Sleep Related Amnesia

Sleep is by far the most mysterious part of our day. Sleep takes up nearly one third of our life, yet the general population know surprisingly very little about it (Randall). Some people have given up on their alarm clock, because it never wakes them up. Yet in reality the real reason for this is a sleep related amnesia in which one does not remember doing something right before one falls asleep. REM, rapid eye movement, sleep is a period of sleep that occurs about 70 to 90 minutes after a human falls asleep and usually lasts 90 to 110 minutes on average (Brain). During this time the brain encounters, dreams. During this place known as Dreamland the human brain paralyzes the body so this human will not act out the dream. In some cases, people have woken up while still paralyzed, 28.3% surveyed have woken up during this paralyzed state (Forehand). Yet if a human or animal body does not correctly paralyze strange things occur.
A researcher names Michel Jouvet did an experiment on cats. In this experiment small lesions were made in cat’s brain stem known as the reticular formation. Jouvet discovered that he could block the mechanisms that usually suppressed …show more content…
“It is a common misconception that a sleepwalker should not be awakened. In fact, it can be quite dangerous not to wake a sleepwalker” . The chance of sleepwalking is much higher in children, especially those between the ages of three and seven, and occurs more in children with sleep apnea. Sleepwalking like Sleep Terrors tends to run in families. (Sleepwalking) Insomnia is a repeated difficulty with sleep initiation, maintenance, consolidation, or quality (Chawla). About 95% of Americans have had an episode of insomnia at some point in their life (Chawla). Insomnia can cause sleep deprivation, which can have serious consequences. One brutal experiment done on rats shows what happens when mammals, humans, are deprived of