The Effects Of Sleep On The Brain

Candice Alfano, who is a clinical psychologist and psychology professor created the National Institute of Mental Health. This is the study of whether children who have experienced inadequate or disrupted sleep are more likely to develop later in life depression or anxiety. I believe that she is researching this study very well. Alfano and co-investigator Cara Palmer are performing an experiment by restricting sleep on 50 children between ages 7 and 11. They are performing this experiment to figure out exactly what sleep deprivation does to the behavioral and psychological patterns of emotional risk. The results of this experiment proves that inadequate sleep has an impact on children's emotional health by creating negative emotions and turning positive ones into negative.

Sleep disturbance among the older adult population is known to be a prevalent issue (Gooneratne, Pack, Staley, Schutte-Rodin, Dinges, & Pack, 2011). Much study has

PSQI, a 19-item tool, assessed self-rated sleep quality measures over the prior month, and with a score of 5 or greater associated with poor sleep. ESS, an 8-item self-rated questionnaire, evaluated the impact of subjective perceived sleepiness on daily functioning in eight different environments with a score of 9 or greater being associated with a burden of day-time sleepiness. ISI, a 7-item tool, identified the presence, rated the severity and described the impact of insomnia with a score of 10 or greater identified as positive for

In the present study we sought to characterize abnormalities in sleep architecture and quality, in a cohort of patients with medically refractory versus and controlled epilepsy, versus normal healthy controls and to study the effect of sleep parameters on cognitive function in these groups. The main observations made were of significantly longer self-reported and polysomnographic TST in patients with refractory epilepsy in comparison to controlled epilepsy and healthy controls. Sleep architecture was also found to be markedly disturbed among epilepsy patients in both groups, with prolonged REM latencies, and frequent arousals and awakenings although these abnormalities were statistically similar between the groups. Our main observation is that higher total sleep time has a negative correlation with memory and executive function performance.

By reading this article I was able to answer my initial question that inquired how does sleep effect the body? In my eyes, this article is a reliable source because it was published by a M.D. on the Harvard Medical School website. Not only do I feel as if the website is reliable, but the information that is provided makes sense. The information was not all over the place and followed the previous topic in an order that flowed. While reading

In the article from the LA Times, “Sleep Deprivation Has Genetic Consequences, Study Finds,” Eryn Brown advocates that genetic and health problems can be caused by chronic sleep deprivation. Brown states that people who are deprived of sleep have a much higher chance of getting obese and having cardiovascular difficulties. She maintains her claim by addressing a multitude of researchers who proved her claim, then she presents an experiment conducted by two analysts that specialize in sleep, and finally Brown elaborates with scientific statistics. Brown writes it in a comprehensive tone for individuals. Her entire article gives clues such as “...analysis revealed that genes involved in inflammation, immunity and protein damage were activated…” and “... millions of people might be sustaining damage to their body. She is warning her readers that although they may think chronic sleep deprivation will just

Sleep is essential for optimal human function. In fact, a lack of sleep can actually affect important cognitive functions, like memory. A 2007 study added to the already substantial evidence that even acute total sleep deprivation impairs attentiveness, working memory, and reaction time in various tasks (Alhola, Polo-Kantola). One such way to further this investigation of the effects of sleep deprivation on memory is through the Memory Interference Test, or MIT. MIT is a program designed by Gaston Pfluegl, Ph.D., and Enrique Lopez, Psy. D., at UCLA to test the memory of students. Along with a memory test, the MIT also anonymously collected the physical states, mental states, and demographics of each student test subject, providing a substantial database through which students can test hypotheses, such as the connection between sleep deprivation and memory. Since the MIT requires short-term memory recall, the hours of sleep a student had before taking the test could have a noticeable effect on his or her performance. An unprecedented study this year found that sleep deprivation may actually even induce false memories, which would certainly impact a student taking the MIT because the test requires the subject to recognize images that have been previously presented to them (Frenda, et al). The hypothesis is that students who slept 8 hours before the test will perform better on the MIT than students who only slept 4 hours. The null hypothesis is that students who had adequate

In the prospect of this article, sleep disorder can play a major role in your life. When there becomes a lack of sleep, there are many things that could occur to your body. There could be a risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, infections, or Alzheimer’s disease. For example a man by the name of Michael Arnott had trouble sleeping in his fifty’s, but he didn't know the reason behind this. His wife, Mary White stated, “All of a sudden there'd be a change in the speed and I'd look over, and his eyes would be starting to close,” she remembers (White). Now, Arnold was in denial when it came to his problems of sleeping because he thought that he was in good condition. After getting an analysis from the doctor saying that he has moderate obstructive

this study, PhD Liora Kempler at the University of Sydney is  specialized in the sleep disorders and her colleague

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 determine internal homogeneity, the researchers found Cronbach’s alpha to be 0.83, which demonstrates a high degree of internal consistency. They analyzed both individual items and the seven component scores, each of which demonstrated strong correlations with one another. To determine test-retest reliability, the researchers used paired t-tests to analyze the global PSQI score and the seven individual component scores. The results demonstrated no differences between the t-test values. Each of the scores were significantly correlated, demonstrating stability in the questionnaire. Validation of the PSQI was determined by looking at the significance of the global PSQI scores via ANCOVA with respect to age and sex as covariates. Age was found to be a significant covariate in the daytime dysfunction component, while sex was found to be a significant covariate in the sleeping medications and habitual sleep efficiency component. The sensitivity of the questionnaire as found to be 89.6% and the specificity was found to be 86.5%. To further validate the PSQI, researchers compared it to variables of sleep obtained via PSG. The PSQI and PSG showed similar scores for sleep latency; however the PSQI overestimates the past month’s sleep duration and efficiency. Overall, the PSQI is a valid measurement tool that demonstrated: (1) subjects and patients can easily use it;

Many disorders and diseases can result from abnormal sleeping patterns that are triggered from sleep deprivation. The most common forms of sleep disorders include insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy (NINDS 10). All of these sleep disorders begin from sleep deprivation and can be managed once they are diagnosed correctly. According to Urban, “Nervousness, dizziness, and sleeplessness may occur”, as a result of sleep deprivation (1). This proves that the slightest health changes can occur if sleep deprivation becomes a problem. According to NINDS, “The disorders and the resulting sleep deprivation interfere with work, driving, and social activities” (10). This shows that the effects of being sleep deprived can drastically change one’s everyday

The second study by Polzella, (1975) focused on the effects of sleep deprivation on memory. The author hypothesized that sleep deprivation increases the occurrence of lapses which prevents the encoding of items in memory. The method that was used to collect information was by having five males (one author and four participants), all their ages ranged from 21-32. Their sleeping habits for bed usually ranged from 10:30 pm- 12:00 pm and they would wake up typically at 6:00 am-8:00 am. The experiment was done individually where the participant sat in a small room with two fans and was presented visually on a cathode-ray tube run by a computer. Researchers conducted the experiment twice, the first time as a normal session and then as a sleep-deprived

What is the recent evidence that links sleep deprivation with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease?

The results from my statistical calculations were not surprising to me, for I previously have researched the relation between health and sleep. The positive correlation