What Happens During The Sleep Cycle?

This is a short article written by a collaboration of people by a company named Today’s Science. Their main goal was to describe the pattern of sleep a human goes through during the night. This cycle is called NREM and REM, non-rapid eye movement and rapid eye movement. They mostly describe what happens during sleep because without sleeping you could not dream. Dreaming occurs during the rapid eye movement cyc

Everyone knows what sleep is but do they know what it really is? Sleep by definition is the process in which humans and other animals periodically rest, with greater or lesser degrees of unconsciousness and decreased responsiveness to the surrounding world. With the mentioning of consciousness, it is known that our brain is still active while we sleep and has its own biological rhythm. This rhythm includes four distinct stages that repeat

Sleep disorders alter ones sleep pattern and often results in the inability to either sleep or sleep soundly. They often cause you to feel restless, tired, fatigued, and irritable. It is estimated that nearly 75 percent of adult Americans experience sleep disorder symptoms at least a few nights per week. At the same time, sleep disturbances in some form are seen in as many as 25 to 30 percent of infants and children (“Sleep Disorders” 2013). Clearly a huge conundrum in the world, sleep disorders affect an inordinate amount of people. Millions of people suffer or have suffered from a sleep disorder at one point in their lives and if mistreated can impact organ systems functioning negatively. Physical disturbances, medical issues,

Thesis: Sleep plays an essential part in a person’s health and well-being; the way we feel while awake is dependent upon what happens to your body while asleep.

     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.

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).

Sleep ===== If you attached an electroencephalograph to a person's head, you can record the person's brainwave activity. An awake and relaxed person generates alpha waves, which are consistent oscillations at about 10 cycles per second. An alert person generates beta waves, which are about twice as fast. During sleep, two slower patterns called theta waves and delta waves take over. Theta waves have oscillations in the range of 3.5 to 7 cycles per second, and delta waves have oscillations of less than 3.5 cycles per second. As a person falls asleep and sleep deepens, the brainwave patterns slow down. The slower the brainwave patterns, the deeper the sleep -- a person deep in delta wave sleep is hardest to wake

The average human spends about 25 years of their life sleeping. That is equal to one-third of a person’s life. So if sleep is vital and common among every single human, what do you know about it? What happens when we sleep (Attention Grabber)? Before the 1950s, scientists believed that the brain would just “shut off” when we would go to sleep. It wasn’t until the discovery of the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) state that scientists really looked into what happens in the brain while we are asleep. Studies have found that we go through a cycle of stages during sleep, and it is important for our health (Orientation to Topic). Today, I am going to inform you about what really happens when we sleep, and some issues that are found among it (Specific Purpose). In order to really understand this worldwide commonality, you need to know some background on sleep, the stages in the cycle, and some common disorders (Central Idea). I have taken a year long psychology course that went into depth on sleep psychology, and I have done extensive research on the topic to better grasp it (Statement of Credibility). I want to inform you on sleep so you can understand what happens when you close your eyes every night, and so you can detect any irregularities in your sleep pattern (Statement of Goodwill). First, I will give a background of why and how we know to sleep, then I will explain the stages in the sleep cycle, and finally I will tell you about some common disorders (Preview).

Research has found that REM sleep has evolved to become part of the dreaming process otherwise known as REM sleep-dreaming. Sleep with electroencephalographic evidence of the brain shows that a human’s brain is awake during sleep because involuntary eye movement occurs. This occurs during the dreaming consciousness every human possesses which is part of the secondary consciousness every human has. There is also non-REM sleep which is sleep that occurs without the rapid eye movement. The importance of REM sleep and dreaming has been studied for many years and has gradually become more informative. REM sleep is important for a human because it allows for developmental brain growth which furthers the evolution of humans.

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

Sleep paralysis is being associated as a side effect with REM sleep abnormalities and sleep disorders, although not all people with such disorders experience sleep paralysis. In the podcast “Peeranormal Episode 06: Sleep Paralysis”, Dr. Michael S. Heiser and co-hosts convince the audience of this through the use of topic specific research cited from several articles, discussing their own opinions, and each co-hosts' personal stories of sleep paralysis.

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 first three years of life is extremely important in the development and equilibrium of psychological functions including the sleep-wake cycle. The structure of sleep is viewed as a compilation and product of a broad range of stimuli from biological and external factors. It is evident that nighttime sleep patterns are developed in infancy (E. Fazzi et al., 2006) and excessive sleep awakenings decrease (Weinraub et al., 2012). Not all infants demonstrate this decline, 30% of infants and toddlers continue to experience multiple and prolonged nocturnal awakenings. Disruptive sleep-wake cycles may indicate future problems with physiological, emotional, and behavioral self-regulation (Weinraub et al., 2012).

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.

I. Everybody needs it: sleep. But what happens to us when we sleep? And what are common sleep-sicknesses? Those are questions that many people think of, sometimes even right before they fall asleep. Humans, like all animals, need sleep, along with food, water and oxygen, to survive. For humans sleep is a vital indicator of overall health and well-being and we spend up to one-third of our lives asleep. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of things to know about sleep, but the focus will lie on the things that happen to our bodies when we are asleep, common, uncommon and dangerous sleep-sicknesses, and on dreams and nightmares.