Sleep - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sleep is a naturally recurring state of mind characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited
sensory activity, inhibition of nearly all voluntary muscles, and reduced interactions with surroundings.[1] It
is distinguished from wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but is more easily reversed than the
state of hibernation or of being comatose. Mammalian sleep occurs in repeating periods, in which the body
alternates between two highly distinct modes known as non-REM and REM sleep. REM stands for "rapid eye
movement" but involves many other aspects including virtual paralysis of the body.
During sleep, most systems in an animal are in an anabolic state, building up the immune, nervous, skeletal, and
muscular systems. Sleep in non-human animals is observed in mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish,
and, in some form, in insects and even in simpler animals such as nematodes. The internal circadian clock
promotes sleep daily at night in diurnal species (such as humans) and in the day in nocturnal organisms (such as
rodents). However, sleep patterns vary widely among animals and among different individual humans.
Industrialization and artificial light have substantially altered human sleep habits in the last 100 years.[2]
The diverse purposes and mechanisms of sleep are the subject of substantial ongoing research.[3] Sleep seems to
assist animals with improvements in the body and mind. A well-known feature of sleep in humans 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. Sleep is sometimes confused with unconsciousness, but is quite
different in terms of thought process.
Humans may suffer from a number of sleep disorders. These include dyssomnias (such as insomnia,
hypersomnia, and sleep apnea), parasomnias (such as sleepwalking and REM behavior disorder), bruxism, and
the circadian rhythm sleep disorders.

In mammals and birds, sleep is divided into two broad types: rapid eye movement (REM sleep) and
non-rapid eye movement (NREM or non-REM sleep). Each type has a distinct set of physiological and
neurological features associated with it. REM sleep is associated with dreaming, desynchronized and faster brain
waves, loss of muscle tone,[4] and suspension of homeostasis. REM and non-REM sleep are so different that
physiologists classify them as distinct behavioral states. In this view, REM, non-REM, and waking represent the
three major modes of consciousness, neural activity, and physiological regulation.[5] According to the Hobson &
McCarley activation-synthesis hypothesis, proposed in 19751977, the alternation between REM and non-REM
can be explained in terms of cycling, reciprocally influential neurotransmitter systems.[6]
Especially during non-REM sleep, the brain uses significantly less energy during sleep than it does in waking. In
areas with reduced activity, the brain restores its supply of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule used for
short-term storage and transport of energy.[7] (Since in quiet waking the brain is responsible for 20% of the
body's energy use, this reduction has an independently noticeable impact on overall energy consumption.)[8]
During slow-wave sleep, humans secrete bursts of growth hormone. All sleep, even during the day, is associated
with secretion of prolactin.[9]
Sleep increases an organism's sensory threshold. In other words, a sleeping creature perceives fewer stimuli.

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