Study of the Sleeping Process

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main text
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

An individual’s health can be affected if he or she undertakes tasks for a long duration without having enough sleep. This does not only dampen one’s mood, but also accelerates the levels of stress which can be a danger to one’s health. The paper entails a comprehensive analysis of the sleeping process in addition to evaluating the factors that affect the sleeping process. By understanding the sleeping process, individuals will gain knowledge on the factors that contribute towards losing sleep. In this paper, solutions to sleeping problems experienced by various individuals are also suggested. Other aspects related to sleep that have often been ignored are also evaluated.

Main text

Sleep refers to a resting condition whereby an individual goes into a state of physical and mental reprieve. When one is asleep, he or she is relatively inactive and is not aware of his or her immediate surroundings. Sleep is considered to be a fractional disconnection from the world due to numerous external stimuli and their associated effectors get blocked from the senses. There are five stages of sleep as outlined below

Stage I
Stage II
Stage III
Stage IV
Rapid eye movement

The stages occur in a sequence from the first stage to the rapid eye movement sleep stage. Upon reaching the last stage, the cycle starts all over again at the first stage. It takes approximately ninety minutes for all the five stages to occur. This is referred to as realization of a full cycle. A night sleep’s first cycle is normally characterized with short rapid eye movement sleeps and protracted phases of deep sleep (Agnew 128). Later in the night, rapid eye movement increases resulting into a decline in deep sleep time.

Stage I is a changeover phase between slumber and wakefulness. An individual at this stage begins to roll his or her eyes. Theta waves which occur in stage one have low frequency. Interludes of alpha waves can also be identified. These waves are similar to the ones that occur when one is awake. Stage I lasts for few minutes after which it moves to the subsequent stage-stage II.

Stage II is characterized by gradual peaking of brain waves. This is technically called sleep spindles. The K-complexes adopt a pattern similar to sleep spindles. At this stage, the peaks significantly descend and finally pick up back. Stage II only occurs for a few minutes (Ogilvie 512).

Stage III (delta sleep). In this stage, the brain waves have a low frequency. Approximately fifty per cent of the brain waves in this stage are delta.

Stage IV has features similar to stage III. It is also reoffered to as the deep sleep stage or the delta stage. It is the deepest sleep stage which occurs prior to the rapid eye movement stage. Stages do turn around thereby necessitating advent of rapid eye movement sleep.

Stage V has beta waves with high frequency. It does occur when the brain is overly active. Beta waves can be realized when an individual is experiencing rapid eye movement stage sleep and when they are awake. This stage is characterized by regular muscular twitches and rapid eye movement. In addition, the heart beat increases at during this stage while breathing becomes shallow and rapid. Vivid dreaming occurs during the fifth stage.

Sleep is important for the normal functioning of our memory, stability of emotions, and mood. Studies show that there is some correlations between the amout of sleep one gets and the stability of their memory and mood. Sleep helps in organizing ones memory, enhance learning, and boosts concentration. Moderate sleep in five stage sleeping serves to regulate ones mood. Inadequate sleep impacts individual’s social interaction, emotions and decision making ability. Problem solving skills are also affected by lack of sleep, rendering one unable to comprehend the situation they are in. Memory and emotions are regulated by temporal lobe of the brain where as behavioral control and emotion is regulated by the frontal lobe of the brain.

Sleep is very essential for the proper functioning of our immune system. Lack of enough sleep renders our bodies susceptible to disease and proliferation of pathogens. Immune system is likely to become compromised due to lack of enough sleep. Neurons that are a major component of the nervous system are repaired when the body rests. Neurons are very central in proper functioning of the nervous system because they are the building blocks of the system. They execute both voluntary and involuntary commands to various parts of the body like the arm and even the digestive system. Immune system is normally boosted by proper nutrition, enough rest, and routine exercising.

The recommended number of hours that children should have on a daily basis depends on their age. Infants require approximately16 hours sleep while toddlers and babies are required to sleep for fourteen hours daily. Children who are relatively older should sleep for approximately 9 hours. Teenagers who do not normally have organized sleeping time should sleep for 9 hours on average. Adults should sleep for at least 7 hours in a day where as pregnant mothers should have 8 hours sleep.

Factors that affect sleep include work related problems, pain from injuries sustained in an accident, medical problems, family matters, drug prescriptions, dietary problems, working in shifts like day and night shifts, stress levels, anxiety prompted by certain undertakings and effect of light. There are people who can hardly sleep with the lights on. Other factors that affect sleep include too much noise, pollution and the quantity of water or liquids that are drunk (Carskadon 406).

Conclusion

Sleeping disorders can be necessitated by a number of factors. Some of these factors include lack of adequate sleep, stress and health related problems (Carskadon 500). Some of these disorders include insomnia, snoring, bedwetting, sleep walking and narcolepsy. Insomnia is not a disease but a symptom. Persons with insomnia find it very difficult to fall asleep and have satisfactory sleep. Quality and quantity of sleep feature prominently in realization of insomnia. Snoring obstructs the breathing process thus reducing reduces oxygen level in the blood. The resultant effect is that the individual does not have good sleep. Such people will always feel like sleeping during day time. Children who wet their beds tend to stay awake after they have wet their beds. This deprives them of enough sleep. Sleep walkers rarely go back to sleep after they have woken up (Dement 340). Narcolepsy is characterized by a feeling of drowsiness during day time, tossing in the bed and nightmares.

Works Cited

Agnew, William and Webb, Wilse. “Measurement of sleep onset by EEG criteria”. Am J EEG Technol, 12 (1972): 127-134.

Carskadon, Mary and Dement, William. “Effects of total sleep loss on sleep tendency”. Percet Mot Skills, 48 (1979):495-506.

Carskadon, Mary and Herz , Rachel. “Minimal olfactory perception during sleep: why odor Alarms will not work for humans”. Sleep, 27 (2004): 402-405.

Dement, William and Kleitman, Naomi. “The relation of eye movements during sleep to Dream activity: an objective method for the study of dreaming”. J Exp Psycho,l 53 (1957) :339-346.

Ogilvie, Robert and Wilkinson, Robert. “The detection of sleep onset: behavioral and Physiological convergence”. Psychophysiology, 21(1984):510-520.

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Study of the Sleeping Process

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