Restoration Theory

     Sleep is essential to life; it is one of several components, including food and water, which keep the living alive. However, a significant percentage of the human population has considerable difficulty reaching and maintaining Stage IV within their sleeping patterns, the stage that allows the mind and body to fall into a deep and restorative sleep, otherwise known as REM sleep. At the core of this difficulty is a condition known as obstructive sleep apnea, a "serious, potentially life-threatening condition that is far more common than generally understood" (Sleep Apnea). Indeed, obstructive sleep apnea can be very dangerous if it is not properly detected and treated.

Have you ever not gotten enough sleep, or cut your sleep short for a class? Show of hands? Alright, well today I will be speaking with you about a subject that is near and dear to all of our hearts. Today I will be talking about sleep, specifically about REM sleep. First off does anyone know what the initials REM even stand for? REM stands for rapid eye movement, and it is the stage of sleep in which most dreams occur. It gets its name from the way your eyes move back and forth in this stage. Though those movements are slower than how your eye would move when you are awake. During a typical night, you cycle between REM and non-REM sleep, but spend the majority of your time asleep in non-REM.

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

It is no secret that, similar to other animals, sleep is one of the most important things for a human being’s overall health. According to Watson and Breedlove, there are four main biological/neurological functions of sleep: energy conservation—the body uses less energy when it is asleep through what is called slow-wave sleep (SWS) by doing things such as reducing body temperature and slowing respiration; niche adaptation—the environmental happenings to which organisms are adapted to; body restoration—it restores materials used during awake hours; and memory consolidation—SWS and REM sleep help the brain consolidate memories from the previous day (2012).

These stages are characterized by bursts of electrical activity on electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. EEG readings monitor electrical activity representing neuronal activity in specific neurophysiological regions. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is characterized by desynchronized, saw-toothed theta rhythm waves and heightened cognitive activity. Comparatively, high amplitude, synchronous delta waves, and sharp hippocampal waves characterize slow wave sleep (SWS) sleep (stages 3-4 of non-REM sleep) (Tucker et al. 2006).

Researchers have classified two definitive types of sleep, REM, otherwise known as rapid eye movement, and non REM and have divided the sleep cycle into four distinct stages. REM sleep is associated with dreaming as most of our dreams occur during this stage. REM waves are very fast and resemble beta waves which indicate that you are awake. REM sleep is usually

Sufficient sleep is a biological necessity for the normal functioning of humans, it allows the body to rest and to replenish itself so that it is able to serve its function of living. In addition, mental and physical health depend on the amount of sleep we get. Most adults and students value work and college much more than sleep, this is due to the academic, career, and materialistic demands. Researchers have noted a positive correlation between lack of sleep and decreased physical health, mental health, and academic performance. Sleep consists of two cycles: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM), which are sleep patterns that alternate throughout the night. Firstly, sleep begins with non-REM sleep lasting about 90 minutes followed by REM sleep lasting 10-30 minutes, then the cycle repeats itself. REM sleep is the most important phase of sleep because the body is internally awake, with waking-like brain activity, yet asleep and externally calm. Thus, an uninterrupted REM phase of sleep is necessary for integrating previously learned material, and giving the individual a feeling of being well rested and refreshed. Many individuals will put sleep off so that more work hours, and school work can be fit into the day in order to get a better outcome such as job promotions or better academic grades, but I believe that sleep deprived people show a low performance in daily tasks due to suffering from mental, and physical health disorders.

Sleep is needed for the body to rest and restore. But did you know that there are different classifications of sleep? Over 75% of the human population has NREM, nevertheless, some have REM, it is all based on how large and how slow the EEG waves are during the

Sleep is one of the unavoidable daily-living activities and it is one of the most important factors contributing to a person’s health. A quality sleep is essential for the physical, cognitive and psychological well-being of a person. Learning, memory processing and maintenance of the brain are among the most important functions of sleep. In addition to maintaining the brain, sleep has important roles in controlling the

The brain activity during REM sleep is mainly mixed brain waves consisting of theta, alpha and beta waves. This is also the point in a sleep cycle where the body is basically rigid. The brain has shut off all muscle movements other than the ones that keep you alive. This stage is a prime example of how the brain is busy while we are sleeping, “REM sleep begins with signals from an area at the base of the brain called the pons. These signals travel to a brain region called the thalamus, which relays them to the cerebral cortex – the outer layer of the brain that is responsible for learning, thinking, and organizing information. The pons also sends signals that shut off neurons in the spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis of the limb muscles”(Brain Basics). Being that REM sleep deals with learning, scientists believe this is the reason infants sleep a large amount of time and also why they are more susceptible to being woken up by the slightest noises. Since this stage of sleeping has a great deal of dreaming and brain involvement some scientists believe that dreaming is the brain’s way of sorting out information it receives during sleep, creating a “story” out of what it gathers. REM sleep could be considered as a work out for your brain, helping us to make sense of what we experience throughout our

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.

Have you ever wondered what is happening while a person is sleeping? “Sleep is the word we use to define both a biological state and a behavioral state in which we are quiet and relatively unresponsive to external stimuli” (Larson 1990). Measured when sleeping, brain waves have been identified into several distinct stages. Everyone experiences four stages of the sleep cycle, including REM (Larson 1990). This topic really interested me because it is something that every human goes through and it cannot be eliminated from a person’s life. This topic really catches my attention because everyone can experience the effects of sleep deprivation and it does not just occur in one specific person. This topic is significant to me because my grandfather has narcolepsy, a sleep disorder.

 Restorative Theory: the theory of sleep that states that we sleep in order to replenish the processes of our minds and bodies that are depleted during the coarse of everyday life.

Sleep is basically a state of physical inactivity and mental rest in which conscious awareness, thoughts, and voluntary movements do not occur. During sleep, irregular and unpredictable dreaming also takes place. Sleep is a very active and coordinated process in which the brain busily turns off or moderates wakeful functions while actively turning on sleep mechanisms. There are two stages that sleep is usually divided into. The first stage is the non-rapid eye movement, or NREM stage. The second stage is the rapid eye movement, or REM stage. NREM is the stage of sleep that occurs when one first starts their sleep cycle and it is said to make up 75% of the sleep cycle. One of the distinguishing features of NREM sleep is its lack of dreaming. During the last two stages of the four stage NREM sleep, the deepest and most restorative sleep occurs, followed by various important biological processes. Meanwhile, the REM stage of sleep first occurs approximately 90 minutes after falling sleep and increases over the later part of the night, while occupying only 25% of the sleep cycle. The REM sleep is the stage of sleep that is characterized mainly by the appearance of

The meaning of “restoration” is the act of restoring to the former or original condition. Scriptural the act of restoration to an individual or place that is being restored, the latter state is improved upon over the original state. (Joel 2:21-26, Exodus 22:1, Job 42:10-12). Restoration is an act of God and it is a display of his mercy to those that have fallen from his grace or have been wronged. The act of restoration is exemplified in the very beginning of time as God, restores Adam and Eve who were created in the image of God “Let us make man in Our image” (Gen 1:26 NASB) as clothing from animals were killed to provided a covering of their nakedness and shame. The restoration of humans began that day. It was a foreshadowing of the restoration act of Jesus Christ on the cross that restores the wayward sinner back to a right standing with the Heavenly father through Jesus Christ and by the leading of the Holy Spirit.