Sleep on the Brain

Sleep Fascination

Sleep is one of the most interesting things about the body to me, but it is also the most confusing. How do are bodies just stop doing things(it's like we are dead, but we are still breathing), and then you wake back up and are fully functioning again? That's just really weird to me. I find sleep so interesting because I have so many different sleep issues that I have to deal with. Through the reading from this week I discovered some of the things I thought were happening in my sleep are really things and not just something I made myself believe. The more i keep reading about how sleep works and the ins and outs of different sleep disorders, the more interested I keep getting.

My Sleep Issues

Insomnia 

I've had recurring insomnia for almost as long as I can remember, as far back as middle school. My insomnia is typically not being able to fall asleep with whatever I try to do to aid it. Trust me it is never a lack of trying, but once I hit over 4 hours of trying I'm over it and decide I'm just gonna wait till the next night to sleep. I usually don't experience the side of insomnia where I wake up throughout the night unless I'm stressed or have extreme anxiety. Those nights I will wake up at least a handful of times through a maybe 6 hour sleep session. 

Night Terrors, Maybe

The issue with sleep that I thought I had completely made up in my mind was when first falling asleep, and in the reading what is referred to as the N1 part of deep sleep, is that I will have very obscure visions that would usually scare me awake. The reading said it is common in this stage of sleep to have jerks, twitches or even hallucinations. I would refer to this as something similar to a night terror, but from further research I have figured out thats what they actually are, I hadn't thought they were until now because I actually wake up after them, and most research shows, that you will remain asleep during them but appear to awake. Night terrors occur in the non-REM stage of sleep, this is not the stage where dreams occur. Dreams occur in the REM stage of sleep, this is also the stage where nightmares occur, so nightmares and night terrors are not the same things. "A night terror is not technically a dream, but more like a sudden reaction of fear that happens during the transition from one sleep stage to another."

Sleep Research

Sleep is influenced by ambient light. The suprachiasmatic nucleus is a cell in our eyes that is known as our bodies primary circadian pacemaker. It takes in light stimuli and decides if the ambient light is set for sleep, if it is it sends a signal to the pineal gland to release melatonin, which is the hormone that facilitates sleep. This is why people take melatonin when they can't sleep. Melatonin rarely works for me. Back to my thoughts of how are we not dead when we sleep. When we fall asleep we lose consciousness, but our brains remain active.

Sleep Stages

Rapid eye movement(REM), this sleep stage is characterized as the presence of quick eye movements and dreaming. REM occurs in about 25% of our sleep each night. During REM cycles our awareness is dramatically reduced and our consciousness is reduced as well, our muscles also shut down, which is a relief so that we can't harm ourselves or others. 

The other type of sleep is referred to as non-rapid eye movement(non-REM). Non-REM is a deep sleep with very slow brain waves. Non-REM is divided into 3 subcategories, N1, N2, and N3. Each of these stages has its own distinctive patterns of brain activity. There are also different brain waves that occur between wake and sleep, beta, alpha theta and delta waves. While awake our brain activity is characterized as running on beta waves, very fast brain waves. When we start to fall asleep or brain waves get longer turning into alpha waves. Once we are asleep and start shifting into stage N1 are brain waves move to even slower waves, theta waves. During the N3 stage we reach the delta waves where the brain waves are the slowest and we experience the deepest sleep.

N1

We are in stage N1 of sleep as soon as we fall asleep. During this stage we lose some muscle tone and most of our awareness of our environment. During this stage, like I mentioned earlier, some people can experience sudden jerks, twitches and hallucinations.  

N2

When we are continue sleeping we shift from N1 to N2. During N2 we continue to lose muscle tone and completely lose awareness of our environment. This is the stage where we go into the theta waves, we also experience rapid burst of brain activity which are known as sleep spindles. The N2 stage of sleep is where we receive about 50% of our sleep.

N3

Stage N3 sleep is our deepest stage of sleep, our brains move to the slower brain waves known as the delta waves. This is the stage of sleep where most sleep abnormalities occur. We have some muscle tone left in the stage, but no consciousness left, but we are still aware of the external world. This is why we are able to awake if we hear a smoke alarm go off or a baby crying. After the N3 stage we cycle back to the REM stage of sleep. 

REM

During REM sleep we have an increase in heart rate, we can also experience face twitches, and repeated eye movement. "REM sleep is also emotional sleep."  We go through several cycles of REM sleep a night, and through out the night the length of the cycle increases, from about 5-10 minutes at the beginning of the night to about 15-20 minutes towards the end of the night. Dreams also get more elaborate and vivid as the night progresses. 

Sleep Disorders

About 75% of american adults suffer from some sleeping issue or disorder. The most common disorder is insomnia. Another common sleep problem is sleep apnea. Narcolepsy is yet another form of sleep disorder. 

Insomnia

Insomnia is the persistent difficulty falling or staying asleep. Most cases are very temporary only lasting a few nights or a few weeks, but some cases can be more sever and last for years, which is my case. Different things can cause you to have insomnia: pain, illness, stress, relationship issues, financial issues, change in sleep patterns, or even jet lag. The sleep that insomniacs are able to get usually isn't enough to restore them for the day, which impairs function throughout the day.  "Ironically, the problem may be compounded by people’s anxiety over insomnia itself: Their fear of being unable to sleep may wind up keeping them awake."

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a disorder characterized by pauses in breathing that last at least 10 seconds during sleep. Sleep apnea not only effects the sleep you are getting but can also lead to serious health issues such as high blood pressure, which raises the risk of a stroke or even a heart attack. Sleep apnea is caused by an obstruction of the walls of he throat. It is most common is obese or older people. More common in men than women. 

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a disorder in which you experience extreme daytime sleepiness with frequent episodes of nodding off. Narcolepsy can be paired with cataplexy, where you lose all muscle tone and collapse upon nodding off. 

Effects of Poor Sleep

Sleep has a vital restorative function, so prolonged lack of sleep can result in increased anxiety, diminished performance, lead to diseases such as Alzheimer's, or general memory impairment, cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes, or it can even result in death! "Good sleep is important to our health and longevity." Sleep also works to fight infections, this is why its good to sleep when you are sick. Sleep the yuck away. Sleep deprivation suppresses the immune system which fights off infection. So in turn not sleeping makes you sick, and sleeping can help you fight off illness, and possible avoid it all together. "Sleeping well can even save our lives!" 

https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_introduction-to-psychology/s09-01-sleeping-and-dreaming-revitali.html 

https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gartenberg_the_brain_benefits_of_deep_sleep_and_how_to_get_more_of_it/transcript#t-385103