REM sleep

Examples of REM sleep in the following topics:

• Stages of Sleep

  • Stage 2 non-REM sleep is characterized by sleep spindles and K-Complexes.
  • REM sleep accounts for 20–25% of total sleep time in most human adults.
  • Then, after stage 3 sleep, stage 2 is repeated before going into REM sleep.
  • Once REM is over, we usually return to stage 2 sleep.
  • Differentiate among REM sleep and the three phases of N-REM sleep

• The Nature and Meaning of Dreams

  • Dreaming and REM sleep are simultaneously controlled by different brain mechanisms.
  • The hypothesis states that the function of sleep is to process, encode, and transfer data from short-term memory to long-term memory through a process called consolidation.
  • NREM sleep processes the conscious-related memory (declarative memory), and REM sleep processes the unconscious related memory (procedural memory).
  • The underlying assumption of continual-activation theory is that, during REM sleep, the unconscious part of the brain is busy processing procedural memory.

• Sleep-Wake Disorders

  • Sleep disorders cause sleep disturbances that affect the amount, quality, or timing of sleep or that induce abnormal events during sleep.
  • Sleep-wake disorders cause a number of sleep disturbances that affect the amount, quality, or timing of sleep or that induce abnormal events during sleep.
  • Most parasomnias are due to partial arousal during the transitions between wakefulness and non-rapid-eye-movement (N-REM) sleep or between wakefulness and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep.
  • Sleep terrors typically occur in the first few hours of sleep, during stage 3 NREM sleep.
  • The nightmares, which often portray the individual in a situation that jeopardizes their life or personal safety, usually occur during the second half of the sleeping process, called the REM stage.

• Introduction to Sleep

  • Research on rats has found that a week of no sleep leads to loss of immune function, and two weeks of no sleep leads to death.
  • When we do not sleep enough, we accumulate a sleep debt.
  • Though there is no magic sleep number, there are general rules for how much sleep certain age groups need.
  • A newborn baby spends almost 9 hours a day in REM sleep.
  • By the age of five, only slightly over two hours is spent in REM.

• Circadian Rhythms

  • The circadian pacemaker, located in the SCN, regulates the timing and consolidation of the sleep-wake cycle, while sleep-wake homeostasis governs the accumulation of sleep debt and sleep recovery.
  • The sleepiness we experience during these circadian dips will be less intense if we have had sufficient sleep, and more intense when we are sleep deprived.
  • Segmented sleep, also known as interrupted or divided sleep, is a multiphasic sleep pattern in which two or more periods of sleep are punctuated by periods of wakefulness.
  • Roger Ekirch, a historian who has researched segmented sleep extensively, argues that segmented sleep was the dominant form of human sleep before the Industrial Revolution.
  • Together, these results imply that segmented sleep is indeed our natural sleep rhythm.

• Strategies for Improving Memory Quality and Duration

  • It is commonly accepted that one of the functions of sleep and dreams is to process and optimize memory storage.
  • While we sleep, the brain categorizes, discards, and analyzes recent memories.
  • One useful memory enhancement technique is to use an audio recording of the information you want to remember and play it while you are trying to go to sleep.
  • Once you are actually in the first stage of sleep, there is no real learning going on because it is hard to consolidate memories during sleep (which is one reason why we tend to forget most of our dreams).
  • However, those things which you hear on the recording just before you fall into sleep are more likely to be retained because of your relaxed and focused state of mind.

• Introduction to Memory Encoding

  • Consolidation even happens while we sleep.
  • Research indicates that sleep is of paramount importance for the brain to consolidate information into accessible memories.
  • While we sleep, the brain analyzes, categorizes, and discards recent memories.
  • One useful memory-enhancement technique is to use an audio recording of the information you want to remember and play it while you are trying to go to sleep.
  • Once you are actually in the first stage of sleep, there is no learning occurring because it is hard to consolidate memories during sleep (which is one reason why we tend to forget most of our dreams).

• Bipolar Disorders

  • People with mania commonly experience an increase in energy and a decreased need for sleep, with many often getting as little as three or four hours of sleep per night.
  • Some can go days without sleeping.
  • The depressive phase includes persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, guilt, anger, isolation, hopelessness, disturbances in sleep and appetite, fatigue, loss of interest in usually enjoyable activities, problems concentrating, loneliness, self-loathing, apathy, and/or indifference.
  • Hypomanic episodes are a milder version of mania, defined by a mild to moderately elevated mood, optimism, pressure of speech or activity, and decreased need for sleep.
  • These neurotransmitters are important regulators of the bodily functions that are disrupted in mood disorders, including appetite, sex drive, sleep, arousal, and mood.

• Pharmacotherapy (Medication)

  • Together, hypnoanxiolytics have a general effect of calming individuals, alleviating anxiety, and causing sleep.
  • Hypnotic drugs are a class of psychoactives whose primary function is to induce sleep and to be used in the treatment of insomnia, as well as in surgical anesthesia.
  • Hypnotic drugs are regularly prescribed for insomnia and other sleep disorders, with over 95% of insomnia patients in some countries being prescribed hypnotics.
  • Many hypnotic drugs are habit-forming and, due to a large number of factors known to disturb the human sleep pattern, a physician may instead recommend alternative sleeping patterns, sleep hygiene, and exercise, before prescribing medication for sleep.
  • For example, the antidepressant Wellbutrin might be prescribed to increase perceived energy levels and assertiveness while diminishing the need for sleep, instead of its intended use, alleviating symptoms of depression.

• Transience and Encoding Failure

  • Research indicates that sleep is of paramount importance for the brain to encode information into accessible memories.
  • It is posited that during sleep, our working memory is converted into long-term memory.