Sleep Fragmentation Or Interruption?

Years ago, it was presumed that a sleeping person had little or no measurable brain activity. This dated theory has since been dismissed. With the emergence of technology to monitor the stages of sleep, we now know better. It has now been shown that our brain is anything but idle during sleep - albeit performing different functions than when we are

In a laboratory study of sleep deprivation, researchers employed a variety of techniques to keep

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).

The experiment lasted 15 consecutive days. During the experiment, the rats were placed into 12 identical operative chambers which was used for all behavioral training and testing. Each chamber had an automatic retractable lever

Denying sleep confiscates the essential resting time needed for bodily functions and main organs, posing a problem for one’s physical health. One apparent example is obesity. An experiment done in 1999, researchers discovered that the capacity of the body to manage glucose levels decreased

Two important sleep restriction studies that also included a short in-laboratory recovery phase were those by Dinges and colleagues11 and Belenky and colleagues.4 In the former study, sleep was restricted 33% below habitual sleep duration (average 4.98, SD 0.57 per night) for seven consecutive nights, after which participants were allowed one or two 10 hour recovery sleeps.11 In the latter, participants were permitted either 3, 5, 7 or 9 hours in bed each night, for seven nights, followed by three 8 hour recovery opportunities.4 These studies show that either two 10 hour or three 8 hour sleep opportunities were sufficient to recover performance to baseline levels. Although, participants felt that their functioning was restored with subjective reports of sleepiness and performance recovering to baseline; indicating that subjective measures do not appear to accurately parallel objective measures of neurobehavioural recovery. These findings suggest that more than 2 or 3 nights of extended sleep may be needed to return neurobehavioral functions to baseline levels. This may be especially important in situations where individuals are not able to choose or extend the length of their recovery sleep

Sleep is commonly referred to as a global state, one which engages the entire nervous system. The states of sleep and wakefulness are highly interconnected and share common physiological mechanisms; however, there are distinct differences in the neurochemical pathways that underlie them. The notion that sleep is a global state is supported by evidence that the interrelated states of sleep and wakefulness engage a multitude of neuronal pathways and components. These networks of neuronal transmitters and receptors extend throughout the brain; from the brainstem to the basal forebrain, thalamus, hypothalamus, and cerebral cortex. The onset of sleep and wakefulness is known

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

To find out how sleep deprivation affects humans, Dement (1960) connected participants of his study to an electroencephalogram in his sleep laboratory. The participant got woken up any time they showed signs of entering REM sleep. I was found that REM sleep deprivation made test participants more aggressive and suffered from poor concentration than the control group. They also tried to enter REM sleep straight after going to sleep. They made 26 attempts to enter REM sleep by the seventh night. It is to conclude that REM sleep is necessary for proper brain functioning as the brain goes into REM rebound, when deprived of

Sleep is crucial for the stability of one’s mind, body, and temper. When an individual enters a sleep deprivation they tend to have exhaustion, irritability, and an inability to focus that can only be remedied by several nights of healthy sleep. The healthy

Moreover, many of the claims the article makes, as outlined above, have a biological and psychological scientific basis; however, the article fails to mention the sources from which its conclusions was drawn from. That said, in this paper three differing journal articles will be presented that focus on the different processes that take place during sleep. The scientific journal articles will be analyzed and compared to the Cosmopolitan article. as summarized above.

Mice were placed in the center of the maze and, allowed to freely move into the four arms of the maze for 5 minutes. The mice were videotaped and the times spent in open and closed arms were scored.

In 1995 researchers found the first evidence of neurons involved in both temperature regulation and sleep (1). A team discovered neurons in the front part of the hypothalamus of cats which, when warmed by two degrees Celsius, fire more rapidly. These neurons also increase their firing frequency when the cats sleep (1). The researchers attributed a dual role to the neurons in this region. These dual functioning neurons may be living evidence of an ancient transition from mere temperature maintenance to actual sleep.

Most people know that humans need a good night’s sleep to be able to function properly during waking hours. But what constitutes a “good night’s sleep?” Four hours? Five hours or more? On the contrary, many psychologists believe that the key to a good night’s sleep is less about an exact amount of sleep, but moreso one’s ability to move through all stages of sleep uninterrupted. For example, if my roommate is in and out of the room all night, it may not disrupt the amount of hour I am able to sleep; however, it would certainly disrupt the transitions of my sleep cycles. Sleep interruption in any cycle can be detrimental to one’s ability to obtain a good night’s sleep.

Ratner & Miller (1959) performed an experiment to show that earthworms would react to the illumination change in light being paired with food. In this experiment there are four groups being tested. There was an experimental group (EG), vibration control group (VCG), random-response control group (RRCG), and light control group (LCG). Group EG went through 130 trials with a 50 second interval in between each. Of the 130 trials the first 100 were conditioning and the last 30 were extinction. During the conditioning trials the vibratory stimulus (CS) was presented for 6 seconds. Then the light (US) was presented for 2 seconds after the first 4 seconds. A response occurring during the first 4 sec. of the CS, prior to the presentation of the US, was recorded as a conditioned withdrawal response. The extinction trials consisted of a 6 second vibration and all responses that happened in the first 4 seconds were recorded. Group VCG had 100 trials. This were done and recorded the same as group EG except that the US was not presented at any time. Group RRCG consisted of 100 trials for 4 seconds. These trials determined the number of spontaneous recoveries, where the CS and US were not presented during the trials. Then lastly group LCG was to determine if the US would cause animals to become sensitive to the vibration. This group went through 105 trials, 70 of them were light trials and 35 were vibration trials. The light was present for 2 seconds within blocks of 10 in the 70 light