...Sleep is one of the richest topics in science today: why we need it, why it can be hard to get, and how that affects everything from our athletic performance to our income. Daniel Kripke, co-director of research at the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center in La Jolla, Calif., has looked at the most important question of all. In 2002, he compared death rates among more than 1 million American adults who, as part of a study on cancer prevention, reported their average nightly amount of sleep. To many, his results were surprising, but they've since been corroborated by similar studies in Europe and East Asia. Kripke explains. Q: How much sleep is ideal? A: Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hr. and 7.5 hr. a night, as they report, live the longest. And people who sleep 8 hr. or more, or less than 6.5 hr., they don't live quite as long. There is just as much risk associated with sleeping too long as with sleeping too short. The big surprise is that long sleep seems to start at 8 hr. Sleeping 8.5 hr. might really be a little worse than sleeping 5 hr. Morbidity [or sickness] is also "U-shaped" in the sense that both very short sleep and very long sleep are associated with many illnesses—with depression, with obesity—and therefore with heart disease—and so forth. But the [ideal amount of sleep] for different health measures isn't all in the same place. Most of the low points are at 7 or 8 hr., but there are some at 6 hr. and even at 9 hr. I think diabetes is lowest in 7-hr. sleepers...
Words: 597 - Pages: 3
...the times our bodies are recuperating from a long days work. One night may not seem like too much of a problem, but it can progress to weeks or scattered sleeping patterns. Regardless of lack of time during the day, the night should be solely left to prepare our bodies to help us through the day to come. Lack of sleep can affect us the very next day, as well as accumulate to result in chronic illnesses. Some problems caused by sleep deprivation that affect all ages are drowsy driving, snoring, and decreased performance. Statistics show that “twenty percent of all serious car crash injuries in the general population are associated with driver sleepiness, independent of alcohol effects (Wickboldt et al., p4).” Teens are already known for their reckless driving, but most will not believe that the underlying problem is due to a lack of sleep. Most of these symptoms are usually unnoticed because it has become prevalent in the American culture to stay up late. In America alone, “it is estimated that 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from chronic disorder of sleep and wakefulness, hindering daily functioning and adversely affecting health (Wickboldt et al., p 20).” Lack of sleep is not something that can be seen like obesity, or given special treatment in school like how kids with Attention Deficit Disorder get extra hours to complete a test. Therefore, it is our job as a community to recognize that if we do let this overcome teenagers and adults, it will become another regular widespread...
Words: 2439 - Pages: 10
...entire life. This is the idea at the core of the science of fetal origins. The science of fetal origins is a recently developed science that focuses on the effects of all actions a mother takes during a pregnancy. Are certain foods more important to eat than...
Words: 1883 - Pages: 8
...Article 1 - Stress can help when studying for exams Telegraph. (2011). Stress can help when studying for exams. Retrieved May 5, 2011, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8485121/Stress-can-help-when-studying-for-exams.html This article is based on claims made about students increasing their memory under stress. The claim is supported with the theory that hormones produced under stress cause changes inside the cells of the brain to help memory to be stored more effectively. Hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin make these changes so the genes in the neurones function and increase learning ability. This theory has been backed up by Professor Hans Reul from the University of Bristol who suggests that remembering unpleasant memories is easier than pleasant ones, reasons being the unpleasant memories are due to being hurt or threatened which are based on stress. He stated that “It seems like the stress hormones bind to specific receptors in our brains that enhance the control of the epigenetic mechanisms that are involved in learning and memory.” Dr Reul presented his findings at an annual conference and in the journal Experimental Neurology. He also warned that too much stress may have an opposite effect, when new information isn’t able to be picked. In order to assess the claims made in this article, one of the main point made were that the binding of two hormones cortisol and adrenalin trigger the changes. Adrenaline is mainly responsible for the fight...
Words: 2579 - Pages: 11
...Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, San Francisco, California A geneticist wonders why we need to sleep. Scientists can have a love–hate relationship with sleep. We know that it is vital for our health, but not the reasons why. We celebrate dreams that provide inspiration, but often dismiss sleep as a chore. Yet deep sleep can provide insight into vexing problems. In 1920, pharmacologist Otto Loewi famously had a recurring dream that suggested how he could demonstrate neurotransmission in the lab. The key experimental details escaped him until he captured the dream in a bedside notebook. Later that day, he performed his Nobel-prizewinning experiments with the aid of a few frog hearts and a water bath. Now, a team led by Ying-Hui Fu reports that a single mutation in a gene called DEC2 can cause people to sleep for only about six hours per night instead of the usual eight (Y. He et al. Science 325, 866–870; 2009). This mutation seems to be exceedingly rare, with only two carriers found so far. Only by introducing this mutation into transgenic mice and fruitflies could the researchers show compelling evidence of the mutation’s effect. These two additional waking hours each day are quite remarkable when you consider that, over 80 years, this would add up to more than 8 years of extra productivity! Why are extreme short sleepers so rare? Surely evolutionary pressures should favour less sleep? In prehistoric times, short sleepers would have had more time to hunt, gather food and guard against...
Words: 941 - Pages: 4
...BOOK REVIEW Review of The Twenty-four Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives by Rosalind Cartwright 224 pages Oxford University Press, USA; * edition (June 24, 2010) Patrick McNamara, Ph.D. T his is a book of many virtues. It gives us an insider look at the birth of the sleep medicine specialty. It provides, in clear entertaining, first person-prose a first rate primer on the latest {"indings in sleep science. It speaks with the voice of a mature, humane, sane, and brilliant clinician. Most impressively it lays out in convincing detail the argument for the theory of the 24 mind. That theory, as I understand it, suggests that selected regions of the mind/brain are active and functional 24 hours a day. The mind sleeps both at night and during the day and conversely it does not just simply shut off during sleep, but instead performs vital physiologic and cognitive functions during sleep. REM sleep and dreams may help to down-regulate disturbing emotions. Portions of NRFM sleep may help to select memories that will be passed onto to REM for sorting and then long term storage. Unlike other sleep scientists Cartwright never neglected the role of dreams in the theory of the 24 hour Mind. Dreams likely play several functional roles-among them Address reprint requests to: Patrick McNamara, Ph.D. Boston University School of Medicine and VA Boston Healthcare Systetn, 72 East Concord St., B528, Boston, MA 02118; telephone: (617) 414-1005; fax (617) 414-1008;...
Words: 1228 - Pages: 5
...students need around 8-12 hours of sleep per day.Since schools have early start times this causes problems for those who need the required amount of sleep.Especially since students are still growing and developing they need sleep. Schools should have later start times, and there are various reasons why this should happen. One reason if school should start later is according to the broadcast “Science says teens need more sleep.So why is it so hard to start school later?” It states that “ Research shows that early school start times are bad for teenagers' mental and physical health.”This shows that waking up early is harmful for many reasons.Especially one that affects your mental and physical health.This is not great since your body is still developing and growing. Another reason to support if schools should start later is in the article “Students could get more sleep and learn better if school started a little...
Words: 418 - Pages: 2
...Dreaming is a fascinating and mysterious study field that has been invigorated by the advancement in brain science in the recent few decades. As the leading psychiatrist who thrives in developing the new dream theory on extensive base of brain science, Allan J. Hobson comes to public attention with his Activation-Synthesis hypothesis. He claims to take up what Sigmund Freud, historically the best known dream investigator, has left off in the brain side of dreaming and, further, to revise this far-reaching dream speculation of Freud’s into a more scientifically valid way. However, as the psychological approach to dreams has been preoccupied with Freud’s dream theory in such an extent that the marching on neurophysiological hypothesis has inevitably brought up an uncomfortable disturbance among psychoanalysts. Dating back to twentieth century, Freud reached to the field of mental functioning based on his clinical observations of dream cases. As his censorship-disguise notion becomes outmoded along with the advancement in brain science, the contemporary Freudian psychologist, Mark Solms comes to the rescue. He tries to validate the theoretical inference that Freud has sketched with the newly released experimental data, drawing mainly from brain imaging and lesion study. In spite of the ongoing attempt to bring psychoanalysis back to its prominent role in dream study, Hobson stresses the fact that no amount of tinkering is going to improve the erroneous Freudian psychoanalysis. Formative...
Words: 2562 - Pages: 11
...Discuss at least two causes of sleep disturbance. What effects have been shown to occur as a result? Sound sleep is vital for human functioning on a daily basis. Yet some people do not get the required amount. Whether, inadequate sleep might be due to physical, psychological or socioeconomic conditions, sleep disturbance is a common problem. Impaired sleep or sleep disturbance means failure to fall asleep, inability to regain sleep and persistent arousal during the night (Prinz, 1977, as cited in Harrington & Avidan, 2009). The most familiar types of sleep disorders are insomnia; difficulty falling asleep in-spite of sufficient sleep opportunity, and obstructed sleep apnea; difficulty in breathing while asleep that results in frequent awakening (Harrington & Avidan, 2009). The multiple causes of sleep disturbance may include ageing, noise, chronic disease, nocturia, alcoholism, chronic pain, obesity and stress. This essay focuses on three common causes of sleep disturbance: ageing, noise and psychological problems. It also focuses on consequences like memory impairment and increased risk of motor vehicle accidents. Ageing may be a common cause of sleep disturbance. Changes in sleep pattern, like increased lighter stages of sleep, increased fragmented sleep, as well as decreased total sleep time and early morning awakenings may all occur with advancing age. The prevalence of obstructed sleep apnea is 13% among older men and 4% among older women (Enright et al., 1996...
Words: 1035 - Pages: 5
...INTRODUCTION Dalai Lama once said “ Sleep is the best meditation”. Sleep is just like a medicine; it can perform wonders, only if it’s given an adequate amount of time. Science has proved that sleep deprivation can cause sleepiness, malaise and a depression of the immune system. The quality and quantity of sleep often go hand in hand. Through this paper I will be evaluating the role of adenosine and melatonin on sleep and will discuss the human sleep stages, in particular, the REM phase, using the sleep log. ROLE OF ADENOSINE Adenosine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter believed to play a role in promoting sleep and suppressing arousal, with levels increasing with each hour when an organism is awake. Adenosine makes a person drowsy after a day’s accumulation and recovery after a night’s depletion. On evaluating my sleep log, I realized the effect of adenosine on human sleep. On the 21st of September I had a cup of coffee an hour before I took a power nap at 4:30pm. I was suffering from a slight headache and had a coffee, not realizing it would act against me. The caffeine increased my heart rate and made me feel more energetic. I thought I’d take a power nap so that I could concentrate on my work again. I tried very hard to take a good nap, but I didn’t succeed. I kept tossing from side to side. On doing my research I realized what was happening to me. Caffeine related drinks mask the effect of adenosine, which can prevent a person from feeling drowsy as the day proceeds. A...
Words: 1022 - Pages: 5
...Patil 1 Journeys Out Of the Body: Sleep Paralysis Finding answers to our curiosity can sometimes be a daunting task. When every attempt, to find a scientific explanation behind a phenomenon fails, to believe in something beyond is the only way. There are many events, incidents, etc that science failed to explain, that lead us to believe in parallel world, dark world, life beyond Earth etc,. To prove the experiences that are within the body is possible, but to explain experiences out of the body seems impossible. This research paper focuses on Out Of Body Experiences in relation to Sleep Paralysis. Out Of Body Experiences a.k.a. OOBE An out-of-body experience (OOBE) is an experience that involves a feeling of floating outside one's body and, in some cases, the feeling of perceiving one's physical body as if from a place outside one's body (autoscopy). In 1943 G. N. M. Tyrrell introduced the term ‘out of the body experiences’ in his book Apparitions. Later this term was adopted by researchers such as Celia Green and Robert Monroe as an alternative to belief-centric labels such as "astral projection", "soul travel", or "spirit walking". Body experiences something that is not happening on physical level, but spiritual level. These experiences can be spontaneous and induced....
Words: 1935 - Pages: 8
...Background of the Study Sleep is a physiological need. It is a way to rest our body from fatigue. Hence, adequate sleep is a biological necessity, not a luxury, for the normal functioning of humans. Good mental and physical health depends on maintenance of adequate sleep. College experience is of great value in providing emerging adults with a structured environment in which they can gain knowledge, skills and independence to chart their own path, become successfully employed and contribute to society. For most students, the college environment is full of new living and social experiences, new freedom from parental supervision and new academic demands. In this situations, most often than not, adequate sleep is neglected. According to poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (2000) potential obstacle to maximizing success in college is the high prevalence of daytime sleepiness, sleep deprivation, sleep disturbances and irregular sleep schedules among college students. Daytime sleepiness is a major problem, exhibited by 50% of college students compared to 36% of adolescents and adults. At least 3 days a week, 60% of college students report that they are dragging, tired and sleepy. Sleep deprivation is defined as obtaining inadequate sleep to support adequate daytime alertness. How much sleep a young adult needs is known to be eight (8) hours. Most college students are sleep deprived, as 70.6% of students report obtaining less than 8 hours of sleep. Sleepiness is defined...
Words: 2460 - Pages: 10
...have children in elementary school. School starts too early for teens; it is natural for elementary children to start at 8 a.m. but not teenagers. Teenagers need more sleep than older adults and young children. Schools should start later because students be more alert and healthier as well as schools will save money. Schools starting later will help students be more alert. The lack of sleep most adolescents get can cause moodiness, lack of attention, memory problems, behavior issues, and the ability to function (kqed). People between 14-24 years old are the most likely to be sleep deprived and it is due to not getting enough sleep during the week (iflscience). Benefits of sleeping include increased memory and learning, better attention span. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost 70% of high-school students report sleeping for seven hours or less on a regular basis (time). This proves that the majority of students are sleep...
Words: 1804 - Pages: 8
...Situations 1. The most important or the least useful scientific discoveries and technological inventions. 2. Agree or challenge: Technological inventions don’t make our lives better. They simply create more products we’re expected to buy. 3. Agree or challenge: My government should spend more money on scientific research and less on other things. 4. Agree or challenge: Science and technology can solve any problem. 5. Arguments for and against capital punishment. Is the death penalty justified? 6. Agree or challenge: Mothers should stay at home to look after their children until they’re old enough to start formal education. 7. A night out in my home town: places to go, sights to see, food to eat, music to dance/sing. 8. Do you often see dreams? Tell about the strangest dream you have ever had. 9. Agree or challenge: The partnership of marriage is more than just two individuals sharing a home. 10. The important role of sleep in our lives. Do you agree that consolidated sleep throughout a whole night is optimal for learning and memory? Why/ Why not? 11. What jobs would you prefer doing or never choose? 12. Why do people get married? Why is marriage important / unimportant? Give reasons for your answer. 13. What jobs are better done by women / men? Provide examples. 14. Pros and cons of working at night. Provide examples. 15. International organisations, their role and functions. 16. What do you think are more powerful, government...
Words: 514 - Pages: 3
...extracurricular activities to later in the day or that later school start times will defeat its main purpose- students getting more sleep. School start times should be later because it improves adolescents’ health, students’ will perform better academically, and it can increase the safety of the community. Our bodies...
Words: 1364 - Pages: 6
