Effects of Sleep Deprivation Assignment

Effects of Sleep Deprivation Assignment

Effects of Sleep Deprivation Assignment

Sleep, Dreaming, and Circadian Rhythms How Much Do You Need to Sleep?

14.1 Stages of Sleep

14.2 Why Do We Sleep, and Why Do We Sleep When We Do?

14.3 Effects of Sleep Deprivation

14.4 Circadian Sleep Cycles

14.5 Four Areas of the Brain Involved in Sleep

14.6 Drugs That Affect Sleep

14.7 Sleep Disorders

14.8 Effects of Long-Term Sleep Reduction

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Biopsychology, Eighth Edition, by John P.J. Pinel. Published by Allyn & Bacon. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Even though she is now retired she is still busy in the community, helping sick friends whenever requested. She is an active painter and . . . writer. Although she becomes tired physically, when she needs to sit down to rest her legs, she does not ever report feeling sleepy. During the night she sits on her bed . . . reading, writing, crocheting or painting. At about 2:00 A.M. she falls asleep without any preceding drowsiness often while still holding a book in her hands. When she wakes about an hour later, she feels as wide awake as ever. . . .

We invited her along to the laboratory. She came willingly but on the first evening we hit our first snag. She announced that she did not sleep at all if she had interesting things to do, and by her reckoning a visit to a university sleep laboratory counted as very interesting. Moreover, for the first time in years, she had someone to talk to for the whole of the night. So we talked. Effects of Sleep Deprivation Assignment.

In the morning we broke into shifts so that some could sleep while at least one person stayed with her and entertained her during the next day. The second night was a repeat performance of the first night. . . .

In the end we prevailed upon her to allow us to apply EEG electrodes and to leave her sitting comfortably on the bed in the bedroom. She had promised that she would co-operate by not resisting sleep although she claimed not to be especially tired. . . . At approximately 1:30 A.M., the EEG record showed the first signs of sleep even though . . . she was still sitting with the book in her hands. . . .

The only substantial difference between her sleep and what we might have expected. . . was that it was of short duration. . . . [After 99 minutes], she had no further inter- est in sleep and asked to . . . join our company again.

(“The Case of the Woman Who Wouldn’t Sleep,” from The Sleep Instinct by R. Meddis. Copyright © 1977, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, pp. 42–44. Reprinted by permission of the Taylor & Francis Group.)

14.1 Stages of Sleep

Many changes occur in the body during sleep. This section introduces you to the major ones.

Three Standard Psychophysiological Measures of Sleep There are major changes in the human EEG during the course of a night’s sleep. Although the EEG waves that ac- company sleep are generally high-voltage and slow, there are periods throughout the night that are dominated by low- voltage, fast waves similar to those in nonsleeping individuals. In the 1950s, it was discovered that rapid eye movements (REMs) occur under the closed eyelids of sleepers during these periods of low-voltage, fast EEG activity. And in 1962,

Most of us have a fondness for eating and sex—the two highly esteemed motivated behaviors discussed in Chapter 12 and 13. But the amount of time devoted to these behaviors by even the most amorous gourmands pales in comparison to the amount of time spent sleeping: Most of us will sleep for well over 175,000 hours in our lifetimes. This extraordinary commitment of time implies that sleep fulfills a critical biological function. But what is it? And what about dreaming: Why do we spend so much time dreaming? And why do we tend to get sleepy at about the same time every day? Answers to these questions await you in this chapter.

Almost every time I lecture about sleep, somebody asks “How much sleep do we need?” Each time, I provide the same unsatisfying answer: I explain that there are two fundamentally different answers to this question, but neither has emerged a clear winner. Effects of Sleep Deprivation Assignment.

One answer stresses the presumed health-promoting and recuperative powers of sleep and suggests that people need as much sleep as they can comfortably get—the usual prescription being at least 8 hours per night. The other answer is that many of us sleep more than we need to and are consequently sleeping part of our life away. Just think how your life could change if you slept 5 hours per night instead of 8. You would have an extra 21 waking hours each week, a mind-boggling 10,952 hours each decade.

As I prepared to write this chapter, I began to think of the personal implications of the idea that we get more sleep than we need. That is when I decided to do something a bit unconventional. I am going to participate in a sleep-reduction experiment—by trying to get no more than 5 hours of sleep per night—11:00 P.M. to 4:00 A.M.— until this chapter is written. As I begin, I am excited by the prospect of having more time to write, but a little worried that this extra time might cost me too dearly.

It is now the next day—4:50 Saturday morning to be exact—and I am just sitting down to write. There was a party last night, and I didn’t make it to bed by 11:00; but considering that I slept for only 3 hours and 35 minutes, I feel quite good. I wonder what I will feel like later in the day. In any case, I will report my experiences to you at the end of the chapter.

The following case study challenges several common beliefs about sleep. Ponder its implications before proceeding to the body of the chapter.

The Case of the Woman Who Wouldn’t Sleep Miss M . . . is a busy lady who finds her ration of twenty- three hours of wakefulness still insufficient for her needs.

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Thinking Creatively Thinking Creatively

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Biopsychology, Eighth Edition, by John P.J. Pinel. Published by Allyn & Bacon. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Berger and Oswald discovered that there is also a loss of electromyographic activity in the neck muscles during these same sleep periods. Subsequently, the electroencephalo- gram (EEG), the electrooculogram (EOG), and the neck electromyogram (EMG) became the three standard psychophysiological bases for defining stages of sleep.

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Figure 14.1 depicts a volunteer participating in a sleep experiment. A participant’s first night of sleep in a laboratory is often fitful. That’s why the usual practice is to have each participant sleep several nights in the laboratory before commencing a sleep study. The disturbance of sleep observed during the first night in a sleep laboratory is called the first-night phenomenon. It is well known to graders of introductory psychology examinations because of the creative definitions of it that are offered by students who forget that it is a sleep-related, rather than a sex-related, phenomenon.

Four Stages of Sleep EEG There are four stages of sleep EEG: stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, and stage 4. Examples of these are presented in Figure 14.2. Effects of Sleep Deprivation Assignment.

After the eyes are shut and a person prepares to go to sleep, alpha waves—waxing and waning bursts of 8- to 12-Hz EEG waves—begin to punctuate the low-voltage, high-frequency waves of alert wakefulness. Then, as the person falls asleep, there is a sudden transition to a period of stage 1 sleep EEG. The stage 1 sleep EEG is a low-voltage, high- frequency signal that is similar to, but slower than, that of alert wakefulness.

There is a gradual increase in EEG voltage and a decrease in EEG frequency as the person progresses from stage 1 sleep through stages 2, 3, and 4. Accordingly, the stage 2 sleep EEG has a slightly