Just like deep sleep, the amount of REM sleep you need varies from person to person. It will depend on what you did during your day, on your age and other factors. For example, babies spend 50% of their sleep time in REM sleep, whereas it is pretty much 20% to 25% for adults.

There are few reasons people want to increase their REM sleep. An increase in REM sleep has been shown to improve memory and general mental abilities. You may also want to extend the length of time you dream.

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Get to know your sleep cycle duration and habits

If you know about your sleep habits and how your cycle evolves during your sleep, you can start planning your bedtime schedules so that you can fully and naturally benefit from REM sleep periods. Knowing that it is at the end of sleep that REM periods are the most abundant and long, it is necessary to optimize your sleep times so that these REM periods can last as much as possible before waking up.

There are a lot of trackers such as the Circular Ring that you can use to understand your sleep habits and compare the evolution of your sleep cycle.

Avoid blue lights

Turn off the TV, smartphone, tablet, computer at least 2 hours before sleep. Or even better, keep all your electronics outside the bedroom. The light that these devices emit stimulate the brain, suppress the production of melatonin (which encourages REM sleep), and interfere with your body’s biological clock.

You can use Blue-Light-Blocking glasses and softwares that auto prevents the blue color of your devices.

Optimize your sleep environment

Sleeping in a quiet, dark room and at a cool and comfortable temperature will help you make your sleep stable and durable. Noise, as well as blue light, delays the release of melatonin. It is therefore essential to cut the noise as much as possible before going to bed. Don’t listen to any sound higher than that of a human conversation. For example, if you listen to music or television, try to listen to it at a reasonable volume.

Consider using earplugs, smart lights, smart thermostats and smart bedding.

Avoid caffeine and alcohol

Do not consume caffeine or alcohol within four to six hours before bedtime.

Be intellectually active during the day

The more you use your brain during the day, the more your brain will seek to achieve REM sleep. As REM sleep is for your brain to process the information of your day, if your brain was very stimulated during the day you will spend more time in REM sleep. 

That stimulation is achieved through reading, writing, creating, learning, having social interactions…

Magnesium and Melatonin intake

Recent studies have shown that taking magnesium and melatonin with a dosage appropriate to your body can increase the duration of REM sleep. Get advise from your doctor.

How to track how much REM sleep you are getting?

You can use your Circular ring to know exactly how much REM sleep you get each night. The app gives you the details of your sleep cycle including the portion of REM sleep according to your cycles, but also the amount of REM sleep in percentage and duration of your total sleep. You can also compare your REM sleep from night to night to monitor your evolution and compare your last night with your own average to understand your sleep.

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If you wish to improve your Deep sleep you can also read “Tips to increase your Deep sleep”  

Here are some of our best tips to optimize your lifestyle and boost your level of productivity thanks to good sleep quality.

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Experience both daylight and darkness

Light influences your body’s internal clock, which regulates sleep and wakefulness. Irregular light exposure can lead to disruption of circadian rhythms, making it harder to fall asleep. That’s why if you live in a country where there is not a lot of sun or winters without sun, it is normal for you to have episodes where you sleep badly. It is important to expose your body to bright light or artificial bright light during the day and sleep in a dark room at night. (Click here to know more about Circadian Rhythm)

Respect a regular schedule

The second most important tip is to follow a regular schedule. This means going to bed at the same time each night to regulate your inner clock and to wake up at the end of your sleep need. 

The Circular app can help you with that because it will analyze for you, your sleep needs and tell you at what time you should go to bed depending on your time to fall asleep and your waking up time.

Be active

If you are not already doing physical activity, be active during your day. But be careful, do not do sports too close to the time you go to bed or your system will still be stimulated and you won’t be able to fall asleep correctly. Give your system at least 3 hours before sleeping. The best time for you to train would be in the middle of the day, between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm because it’s the time of the day when your body temperature is the highest.

Avoid digital screens

The following factor is the number one cause for extremely high falling asleep time. Digital screens are a plague for sleep and this for two main reasons. Firstly because watching something on a screen requires a lot of effort for your eyes and is very stimulating for your brain. This will make your brain think unnecessarily (even unconsciously) before and during your sleep. And secondly, because the blue light of these screens will disrupt your circadian rhythm. Basically, it will make think your inner clock that it is not time to sleep and therefore delay your sleep even if you put yourself in the dark. 

So don’t watch digital screens before sleeping. And if you really want to watch your screen, we suggest installing something to get rid of blue light, lower the brightness to the minimum and do not look at your screen in the dark but rather in a lit room. Finally do not look at your screens in your bed while lying down. Because lying in bed for a long time without sleeping will also disrupt your inner system. The gesture of lying indicates to your system that you want to sleep, so don’t miss your opportunity to sleep.

Be smart about what you eat and drink

Your nutrition has a big impact on your sleep quality. Minimizing caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine before sleeping seems logical. But less known, avoid having heavy and late dinner. Sugar and carbohydrates reduce quality of deep sleep. Prefer a light dinner, without quick sugars and red meat but with a portion of slow sugars.

Do not eat within 4 to 6 hours of the time you want to sleep. 

Create a comfortable environment of sleep. 

Don’t work too late (within 2 hours of the time you want to sleep).

Sleeping in a quiet, dark room and at a cool and comfortable temperature will help you fall sleep faster and make your sleep stable. The ideal room temperature for sleep is between 18 – 22 Celcius degrees (64.4 – 71.6 Fahrenheit degrees).

Noise, as well as blue light, delays the release of melatonin, the hormone responsible for your sleep. It is therefore essential to cut the noise as much as possible before going to bed. Don’t listen to any sound higher than that of a human conversation. For example, if you listen to music or television, try to listen to it at a reasonable volume.

Practice meditation

Meditation and relaxation practice will help improve falling asleep faster and sleep better. There is a simple but powerful breathing method called the 4-7-8 method that is used by the military and ancient yogi that will lower your heartbeat, help yo calm yourself, make you fall asleep faster, sleep better and increase your natural defenses. 

Here are the steps. Exhale completely through your nose until you completely empty your air. Close your mouth and inhale through your nose until you are completely filled with air (belly and lung) while mentally counting to four. Hold your breath and mentally count to seven. Close your mouth and exhale completely through your nose, and mentally counting to eight. If 4-7-8 is easy for you double the ratio to 8-14-16 and so on. Repeat this cycle 7 times. Do it at least three times a day, the more you do it the better it will be. 

Have a social life

It has been proven that having social interaction improve your morale and your sleep quality. 

Do not pay attention to time

People who can’t fall asleep or that wake up during the night often tend to watch the clock and are obsessed about the fact that they cannot fall asleep. But this behavior causes anxiety and that’s what you want to avoid. So get rid of any clock in your bedroom that shines in the night or forces yourself not to watch it. Even if it is tempting, watching the time is useless. In any case, you’ll have to wake up at the time you have to wake up at and looking at it won’t make you fall asleep faster.

Conclusion

The next night should be prepared during the previous day. There is a lot of parameters to take into consideration to find a good sleep quality. But you are surely already doing great on some of these factors. And if you are not, it is okay, try to apply these changes step by step.

You can also use the Circular ring to help you monitor most of its parameters and understand in detail how your sleep and your activity affect your energy to improve it sustainably.