Introduction
Description
Sleep is a natural state for the mind and body at rest where there is lessened consciousness and decreased response to external stimuli (Miller-Keane Encyclopedia, n.d.).
Sleep. (n.d.) Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. (2003). Retrieved January 24 2016 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/sleep
Sleep Stages
There are 5 distinct stages of sleep that living organisms go through each night, this includes four states of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and one of rapid eye movement (REM): NREM 1, NREM2, NREM3, NREM4, and REM. To study the stages of sleep, researchers used the electroencephalography (EEG) to observe brainwaves, the electromyography …show more content…
According to Kalat (2013), when a person is in the relaxed state of not clearly awake, they have alpha waves of 8 to 12 Hz per second measured by the EEG. Then they would enter into stage 1 of N-REM Sleep or non-rapid eye movement sleep. This is when sleep has just begun and the EEG showed irregular, low voltage waves. In stage 2 of NREM, there are of 12-14 Hz waves that appeared which are called sleep spindles. In addition, there are high peaks of waves called K-complexes that appear because of a brief neural firing inhibition. In stage 3 and 4 of NREM, waves are slower and there are a decrease in brain activity, heart rate, and breathing rate. These two stages are together called slow-wave sleep (SWS). In Stage 5, people enter REM sleep or the paradoxical sleep. The term REM is usually used with humans while the word paradoxical is used with animals because some species does not have eye movements (Kalat, 2013). REM …show more content…
For this reason, Aserinsky along with another researcher, Kleitman, conduct an experiment with adults. Participants’ muscles around the eyes were attached with electrodes, to determine their eye movements. They were awakened either when they were in the NREM or REM sleeps. Aserinsky and Kleitman (1953) found that people dreams and remember the content of it more when they woke up during REM sleep.
In addition, Dement (1960) did a study on sleep and dreams, where he sleep deprived male participants. At first, he used depressant drugs to stop the participants from dreaming, but the drugs affected their sleeping patterns too much, the results could be invalid (Hock, 1999). As a result, Dement used the method of waking the participants up when they enter REM sleep for a few nights. Then, they were given a night to sleep peacefully without Dement waking them; this is referred to as the “recovery phase” (Dement, 1960). The experiment continues for several trials. The results showed that number of times the experimenter had to wake the participants up, to prevent them from REM sleep, increased each trial. This is because they would fall into REM more often since they are deprived of it. Another finding was that the duration of dreams increased as well. Dement had demonstrated that people needs to dream and dreams would be
Description
Sleep is a natural state for the mind and body at rest where there is lessened consciousness and decreased response to external stimuli (Miller-Keane Encyclopedia, n.d.).
Sleep. (n.d.) Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. (2003). Retrieved January 24 2016 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/sleep
Sleep Stages
There are 5 distinct stages of sleep that living organisms go through each night, this includes four states of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and one of rapid eye movement (REM): NREM 1, NREM2, NREM3, NREM4, and REM. To study the stages of sleep, researchers used the electroencephalography (EEG) to observe brainwaves, the electromyography …show more content…
According to Kalat (2013), when a person is in the relaxed state of not clearly awake, they have alpha waves of 8 to 12 Hz per second measured by the EEG. Then they would enter into stage 1 of N-REM Sleep or non-rapid eye movement sleep. This is when sleep has just begun and the EEG showed irregular, low voltage waves. In stage 2 of NREM, there are of 12-14 Hz waves that appeared which are called sleep spindles. In addition, there are high peaks of waves called K-complexes that appear because of a brief neural firing inhibition. In stage 3 and 4 of NREM, waves are slower and there are a decrease in brain activity, heart rate, and breathing rate. These two stages are together called slow-wave sleep (SWS). In Stage 5, people enter REM sleep or the paradoxical sleep. The term REM is usually used with humans while the word paradoxical is used with animals because some species does not have eye movements (Kalat, 2013). REM …show more content…
For this reason, Aserinsky along with another researcher, Kleitman, conduct an experiment with adults. Participants’ muscles around the eyes were attached with electrodes, to determine their eye movements. They were awakened either when they were in the NREM or REM sleeps. Aserinsky and Kleitman (1953) found that people dreams and remember the content of it more when they woke up during REM sleep.
In addition, Dement (1960) did a study on sleep and dreams, where he sleep deprived male participants. At first, he used depressant drugs to stop the participants from dreaming, but the drugs affected their sleeping patterns too much, the results could be invalid (Hock, 1999). As a result, Dement used the method of waking the participants up when they enter REM sleep for a few nights. Then, they were given a night to sleep peacefully without Dement waking them; this is referred to as the “recovery phase” (Dement, 1960). The experiment continues for several trials. The results showed that number of times the experimenter had to wake the participants up, to prevent them from REM sleep, increased each trial. This is because they would fall into REM more often since they are deprived of it. Another finding was that the duration of dreams increased as well. Dement had demonstrated that people needs to dream and dreams would be