Is my deep sleep percentage sufficient?

August 4, 2010 2:19 PM

How should I interpret the fact that I get 10% deep sleep a night?

I've used ZEO for the last week, and found out I have about 25-30% REM a night, but only 9-15% deep sleep over the last week (average 11%). Should I be concerned about this? Is there a good way to increase deep sleep percentages? I don't feel terribly tired throughout the day, but I'm now wondering if I could be feeling much more rested and just don't know it's possible. Not a caffeine drinker. I drink alcohol several times a week, and often take benadryl to sleep (I'm not a gifted sleeper). If you have any expertise in sleep neuroscience, by all means, I'd love to hear it :)

posted by namesarehard to health & fitness (5 answers total)

You are getting what ZEO defines as deep sleep for ten percent of the night. As far as I can tell, that information is useless, because you have no idea what exactly it's measuring. The only way to get a proper analysis of your sleep is to get a sleep study done by a physician who specializes in sleep disorders.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:27 PM on August 4, 2010

You also are assuming that only deep sleep is restful. There's no reason to believe that increasing the percentage of deep sleep would somehow be better.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:40 PM on August 4, 2010

There's plenty of reason (that is, research) to believe that slow-wave sleep is extremely important. Like, trust me, they call it restorative sleep for a reason.

Also, Ocherdraco, ZEO was recommended to me by several Stanford physicians, who believe it to be an excellent tool. So let's assume the data is meaningful for the sake of the question.
posted by namesarehard at 2:58 PM on August 4, 2010

My old psychology literature says that the average person have less than 1 hour deep sleep per night, so <12.5% if they get 8 hours of sleep. 11% is not that far off the mark, so no big deal. But this is a decade old and newer research is likely to be available.
posted by Niklas at 4:22 PM on August 4, 2010

Benadryl sometimes decreases REM sleep, but isn't known to reduce slow wave sleep.

In my sleep lab no one would bat an eye at your SWS percentage.

You have no need for concern regarding this information.
posted by skinnydipp at 3:00 PM on August 5, 2010