How Sleep Stages Are Important To Your Health

How Sleep Stages Are Important to your Health

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Welcome to another episode of More Than Teeth Podcast, hosted by Dr. Michael Bennett. As a dentist with a clinical focus on airway disorders, sleep disruption, and chronic pain, Dr. Bennett brings a unique and holistic perspective to the science of healing. In this installment, he dives deeper into how specific stages of sleep support our body’s natural repair processes and how interruptions to breathing at night can prevent recovery from disease, pain, and fatigue.

With the backdrop of real patient experiences and science-backed sleep physiology, Dr. Bennett offers insights into why sleep isn’t just restful—it’s essential for survival.

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Understanding the Architecture of Sleep

The human body is remarkably equipped for self-repair. But, as Dr. Bennett emphasizes, this healing process doesn’t happen while we're awake—it happens while we sleep. The restorative effects of sleep rely on a carefully structured cycle that includes:

• Stages 1 and 2 (Non-REM): Light sleep, where we begin to disconnect from the external environment.
  
  
• Stage 3 (Non-REM, also known as Delta or deep sleep): This is the critical phase where muscles relax, blood flow improves, growth hormone is secreted, and cellular repair occurs.
  
  
• REM Sleep (Rapid Eye Movement): This is where neural regulation occurs—balancing emotional hormones and consolidating memories.
  
  

An adult typically needs four to six complete cycles of these stages, totaling approximately eight hours per night. Without sufficient time in Stage 3 and REM sleep, the body is deprived of its chance to heal—impacting everything from metabolism and memory to physical pain and emotional regulation.

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The Hormonal Side of Sleep: Why Sleep Deprivation Affects Your Waistline

Dr. Bennett also discusses how sleep disturbances alter the hormonal balance that regulates appetite:

• Ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates hunger, increases with sleep loss.
  
  
• Leptin, the hormone that signals fullness, decreases.
  
  

As a result, those with disrupted sleep often wake up feeling hungrier and are more likely to crave high-carb, high-sugar foods. This initiates a cycle of weight gain that further contributes to airway restriction, making breathing during sleep more difficult—and compounding the problem.

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Structural Clues: What Your Face Can Tell You About Your Airway

Dr. Bennett advises a simple at-home self-assessment: look in the mirror and smile. Crowded teeth, narrow jaws, or a tongue that seems to overflow beyond the dental arches are signs of underdevelopment in the oral cavity—a common structural root cause of airway problems.

In many such cases, the tongue lacks room to rest properly and falls backward during sleep, obstructing the throat and interrupting the sleep cycle. Over time, this leads to fragmented rest, fatigue, and symptoms that may mimic or accompany chronic illness.

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How Electromagnetic Energy Affects Sleep Quality

For those working night shifts or sleeping during daylight hours, Dr. Bennett underscores the role of electromagnetic radiation from sunlight in suppressing the body’s ability to enter deep, healing sleep. This phenomenon is so well-documented that life insurance applications often ask about shift work, recognizing the health risks associated with disrupted circadian rhythms.

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Signs of Poor Sleep You Might Be Ignoring

Poor-quality sleep can manifest in subtle and serious ways:

• Memory loss and brain fog
  
  
• Muscle soreness and slower athletic recovery
  
  
• Persistent fatigue despite “enough” sleep hours
  
  
• Tingling or numbness in limbs (neuropathy or neuralgia)
  
  
• Jaw pain, popping, or locking (TMJ dysfunction)
  
  

Many of these symptoms are caused or worsened by chronic tension in facial and neck muscles, which in turn result from reflexive responses to poor breathing during sleep. When the body senses a drop in oxygen, it tightens and activates muscles—including the powerful jaw and tongue—to reopen the airway.

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Case Study: A Life Transformed by Restored Sleep

In a powerful case shared during the podcast, Dr. Bennett recounts the story of a 41-year-old father of three who came to his clinic seeking help for poor sleep. Beyond his exhaustion, he described excruciating nerve pain in his face, a condition diagnosed as trigeminal neuralgia—so severe it was known as the "suicide syndrome." Simple touch, air movement, or affection from his family triggered sharp, stabbing pain across his cheek.

He also reported jaw locking and an inability to function beyond the basic demands of work.

Previous interventions included medications and testosterone therapy—none of which resolved his sleep issues or pain. Dr. Bennett’s examination revealed no trauma history, suggesting that repetitive jaw clenching during sleep, caused by airway collapse, was the true source of injury and inflammation.

A sleep study confirmed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with over 40 apnea events per hour, each lowering his oxygen levels and triggering repeated muscular and neural stress.

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Treatment and Recovery

The treatment strategy focused on airway optimization, including:

• Nasal sprays and Breathe Right strips to enhance nasal airflow
  
  
• A custom dental appliance that supported the jaw and maintained a clear airway during sleep
  
  
• Daytime balancing devices and postural exercises to relieve muscular strain and realign the jaw
  
  

The results were dramatic. The patient’s trigeminal neuralgia disappeared, and his energy, cognitive clarity, and emotional health were restored. Most importantly, he regained his ability to be an engaged father and partner—proof of the body’s extraordinary ability to heal when sleep is protected.

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Final Thoughts: Let Sleep Be Your Medicine

This case reinforces Dr. Bennett’s central message: the body is equipped to heal, but it must be allowed to enter the deep, uninterrupted sleep it needs. Breathing must be effortless. The airway must remain open. And the brain must not be constantly pulled from its vital REM and delta-wave stages by snoring, congestion, or sleep apnea.

In upcoming episodes, Dr. Bennett will introduce the “DR. BIBB MD” mnemonic, a framework to help patients and practitioners alike evaluate key aspects of health related to breathing, inflammation, balance, and decompression.

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