By: Arthur Getchman

SLEEP

STAGES OF SLEEP• Stage One

• Fall in and out of sleep easily, light sleep. Eyes move slowly and muscle activity slows.

• Stage Two

• Eye movement stops, brain waves slow. Rapid waves occur called “sleep spindles.”

• Stage Three

• Extremely slow brain waves called “delta waves,” are present.

• Stage Four

• Very hard to awaken. Almost all brain waves are delta waves at this point. Also known as “deep sleep.”

• REM

• Deep sleep, where dreams are made. Breathing becomes more rapid, irregular, and shallow. There is rapid eye movement and the limbs become temporarily paralyzed.

VIDEO ON SLEEP STAGES• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_rEpjEBC60&feature=related

HOW MUCH SLEEP DO WE NEED?• The number of hours varies.

• Most adults need around 7 to 8 hours of sleep a day.

• Some need as little as 5, others as much as 10.

• Infants need around 16 hours.

• You can go into “sleep debt,” if you do not get enough sleep the night before.

• If not caught up on your debt; judgment, reaction time, and other functions will be impaired (NINDS)

• Humans spend around 2/3 of their lives unconscious. (Wiener)

MEMORY• Sleep processes what you have experienced that day.

• Different stages of sleep improve your memory.

• In the late stages of non-REM sleep, the ability to recall recent facts is tuned.

7 THINGS SLEEP DOES FOR YOU• #1 Keep weight off.

• People who are sleepy eat more.

• Sleep deprivation increases hunger by changing levels of leptin and gherelin. (Wiener)

• #2 Memory.

• Your mind processes the events of the day during REM sleep.

• #3 Reduce risk of diabetes.

• Women who sleep only five hours are two and a half times more likely to have diabetes than women who sleep eight hours. (Wiener)

• The body cannot properly convert glucose from food into fuel while awake. (Wiener)

7 THINGS SLEEP DOES FOR YOU CONTINUED • #4 Protect your heart.

• During sleep, your heart rate slows and your blood rate dips, giving your body a chance to slow down and catch up. (Wiener)

• #5 Take years off your look.

• People can tell when you’re tiered, your face looks run down. If it looks run down over a long period of time, muscle memory will take over…

• #6 Sickness.

• The body needs rest to fight off virus.

• #7 Safe driving.

• Sleeplessness slows reaction time just as much as alcohol. (Wiener)

THE SLEEP TEST• http://www.sleepnet.com/sleeptest.html

• http://www.lunesta.com/lunesta-kit/healthcare-professional-discussion-guide.html

DISCUSSION• What are dreams and nightmares and what causes them?

• How do we get over sleeplessness? How do you fall asleep?

• What happens to you when you do not get enough sleep? Too much sleep?

SLEEP DISORDERS• There are more than one hundred different kinds of sleep disorders.

• Sleep disorders disrupt sleep time, falling asleep, staying asleep, when you are tired, and abnormal behaviors while asleep. (Blaivas)

• 4 most common sleep disorders:

• Insomnia

• Excessive daytime sleepiness

• Sleep schedule problem

• Sleep disruptive behavior

• The book “Sleep,” covers all of these in detail and gives many possible ways to fix these disorders. Everyone is different and may need to approach the disorder different from their neighbor.

SLEEP LOSS = BRAIN DRAIN - JOHN MEDINA

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI96e38zMj4

CONCLUSION• Sleep is necessary for us to survive. Without sleep, the brain and body cannot properly relax,

refresh, and organize. The quality of sleep is just as important as amount of sleep and the more, quality sleep one gets, the better the quality of life.