says. 

That’s all well and good, but what do these cycles mean? Well, typically you start with light sleep before moving into deeper sleep gradually until you go into REM sleep. Each stage has a different purpose, from helping the body to recover physically to boosting our memory. Everyone will go through the cycles without too many problems.

“Typically, in healthy adults, the first half of the night contains more deep slow-wave sleep, while the latter half is richer in REM sleep,” Dr Shah says. And a person with ‘good’ sleep architecture will have a well-structured night of sleep that allows them to wake up feeling refreshed. This means you will have had “adequate physical restoration, emotional regulation and cognitive processing”, she says.

Good sleep architecture is important because each stage of sleep plays a key role. “Deep slow-wave sleep supports physical repair, immune function and energy restoration, while REM sleep is vital for emotional processing, learning and memory consolidation,” she says.

And when you’re not getting the optimal amount of each, your body and mind may not get the recovery it needs. “This can contribute to long-term health problems such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, depression and cognitive decline,” Dr Shah says. 

It is possible to have ‘bad’ sleep architecture. This may be the case if you consistently wake up feeling unrefreshed or feel excessively sleepy throughout the day. Other key indicators might be if you struggle with memory, focus or mood.

“Frequent awakenings, difficulty maintaining sleep or conditions such as sleep apnoea can fragment the natural structure, leading to an imbalance in the stages of sleep,” Dr Shah says. “However, a formal assessment of sleep architecture usually requires a sleep study (polysomnography), which measures brainwaves, breathing and movement during the night.” 

Thankfully, if you do struggle with poor sleep architecture, all is not lost. You can improve things, and it’s not all about starting some crazy routine or spending hundreds on supplements – it’s all about building on the foundation and natural sleep rhythms you already have. Dr Shah says: “Keeping a consistent sleep-wake schedule, prioritising enough total sleep time and creating a calm sleep environment are key.”

It can also help to reduce caffeine and alcohol, particularly in the hours before bedtime, as these can disrupt deep sleep later on. “Exposure to natural light during the day and limiting blue light from screens in the evening also strengthens your circadian rhythm, which in turn helps regulate sleep cycles.”

Of course, sometimes something more severe can be at play, and it may be a case of speaking to a GP to see if you struggle with underlying conditions such as sleep apnoea.

And the key message Dr Shah notes is that it isn’t all about quantity – quality comes into it too. “By focusing on sleep quality as well as sleep quantity, you can protect and enhance your sleep architecture over time.” 

Images: Getty