Sleep :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Sleep Sleep has plagued the existence of complex organisms since their evolution early on in the formation of Earth. Although there are various stages to the sleep cycle, essentially one falls into a temporary coma for a few hours each day. It seems totally irrational that evolution would dictate a system where one lets down their guard for hours every day, leaving one prone to a deadly attack. It seems a fairly logical assumption that sleep is exceedingly important to life if, in order to get some rest, animals in the wild irrationally risk their lives. Our bodies are telling us that they have run at full capacity for long enough, and therefore need to replenish valuable resources. In researching sleep, I found "replenish" to be a key word. During the day, one's body is constantly metabolizing ingested food and water, turning them into useful forms of energy. The body depletes a great deal of its energy stores (glycogen, mostly) and also experiences a large buildup of toxic byproducts (lactic acid, for example) during the day.1 Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to replenish these lost stores and get rid of the toxic chemicals coursing through your blood. Four hours seems to be the minimum amount of time one can sleep per night in order to coherently function during the day. A lack of sleep can have grave consequences, greatly caused by the inability of your immune system to work without rest. Sleep is a multistage cyclic process, involving five steps. Fast waves, called "Beta" waves are those which result from being awake. Once you become sleepy and close your eyes, your body relaxes and your brain waves greatly slow down, becoming "alpha" waves. After approximately five minutes in this relaxed state, your brain waves further slow down to become "theta" waves, transporting you into Stage I sleep. Stage one sleep generally does not last very long, and is accompanied by a lowered pulse rate and slower breathing. After a few minutes in Stage I sleep, Stage II sleep begins, marked by a further slowing of brain waves as well as bursts of electrical activity, called "spindles." These bursts manifest themselves as a sort of twitching. Sleep :: Biology Essays Research Papers Sleep Sleep has plagued the existence of complex organisms since their evolution early on in the formation of Earth. Although there are various stages to the sleep cycle, essentially one falls into a temporary coma for a few hours each day. It seems totally irrational that evolution would dictate a system where one lets down their guard for hours every day, leaving one prone to a deadly attack. It seems a fairly logical assumption that sleep is exceedingly important to life if, in order to get some rest, animals in the wild irrationally risk their lives. Our bodies are telling us that they have run at full capacity for long enough, and therefore need to replenish valuable resources. In researching sleep, I found "replenish" to be a key word. During the day, one's body is constantly metabolizing ingested food and water, turning them into useful forms of energy. The body depletes a great deal of its energy stores (glycogen, mostly) and also experiences a large buildup of toxic byproducts (lactic acid, for example) during the day.1 Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to replenish these lost stores and get rid of the toxic chemicals coursing through your blood. Four hours seems to be the minimum amount of time one can sleep per night in order to coherently function during the day. A lack of sleep can have grave consequences, greatly caused by the inability of your immune system to work without rest. Sleep is a multistage cyclic process, involving five steps. Fast waves, called "Beta" waves are those which result from being awake. Once you become sleepy and close your eyes, your body relaxes and your brain waves greatly slow down, becoming "alpha" waves. After approximately five minutes in this relaxed state, your brain waves further slow down to become "theta" waves, transporting you into Stage I sleep. Stage one sleep generally does not last very long, and is accompanied by a lowered pulse rate and slower breathing. After a few minutes in Stage I sleep, Stage II sleep begins, marked by a further slowing of brain waves as well as bursts of electrical activity, called "spindles." These bursts manifest themselves as a sort of twitching.