Sleep

Extracted Attributes

• Nature

  State of reduced mental and physical activity, altered consciousness, inhibited sensory activity, decreased muscle activity and interaction with the environment

• Regulation

  Internal circadian clock, Melatonin

• Key Functions

  Restoring immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems; maintaining mood, memory, and cognitive function; cleansing the brain of waste products (e.g., amyloid)

• Common Feature

  Dreams (involuntary sequences of images, ideas, emotions, sensations)

• Primary Stages

  Non-REM sleep, REM sleep

• Disrupting Factors

  Artificial light (especially blue light from digital devices)

• Physiological State

  Anabolic state

• Associated Disorders

  Insomnia, hypersomnia, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, sleepwalking, rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, bruxism, circadian rhythm sleep disorders

• Impact of Disruption

  Interferes with melatonin release, alters humanity's sleep patterns

• Distinction from Coma

  Involves active brain patterns, more reactive

• Benefits (Bryan Johnson)

  Enhanced willpower, improved mental health, mitigation of anxiety and depression, better performance, longevity

• REM Sleep Characteristic

  Virtual paralysis of the body

• Bryan Johnson's Description

  World's best performance-enhancing drug

• Distinction from Wakefulness

  Reduced ability to react to stimuli

• Specific Tactics (Bryan Johnson)

  Finish final meal four hours before sleep, avoid screens for an hour before bed, stop Caffeine intake around noon

• Health Intervention (Bryan Johnson)

  Optimizing for high-quality sleep is the most impactful

• Recommended Tactic for Improvement (Bryan Johnson)

  Lowering Resting Heart Rate before bed

Timeline

• Substantial ongoing research into the diverse purposes and mechanisms of sleep. (Source: Wikipedia)

  Ongoing

• Researchers found that cleansing the brain of waste products, including amyloid, may be a core purpose of sleep. (Source: Wikipedia)

  Ongoing

Sleep

Sleep is a state of reduced mental and physical activity in which consciousness is altered and certain sensory activity is inhibited. During sleep, there is a marked decrease in muscle activity and interactions with the surrounding environment. While sleep differs from wakefulness in terms of the ability to react to stimuli, it still involves active brain patterns, making it more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness. Sleep occurs in repeating periods, during which the body alternates between two distinct modes: rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and non-REM sleep. Although REM stands for "rapid eye movement", this mode of sleep has many other aspects, including virtual paralysis of the body. Dreams are a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. During sleep, most of the body's systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems; these are vital processes that maintain mood, memory, and cognitive function, and play a large role in the function of the endocrine and immune systems. The internal circadian clock promotes sleep daily at night, when it is dark. The diverse purposes and mechanisms of sleep are the subject of substantial ongoing research. Sleep is a highly conserved behavior across animal evolution, likely going back hundreds of millions of years, and originating as a means for the brain to cleanse itself of waste products. In a major breakthrough, researchers have found that cleansing, including the removal of amyloid, may be a core purpose of sleep. Humans may suffer from various sleep disorders, including dyssomnias, such as insomnia, hypersomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea; parasomnias, such as sleepwalking and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder; bruxism; and circadian rhythm sleep disorders. The use of artificial light has substantially altered humanity's sleep patterns. Common sources of artificial light include outdoor lighting and the screens of digital devices such as smartphones and televisions, which emit large amounts of blue light, a form of light typically associated with daytime. This disrupts the release of the hormone melatonin needed to regulate the sleep cycle.

Web Search Results

• Science of Sleep: What is Sleep? - Division of Sleep Medicine

  Sleep is a period of reduced activity. Sleep is associated with a typical posture, such as lying down with eyes closed in humans. Sleep results in a decreased responsiveness to external stimuli. Sleep is a state that is relatively easy to reverse (this distinguishes sleep from other states of reduced consciousness, such as hibernation and coma). [...] Sleep is a state that is characterized by changes in brain wave activity, breathing, heart rate, body temperature, and other physiological functions. Depending on the sleep stage, different physiological functions may be more active and variable (for example, during REM sleep), or less active and more stable (for example, during NREM. The reasons why we dream and the meaning of our dreams, despite scientific investigations, still largely remain a mystery. #### What Is Sleep? [...] Sleep was once considered an inactive, or passive, state in which both the body and the brain "turned off" to rest and recuperate from the day's waking activities. Scientists have since found that the brain goes through characteristic patterns of activity throughout each period of sleep, and that it is sometimes more active when we're asleep than when we're awake.

• About Sleep - Health - NICHD

  Sleep is a complex biological process that helps people process new information, stay healthy, and re-energize. Periods of sleep and wakefulness are part of how our bodies function. [...] Each sleep phase and stage is important to ensure that the mind and body are completely rested. Certain stages help you feel rested and energetic the next day, while other stages help you learn information and form memories.1,2 Sleep is important in the function of your body’s other systems, such as your metabolism and immune system. Sleep may also help your body clear toxins from your brain that build up while you were awake.1 [...] Health.Sleep is important for good health.2Research in adults has shown that lack of sleep or lack of quality sleep increases a person’s risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and other medical conditions.2Your environment can affect the quality of your sleep by causing disturbances that prevent you from sleeping through the night.2 Also, during sleep the body produces hormones that help the body grow and, throughout life, build muscle, fight illnesses, and repair damage to the

• Sleep: What It Is, Why It's Important, Stages, REM & NREM

  Sleep is a normal body process that allows your body and brain to rest. At first glance, sleep is deceptively simple. For most people, it’s just a matter of getting comfortable, closing your eyes and drifting into slumber. But despite how simple it seems, sleep is one of the most complex and mysterious body processes known to science. Advertisement [...] Sleep is a natural process that your body uses to rest and repair itself. While it might seem as simple as closing your eyes and nodding off, sleep is anything but simple. In fact, modern medicine’s understanding of sleep, what it does and how it works is just getting off the ground. [...] Abu Dhabi|Canada|Florida|London|Nevada|Ohio| Home/ Health Library/ Body Systems & Organs/ Sleep AdvertisementAdvertisement # Sleep You spend about one-third of your life sleeping, but it’s still something many struggle with. Researchers and experts also struggle with it because of the mysteries surrounding how and why we sleep and what happens to us while we do. Fortunately, advances in medical science are helping people find ways to get the sleep they need. Advertisement

• Sleep is essential to health - Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

  Sleep is vital for health and well-being in children, adolescents, and adults.1–3 Healthy sleep is important for cognitive functioning, mood, mental health, and cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and metabolic health.4 Adequate quantity and quality of sleep also play a role in reducing the risk of accidents and injuries caused by sleepiness and fatigue, including workplace accidents and motor vehicle crashes.5–7 Short-term sleep deprivation, long-term sleep restriction, circadian misalignment, [...] Sleep is a multidisciplinary field, as board-certified sleep medicine physicians have diverse backgrounds such as internal medicine (including pulmonology and critical care medicine), neurology, psychiatry, pediatrics, otolaryngology, family medicine, and anesthesiology. However, the relevance of sleep is not limited to these specialties. Because sleep is foundational to health and is closely intertwined with other diseases—including obesity, cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and

• Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep

  Sleep is an important part of your daily routine—you spend about one-third of your time doing it. Quality sleep—and getting enough of it at the right times—is as essential to survival as food and water. Without sleep, you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories. Lack of sleep makes it harder to concentrate and respond quickly. [...] Sleep is a complex and dynamic process that affects how you function in ways scientists are now beginning to understand. This webpage describes how your need for sleep is regulated and what happens in the brain during sleep. Expand accordion content Anatomy of Sleep Several structures within the brain are involved with sleep. Image Image 8: Brain diagram displaying the ten structures within the brain are involved with sleep. [...] Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells (neurons) communicate with each other. In fact, your brain and body stay remarkably active while you sleep. Recent findings suggest that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake.

• Instance Of

  Q4167410

Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but more reactive than a coma or disorders of consciousness, with sleep displaying different, active brain patterns. Sleep occurs in repeating periods, in which the body alternates between two distinct modes: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. Although REM stands for "rapid eye movement", this mode of sleep has many other aspects, including virtual paralysis of the body. A well-known feature of sleep is the dream, an experience typically recounted in narrative form, which resembles waking life while in progress, but which usually can later be distinguished as fantasy. During sleep, most of the body's systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems; these are vital processes that maintain mood, memory, and cognitive function, and play a large role in the function of the endocrine and immune systems. The internal circadian clock promotes sleep daily at night. The diverse purposes and mechanisms of sleep are the subject of substantial ongoing research. Sleep is a highly conserved behavior across animal evolution. Humans may suffer from various sleep disorders, including dyssomnias such as insomnia, hypersomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea; parasomnias such as sleepwalking and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder; bruxism; and circadian rhythm sleep disorders. The use of artificial light has substantially altered humanity's sleep patterns. Common sources of artificial light include the screens of electronic devices such as smartphones and televisions, which emit large amounts of blue light, a form of light typically associated with daytime. This disrupts the release of the hormone melatonin needed to regulate the sleep-cycle.