Understanding the Intricacies of the Human Sleep Cycle

1272 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of loss of sleep because of stress essay

Sleep is one of the very few biological urges beyond our control. We as humans value our periods of sleep and dread the moments when sleep is interpreted. Sleep can be defined as the state of mind when we go through muscle relaxation, low sensory activity, and a reduced interaction with our surroundings (Goldstein 2014). The brain creates a sleep-wake cycle of approximately 24 hours, even in an unchanging environment. It is important to ask, what exactly occurs when we sleep? Throughout sleep, we go through various stages that are different based on different aspects such as brain activity and heart rate. Each cycle of sleep lasts from 1.5 to 2 hours and the cycles have 4 different stages of sleep within 2 sleep stages; non rapid eye …show more content…

The word paradoxical is defined as being self-contradictory; which can related to paradoxical sleep because this form of sleep has characteristics of both deep and light sleep. Paradoxical sleep is more commonly known as Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM sleep). During REM sleep, the heart rate, breathing rates, and brain activity are more irregular, in comparison to the other stages of sleep (Mascetti 2011) . Characteristics of Rapid Eye Movement sleep includes facial twitches and eye movements. The sleep timeline consists of stages 1-4 in sequential order, but after 1 hour of sleep, you will cycle back to stage 3, stage 2, and then Rapid Eye Movement sleep (Goldstein 2014). Rapid Eye Movement sleep consists of a high density of Ponto-geniculo-occipital (PGO) waves. These waves begin in the pons, then appear in the lateral geniculate, and finally the occipital cortex. PGO waves are patterns of high amplitude electrical potentials. PGO waves are in sync with the movement of eyes in the REM sleep …show more content…

A deprivation of REM sleep contributes to increased levels of stress and anxiety, as well as feeling emotions related to depression. This impacts the neurogenic environment in the hippocampus, decreasing the growth and development of neurons in the dentate gyrus. Suzanna Becker and her colleagues planned an experiment to test if adult subjects who tested low on a BDI test (used to help diagnosis depression), would perform well on a recognition task. In the task, the subjects must pair objects viewed during various trials with other identical objects. However, the subjects will also view objects that are similar in appearance, but not identical to previously viewed images (Becker 2009). The task was to successfully pair together the identical images. Those who tested high on the BDI test, were less successful in recognizing similar images, versus the identical. A flaw in this experiment was the relatively small sample size used; only 50 adult subjects were used (Becker

Show More
Related

  • The Impact of Sleep

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever gone to bed and wondered what does sleep do to your physical and mental health? Sleeping has effects on our physical heart as well as our mental health (disorders, etc.)

    Read More

  • Understanding the Five Stages of Sleep

    413 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Delta Sleep”, the delta waves occur during this time. This where the deep sleep comes, it last

    Read More

  • Circadian Sleep Essay

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    So for an average sleep time of eight to ten hours, we go through this sleep cycle four to five times a night. In stage one of the sleep phases, we are in a light sleep that lasts anywhere from five to ten minutes. In this stage, our eyes are still moving slowly and our muscles are slowing down, but may still have sudden muscle contractions like as if we were being startled or as if we were falling down. People in this phase may not feel rested if they are awakened, and might not of felt like they were even asleep at all. In stage two of the sleep cycle, you have successfully fallen into a light sleep. During this cycle your heart rate has slowed down, and your body temperature has dropped. You no longer have eye movement, and your body is finally resting the parts it has used through out the day. The next stage, which is stage three is also combined with stage four of the sleep cycle. These two cycles together are known as the delta sleep or the deep sleep stage, and is a very important part of the sleep cycle. During these cycles your body repairs and re-grows tissue, strengthens the immune system and builds bone and muscle. In these cycle it may be very hard to wake a person up, and if woken they may feel droggy or “out of it” for several minutes. In these stages is when most people have night terrors, experience sleep walking, or sleep talking occurs. In an adults average time of sleep this takes up about fifteen to twenty five percent of the time of sleep. Lastly, there is the REM cycle, which is also known as paradoxical sleep. During this cycle is when most of your muscles are paralyzed, your eyes are moving rapidly, and your breathing, heart rate and body temperature are not regulated. Vital signs show that during this stage, the arousal and oxygen levels

    Read More

  • Sleep Physiology And Chronobiology Essay

    1611 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ep. There are events in sleep that are associated with synaptic modification, which is the basis of brain rewiring that enhances cognition. There is evidence that sleep accelerated transcription of cortical genes that are associated with protein synthesis9. These newly generated proteins are known to be required for strengthening of existing synapses and building new synapses. Studies have found increase of factors associated with brain-plasticity and enhanced learning during sleep5. These factors include phosphorylated or activated CREB, a transcriptional factor, as well as Arc, BDNF, and NGFI-A. These evidence help explain how sleep can influence brain rewiring through synaptic modification. This mechanism helps explain how sleep can modify the brain and ultimately enhance learning. This is a strong evidence that supports the synaptic downscaling hypothesis.

    Read More

  • The REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

    1630 Words  | 4 Pages

    either Slow-Wave or REM sleep, and I hope future essays will delve more fully into these subjects. Luckily for researchers

    Read More

  • Sleep Deprivation

    3833 Words  | 8 Pages

    Sleep is one of our basic needs to survive and to function in day to day operations, but not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. Some people can survive on very little sleep, i.e. five hours a night, and some people need a lot of sleep, to the extend that they are sleeping up to 10 to sometimes 15 hours a night (Nature, 2005). According to Wilson (2005) the general rule states that most people need from seven to eight hours of sleep. The deprivation of sleep in our society in continually increasing with the demands in society increasing work loads, the myth that a few hours of sleep is only necessary to function properly and that sleep is sometimes considered as killing time (Nature, 2005). Sometimes sleep deprivation is also caused by other situations like sleep disorders, i.e. sleep apnea, chronic insomnia or medical conditions such as stress (Wilson, 2005).

    Read More

  • Insomnia And Sleep

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sleep is an essential life process that has been accredited as a crucial role on our wholesomeness and well-being as individuals for thousands of years. Our knowledge on sleep has increased tremendously over the past century thanks to advances in technology and remarkable research that has been done. A lot more information of how sleep occurs and the effects it has enough has on the body, the brain and our everyday lives is now understood. With this information another interesting topic has gained recognition, which is sleep disorders. One specific sleep disorder is insomnia.

    Read More

  • Unraveling the Intricacies of Dreams

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are five stages of sleep. The first stage is when one prepares to drift off. During this stage, one experiences Alpha and Theta waves. This stage generally lasts five to ten minutes. The second stage lasts about twenty minutes. The brain begins to produce short periods of rhythmic brain waves known as Sleep Spindles. Body temperature begins to drop and the heart rates slows down. During stage three, slow waves

    Read More

  • Oswald's Restoration Theory of Sleep

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    A restorative theory claims that sleep is used to repair the body including the brain. Oswald suggests that slow wave sleep is when body repair occurs and REM sleep is when the brain is repaired. This is supported by the fact that there is an increase in the secretion of growth hormones during SWS. This could also explain why brain activity levels are high during REM sleep, and similar to when awake.

    Read More

  • Sleep Deprivation Among College Students

    2230 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sleeping is something that is an essential part of human nature and is a must in order for one to be a functional human being. Sleep is an idea that is accompanied by many wives’ tales, including the idea that one needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night and alcohol helps one fall asleep and sleep more soundly. One myth about sleep is that during sleep, one is in a state of nothingness. In truth, however, it has been discovered that during sleep the brain is active, variations in heartbeat and breathing occur, and the eyes and ears are active throughout the time of sleep. These activities during a person’s sleep are important because they help that person be more aware, awake, and alert during sleep.

    Read More

  • Wake Up! Sleep is Necessary

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    Each night, the average person spends approximately 7-9 hours giving their bodies a restful vacation in the land of dreams. Considering this, we spend 1/3 (or 25 years) of our entire lives engaging in this idle activity. Although these numbers can appear as a waste of time in our every day lives, sleeping and/or napping is the energy that helps fuel our bodies to function correctly. Sleep is a necessary function in our every day routine in order to make our brains function at the most efficient level. As we sleep, the brain helps us to recuperate and regain strength by “restoring and repairing the brain tissue” (Myers, 2010, p 99). Without this reviving process, we would all eventually deteriorate. By impairing the sleep deprived mentally and physically, it can potentially cause serious harm. We must fade our conscious mind, and let our mind relax within subconscious state.

    Read More

  • Sleep and Dream

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    the sleeper will gradually descend deeper into sleep, becoming more and more detached from the outside world and progressively more difficult to awaken. Stage three is the beginning of deep sleep, occurring about thirty to forty five minutes after you first fall asleep. The deepest sleep occurs in Stage four. Stage three and four has the biggest and slowest brain wave. REM sleep, a mentally active period during which dreaming occurs, provided a biological explanation for this phenomenon. Scientists found that brain activity during REM sleep begins in the pons, a structure in the brainstem, and neighboring midbrain regions. The pons sends signals to the thalamus and to the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for most thought processes. There are several myths about sleep. For one, how much sleep a person should get? According to our text book people should sleep for at least eight hours to maintain sound mental and physical health. But every one doesn’t get the chance to sleep for that amount of time. There is no normal amount of time you should sleep. Everyone is not the same. For one I might sleep for five hours and feel refreshed enough to work another shift. Other hand my cousin might need more then eight hours of sleep to feel refreshed.

    Read More

  • The Sleep Disorders

    2324 Words  | 5 Pages

    We experience two phases of sleep which repeat themselves every ninety to one hundred and ten minutes, achieving approximately five complete cycles per night. The phases are non- rapi...

    Read More

  • Essay On Sleep Cycle

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    The four stages of sleep are REM (rapid eye movement sleep), NREM1 (non-rem), NREM2, and NREM3. During the REM stage “your heart rate rises, your breathing becomes rapid and irregular, and every half-minute or so your eyes dart around in momentary burst of activity behind closed lids” (Myers, 2014, p. 96).

    Read More

  • Sleep Cycle Essay

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maynard, W., & Brogmus, G. (2006). Safer shift work through more effective scheduling. Occupational health and safety, 16.

    Read More

More about Understanding the Intricacies of the Human Sleep Cycle

Open Document