Sleep is a constantly recurring event characterized by reduced or absent consciousness. A state of relatively reduced sensory activity,
Sleep is believed to be as important as being awake. It is the time
where both the body and the mind recuperate from all the stress it
has experienced throughout the day. Get all the info you need here.
In sleep, all the voluntary muscles remain inactive and involuntary
muscles functions are reduced. In other words, it is like switching off
a machine or placing it in idle mode to allow the machines to cool off
and prevent damage. It is mostly done at night, where hormone levels are at the lowest.
How Sleep Works
A person’s sleep can be affected by a lot of factors, one of these factors include the circadian rhythm. The sleep-wake homeostasis or the circadian clock controls the sleep timing. It may have the greatest
significance and greatest effect on the sleep of an individual.
Sleep timing means the time you sleep and the time you wake up.
The circadian clock is also an inner timekeeper, temperature
controller, and an enzyme regulator. It is the rhythm that determines
the ideal time for a person’s restorative sleep and rest. It works
together with a neurotransmitter called Adenosine.
Adenosine is a neurotransmitter responsible for inhibiting bodily
processes involving wakefulness. Our circadian rhythm is commonly
affected by poor sleeping habits such as overnight shifts, shifting time zones like flying from one country to another.
When a person goes to bed to rest, he or she undergoes a bodily and organized process called sleep. An individual passes through five phases of sleep: stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM (Rapid Eye Movement). These stages progress into a cycle from stage 1 to REM.
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The cycle may be repeated more than twice in one night. An individual spends about 50% of his sleeping time in stage 2 of the cycle, 20% in REM and 30% is spent on the other part of the cycle. Infants on the other hand have different percentages, wherein they spend about half of their sleeping time in REM.
Stage 1 is the stage in between sleep and wakefulness. A person’s
sleep would be easily disrupted if the person is in this stage. Muscle
activity is still constant, and the eye movements are still observed.
For the stage 2, the person’s sleep gradually deepens. It is harder to
wake a person in this stage of sleep.
On stages 3 and 4, a person no longer responds to environmental
stimuli, Stimuli includes loud noises and bright lights. It is the stage
where the person stays before progressing to REM.
REM or Rapid Eye movement is part of the sleeping stage, which a
person enters approximately 90 minutes after sleep is initiated. The
deepest stage in the sleep cycle and is the hardest time to wake up a
person.
Muscle activity is greatly reduced, but the brain activity is noticeably
highest. EEG tests confirm that a person’s brain activity during the
REM stage is similar to that when a person is awake.
In the next article in this series, we will look at how to sleep deeper and wake better.