What is a Good Night Sleep?
By: Ackland Whitrock
What is sleep ?
Sleep is a behavioral state characterized by little physical activity and almost no awareness of the outside world. Most scientists think that sleep does something important — something vital for life, although research has not yet identified specifically what sleep does. Nevertheless, we all know when we need to sleep — we can feel this need. We also know when sleep has done its work — we feel rested and that we have slept enough.
Sleep Stages
Sleep is an active, highly organized sequence of events. Sleep is actually made up of two separate and distinctly different states: ‘non-rapid eye movement sleep’ (NREM sleep) and ‘rapid eye movement sleep’ (REM sleep) or dream sleep. NREM and REM sleep are as different from one another as both are different from wakefulness.
NREM sleep is further divided into stages 1 – 3 based on the size and speed of the brain waves generated by the sleeper. Stage 3 of NREM sleep has the biggest and slowest brain waves. These big, slow waves are called delta waves and are often referred to as ‘slow-wave sleep’ or ‘delta sleep’.
During REM sleep you can watch the sleeper’s eyes move around beneath closed eyelids. Some scientists think that the eyes move in a pattern that relates to the visual images of the dream. We are almost completely paralyzed in REM sleep — only the heart, diaphragm, eye muscles and the smooth muscles (such as the muscles of the intestines and blood vessels) are spared from the paralysis of REM sleep.
Deep Sleep
Doctors have tried to determine what type of sleep is the deepest sleep. To do this, they measure how much noise or other alerting stimulation is required to awaken a sleeper from the various types of sleep.
It is always possible to awaken someone who is sleeping, as opposed to, say, someone who is in a coma. However, people in stage 3 sleep require the most stimulation to awaken. Therefore, this phase of sleep is often thought of as ‘deep sleep’. Also, large spurts of growth hormone are secreted during stage 3 NREM sleep. Consequently, these stages of sleep are thought to restore the body from the wear and tear of waking activity.
REM or Dream Sleep
People in REM sleep also tend to be quite difficult to awaken, but this finding is variable – sometimes even the slightest noise can awaken a person in REM sleep. Nevertheless, because it is often difficult to awaken a person from REM sleep, many doctors think also of REM sleep as a ‘deep’ phase of sleep.
There are many theories about the function of REM sleep and dreaming – ranging from ‘safe, socially acceptable, wish fulfillment’ to ‘consolidation of memories’ to ‘providing necessary stimulation to the entire nervous system during development’.
Circadian Rhythm or Our Biological Clock
Feeling sleepy is not the whole story of our sleep-wake cycle. Some timing mechanism is also involved. We know that every living thing composed of cells with a nucleus has a daily cycle of activity and inactivity (if not actual wakefulness and sleep). The timing and control of the wakefulness-sleep cycle depends on one or more biological clocks in our bodies.
These clocks are sensitive to light and have evolved over the ages in close approximation to the 24-hour light-dark cycle of our world. Thus, sleep seems to be an unavoidable part of human behavior.
The timing of sleep and wakefulness is controlled to a great extent by our exposure to the natural light and dark cycles of the earth. All humans tend to sleep in the dark and move about in the light. You can learn more at California Center for Sleep Disorders.
How much sleep do we need?
There is no ‘normal’ amount of sleep. The average amount of sleep for adults is 7 – 8 hours. But the range of nighttime sleep duration must be expanded to between 6 – 9 hours in order to include the large majority of people. Therefore, a few people feel fine with as little as 5 hours of sleep, while others require more than 10 hours to feel refreshed and alert throughout the day.
The amount of sleep you need is that optimum amount which allows you to function throughout the day without feeling drowsy when you sit quietly and try to pay attention to something.
Author Resource:-> I really hoped you enjoyed reading and you can learn more about California Center for Sleep Disorders . I have some more in depth information over at my site! —- Article From Articles For All
Sleep Related Items For Sale
[phpbay]sleep, 16, “26395”, “”[/phpbay]
What is a Good Night Sleep?
Fry and Laurie – A Good Night’s Sleep
Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie’s “A Good Night’s Sleep” sketch from 1986.
Can you buy a good night's sleep ?
news.consumerreports.org 11/4/11
New York is known as the city that never sleeps but there are four cities whose residents are even more sleep -deprived, according to a recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. This weekend is a good time …
Cherry juice can help get a good night's sleep | Health Freedom …
healthfreedoms.org 11/11/11
Before you reach for those prescription sleeping pills or go through another sleepless night you might want to try a a natural method of getting a good nights .
Verdi Laurent Journal – 10 Ways to Get a Good Night's Sleep
verdilaurent.livejournal.com 10/9/11
Do you often become forgetful lately? That may be due to the disruption of your sleep time. Lack of sleep can cause us to forget easily, difficulty concentrating, and susceptible to disease. Sleep may activate the immune system …
