How do I find my ideal sleep rhythm?

Do you want to find your ideal sleep rhythm and finally start the day refreshed? A healthy sleep rhythm is crucial for productivity, well-being, and your health. In this article, we explain step by step how to find your personal sleep rhythm and improve it permanently – for more energy and joy of life.

The 90-minute sleep rhythm

Maybe you already know the well-known rule that you should always sleep in multiples of 1.5 hours? According to this, you should even feel more awake if you sleep 7.5 hours instead of 8 hours.
The 90-minute sleep rhythm of humans can explain the rationale behind this rule of thumb. During sleep, every person naturally goes through five specific sleep phases. One cycle of the rhythm mentioned above lasts 90 minutes and consists of these sleep phases. The cycle begins with the falling asleep phase, then transitions into light sleep, and then into the deep sleep phase. After this stage follows the so-called REM sleep phase. This stage is the last phase before the waking phase and is characterized by dreams and rapid eye movements under the eyelids. In this phase, you are already easy to wake. However, if the alarm clock wakes you in the middle of the cycle, it can cause you to feel tired despite having had enough sleep. You were most likely pulled out of a deep sleep phase, making getting up and waking in the morning more difficult. In this context, one can say: The more naturally you wake up, the better!

However, it is still important how many 90-minute cycles you go through during sleep. The sleep phase cycle, that is one cycle, repeats over and over during the night. An interesting fact about the sleep rhythm is that each REM sleep phase is approximately twice as long as the previous one. This means that in the first cycles, deep sleep predominates, and after several repetitions, REM sleep predominates.

To start the day feeling more refreshed, tools like sleep phase alarms (or sleep trackers) or wakeup lights that simulate sunrise can be recommended.

Quantity vs. quality - what is important?

Both are equally important and both can be just as difficult to achieve. Many people have or take too little time for sleep. Others have trouble falling asleep or sleep disorders. They therefore sleep very restlessly and despite enough sleep at night, they do not get enough regeneration. This, however, affects our health.

We can get more regeneration from sleep if we improve our sleep quality through various measures such as ergonomic pillows or plant-based sleep aids.  

Nevertheless, the sleep rhythm and sleep duration should not be overlooked. Some regenerative functions only occur after a certain sleep duration and risk being lost with too little sleep. However, sleep needs are individual and depend on several factors, such as physical activity and physical strain, to determine how much sleep is healthy.
Regeneration is therefore the product of duration and sleep quality!

Regular sleep rhythm helps

A very effective piece of advice among sleep tips is to establish a fixed sleep-wake rhythm in your life. At the same time, this is often difficult to implement. Business trips with time changes and jetlags as well as habits like late-night TV, studying, or long parties, which have become established over months and years, can endanger the sleep rhythm.

But if you really mean to optimize your recovery, you should try as best as possible. Children especially show us how effective it is to improve sleep. Falling asleep and staying asleep becomes much easier for a child when parents have accustomed them to a fixed sleep rhythm. But of course, we are realists, and the switch between weekdays and weekends usually causes problems in our biorhythm.

Of larks and owls – everyone has a different sleep rhythm and sleep need

How a person's internal clock ticks is determined by genes. Leading sleep researchers like Prof. Till Roenneberg refer to different "chronotypes" – the early-rising larks, who are more energetic and productive during the day, and the night-active owls. It’s about when you are most efficient, when you should go to bed, and when you should get up.

And when the internal clock is not synchronized with the rhythm of everyday life (e.g., school, work, or training start), experts speak of "social jetlag," which can lead to sleep disorders, chronic fatigue, and decreased performance.

You can find out which type you are with the Chronotype questionnaire from the Leibniz Institute.

What can you do with this knowledge? Of course, everyday life cannot be influenced arbitrarily, especially if you are a student, employee, or shift worker. Doctors, nurses, police officers, pilots, and similar professions also have little room for maneuver here. Nevertheless, knowing our chronotype allows us to plan our free time more sensibly.

Summary: The right sleep rhythm is created through conscious self-observation and small adjustments. With patience and a few tricks, such as regular bedtimes and sleep aids from our shop, you get closer to your ideal sleep rhythm every day. Invest in restful nights and experience how well-being and performance noticeably improve.