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CCJJ · 11-14-2008, 07:03 AM

How much stage 4 sleep should a person get in a night?? When I had my first sleep study, I had no stage 4 at all, and I had a little stage 3 but I would bounce between 2 and 3 every few minutes. I had a total of 32 minutes of stage 3.

Can't remember where but was told that as people get older you no longer get to stage 4 sleep. I am 42 and I want my stage 4 sleep.

LALOV929 · 11-14-2008, 08:24 PM

My sleep specialist MD told me today that they no longer regard
a separate stage 4 sleep but rather consider stage 4 and stage 3
as the same so on most modern studies only stage 3 is shown.
Surprised me to hear this. And he also told me that stage 3 tends
to decrease with age, which didn't help me feel any better. So
don't feel bad if no stage 4 shows up for you, it's now stage 3.

CCJJ · 11-14-2008, 09:39 PM

So how much of the stage 3 sleep should I get in a night? 32 minutes doesn't seem like very much, especially if it is broken up through the night. Best guess by looking at my report that the longest period I was in stage 3 was about 4 minutes.

LALOV929 · 11-15-2008, 05:49 PM

You wrote you had 32 minutes total stage 3 sleep. Sure beat me.
On my first test without CPAP I had 7.6 minutes stage 3 and about
98 minutes of REM sleep.
The report I received gives percents of total sleep not minutes because
what counts is the percentage of the total actual sleep time. So
without your total sleep time I cannot evaluate your index.
On my report the desirable percentages are much higher than what
I scored. They show stage 3 desirable is 20% and REM as 25%. But my advanced age presumably accounts for my low stage three percent.
My surprise was that I kicked my legs 59 times an hour...not quite
restless legs syndrome but my MD told me that in his experience such
leg activity is often caused by low iron and prescribed me a ferritin
blood test. And the kicks associated with the REM periods.
For me, REM sleep provides restorative effects and virtually all my
'arousals' took place during REM sleep.

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