Does Sleep Affect The Brain: Why Do We Sleep?

This is the last stage in our sleep cycle - the deepest stage which also lasts the longest. Each sleep phase is a slight bit deeper. This means that you are in each phase a little longer than the previous one. It's in this stage - during REM sleep - that dreaming occurs and most of the recuperative functions associated with sleep take place.

This stage does last longer than the previous one but only by 10 more minutes. In Non-REM 2, you have this weird and fascinating action happing in your noggin know as sleep spindles. These sleep spindles are bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain-wave activity. After this stage comes one of the best parts of sleep and the part that you’ll generally wake up covered in drool in. This happens to be Non-REM 3 which is often categorized as deep sleep. In this particular stage, we are welcomed by slow delta waves that our brain emits. When this stage has had it’s time to shine, which is 30 minutes, it is time to move onto the final

Sleep is an altered state of consciousness. Consciousness, modern psychologists believe, is an awareness of our environment and us. Sleep is the tendency to think of rest. When people get tired they want to close their eyes, lie down and sleep. What is the reason we do this? The human body requires long periods of sleep in order to restore and rejuvenate. When the body sleeps it helps to grow muscle, repair tissue, and structure hormones.

The function of sleep is to promote restoration. The human body accumulates damages due to impact strain and from reactive oxygen species that damage cells and buildup during times of activity (Sleep-wake cycle, 2006). During sleep, most of the body's systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems (Sleep-wake cycle, 2006). Most of the body has restorative processes that can supplement the restorative processes that happen during sleep for long periods of time, but the brain is more reliant on regular intervals of sleep for restoration as quiescent restoration is insufficient (Sleep-wake cycle, 2006). When the body does not get enough sleep, most body functions work at diminished capacity. (Brain Basics, 2017). Sleep deprivation is defined as obtaining inadequate sleep to support adequate daytime alertness (Kryger, Roth, & Dement, 2005). The pathological effects of sleep deprivation can lead to undesirable physiologic

In Psychology Core Concept text Philip G Zimbardo testimony tells readers, “Some studies suggest that damaged brain cells get repaired during sleep; others find that’s sleep promote formation of new neurons in the brain-while sleep,” (pg336). To analysis without sleep, our brain cannot process the way the brain suppose to; clean and repair.

In deep sleep there are no eye movement or any kind of muscle activity. This is when some children experience bedwetting, sleepwalking, and or has night terrors. In 2008 the sleep professionals eliminated the use of stage 4. And stages 3 & 4 are what most people experience. Slow waves sleep comes mostly in the first half of your sleep. (REM) is the second half. Walking may occur after (REM) if the walking period is long enough, the person may remember it the next morning. Infants spend almost 50% of their time in (REM) sleep. Adults spend nearly half of their sleep in stage 2, older adults spend less time in their (REM) sleep.

There are two distinct phases of human sleep. One phase is non-REM sleep, and the other is REM sleep. Non-REM sleep takes place in the first few hours of sleep at night, and REM sleep takes over the remaining hours allowing us to have dreams. Non-REM sleep is normally referred to as the resting state for our brain. Intense studies have discovered that the brain is less active during the phases of non-REM sleep compared to phases of being awake.

A recent news article on CNN, Lack of Sleep May Shrink Your Brain, cites a research study suggesting that insomnia and other reasons for sleep deprivation may reduce brain mass. Although the study was correlational, the author of the news article focuses mostly on one of the three possible relations between sleep and brain mass: lack of sleep may cause shrinking of the brain. Only at the end of article, the author mentions that shrinking of the brain may cause lack of sleep, but completely disregards the third possibility that a third variable may cause both the shrinking of the brain and lack of sleep.

When people sleep their brain’s activity changes in characteristic ways over the course of one night. These sleep patterns are classified into two main kinds of sleep – rapid-eye movement or REM and non-rapid eye movement or NREM sleep. REM sleep is most often associated with dreaming and it is thought that it assists in brain development especially in the early stages

In these stages, we are in our deepest realm of sleep. While we are in these stages we become even more out of contact with the outside world and we become unaware of anything going on. Our heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure drop to its lowest levels. Stage three and four are made up of delta waves with a frequency of around 0.5-4 Hz ( “What Happens When You Sleep?” 2016) . There is also some sleep spindles that occur during this time but they are a less prominent here in stage these two stages than it is in stage two . While we are at this stage if something were to come about and wake us up since we are our deepest sleep it takes the body and the brain some time to be reaccumulated with the outside world; we tend to be really groggy and “ill” once we awaken as well. One very interesting thing that comes out of this stage is as children we tend to have many of our occurrences of bedwetting, sleepwalking, and sleep, terrors. ( “What Happens When You Sleep?”

About: The actual definition of sleep is “a condition of body and mind such as that which typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended:” Research consistently demonstrates that sleep is a significant component of physical and mental health, as well as overall well-being. Sleep is important for optimal cognitive performance and physiological processes, emotional regulation and quality of life. It is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions.

The second stage of the sleep cycle is the Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM 2) sleep. This lasts about 20 minutes and is characterized by decreases in the heart rate and body temperature. In this stage, theta activity is observed. (“Stages of Sleep - Non-REM and REM Sleep Cycles | Tuck Sleep”) Any remaining alpha waves from the previous episode of wakefulness are interrupted by sleep spindles, which are bursts of high frequency activity originating from the reticular nucleus of the thalamus. (Stickgold and Walker) Muscular activity decreases and conscious awareness of the external environment disappears. NREM 1 and NREM 2 together are often referred to as light sleep. (“Stages of Sleep - Non-REM and REM Sleep Cycles | Tuck Sleep”)

In order to function correctly, human bodies need to have an adequate amount of sleep. During sleep, our bodies are able to receive the proper rest and regeneration that is needed to continue the tasks throughout our daily lives. Despite

As early as the 1950s, scientists have parsed the main stages of sleep. In one such study, eye movements, recorded by electrooculograms (EOG) correlated with the brain activity in electroencephalograms(EEGs) as well as respiratory rate, indicating the existence of distinct sleep states which were not randomly generated (Aserinsky and Klietman, 1953). The discovery of distinct states showed sleep was not just a passive behavior. Instead, it consists of three to four distinct states as well as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, each with their own unique brain activity.

Sleep consists of two main stages of sleep; Non-REM (NREM) and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Non-REM sleep consists of three stages each stage that you infiltrate is deeper. N1 or the transition to sleep, lasts from five minutes up to ten minutes and without difficulty you are awakened (e.g., Smith, Robinson, & Segal, n.d.). Jerky movements or muscle twitches occur during this stage as well. During stage N2, you are already in light sleep. This stage generally lasts from ten to twenty-five minutes. All the while, heart rate and body temperatures decrease, and eye movement stops. Lastly, at stage N3 it is very hard to be roused and blood flow is not heading to your brain but, towards the muscles of the body (e.g., Smith et al., n.d.).