In recent studies, scientists have found what makes you go to sleep. A Oxford University's Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, scientists have found that there are a handful of neurons in your brain that are more active when you sleep, and less active when you are fully rested. They found this information in a study on fruit flies. With this new information, scientist may be able to find new ways and medicines to cure the most common sleeping disorders. This information could also help scientists find out why people actually need to sleep in order to function and live. There are two mechanisms that the body uses to regulate your sleep pattern. They are your body clock and your homeostat. Your homeostat keeps track of how many hours you have been awake, and puts you to sleep when you need to. This shows when a person starts to nod off because of being tired.
I think this is a big step forward in science. There are a lot of people out there who have insomnia and many other sleeping problems, which can later lead to other problems. Sleep is essential to human life and when you can't sleep you can't function to your best ability. I think this study can relate to a lot of people, especially teenagers because a lot of teenagers don't get as much sleep as they need, and they tend to nod off in school or when they aren't entertained. I don't think most people get the amount of sleep that they need, and that affects the way they function during the day. People aren't able to do their work, school work, or other important things as well as they would if they got the right amount of sleep and this study shows it. A rested person tends to function better and is able to do more things than a non-rested person.
NOS Themes:
- Role of Curiosity and Motivation: Scientists want to cure sleeping disorders
- Science is Based on Evidence: They have found neurons in the brain that show how the brain goes to sleep and wakes you up.
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I find how sleep works to be a very interesting topic, and I found a some more information about those neurons and similar research here: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm
ReplyDeleteThis article says that the chemicals that signal the nerves are called "neurotransmitters" and they control whether we sleep or stay awake by how they act on the different groups of neurons, or nerve cells, in our brains. The article continues to say that "neurons in the brainstem, which connects the brain with the spinal cord, produce neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine that keep some parts of the brain active while we are awake. Other neurons at the base of the brain begin signaling when we fall asleep. These neurons appear to "switch off" the signals that keep us awake. Research also suggests that a chemical called adenosine builds up in our blood while we are awake and causes drowsiness. This chemical gradually breaks down while we sleep."
sleep is necessary for your body to function properly, this website goes over the effect of one nights worth of sleep deprivation of the common size. male.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131231122123.htm
ReplyDeleteI know for a fact a lot of teen suffer from these effects and some, like you mentioned, have disorders with prohibits them from sleeping. I hope this study continues to be fruitful.
Learning why the human body needs sleep will introduce many new theories and could advance the medical community a lot. These discoveries will help the people that suffer from sleep disorders if new medicine can be developed because of the discoveries. Sleep deprivation affects 47 million adults in the United States, so if this research can be used to help others that would be greatly improving society.
ReplyDeleteMore sleep deprivation facts here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/s/sleep_deprivation.htm