SLEEP

KALPANA.K
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
 SLEEP
• A physical and mental resting state in which
a person becomes relatively inactive and
unaware of the environment.
• Sleep is a partial detachment from the world,
where most external stimuli are blocked from
the senses.
• So, sleep is naturally recurring state of mind
and body, characterized by altered consciousness,
relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced
muscle activity and inhibition of nearly all
voluntary muscles during rapid eye movement
(REM) sleep, and reduced interactions with
surrounding.
• Quality sleep – and getting enough of it at the
right times -- is as essential to survival as food
and water
• There are four stages of sleep:
 Non-REM (NREM) sleep (Stages 1,
2, 3 &4)
 REM sleep.
• Periods of wakefulness occur and
before
intermittently throughout the various sleep
stages or as one shifts sleeping
position.
 NREM
Stage 1 55%
• The lightest stage of NREM sleep.
• Defined by the presence of slow eye %
movements, this drowsy sleep stage can be
easily disrupted causing awakenings or
arousals.
• Muscle tone throughout the body relaxes and
brain wave activity begins to slow from that of
wake.
• People may experience hypnic jerks or abrupt
muscle spasms and may even experience
sensation of falling while drifting in and out of
stage 1.
 50%
Stage 2
• The first actual stage of defined NREM sleep.
• Awakenings or arousals do not occur as easily as in Stage 1
sleep and the slow moving eye rolls discontinue.
• Brain waves continue to slow with specific bursts of rapid
activity known as sleep spindles intermixed with sleep
structures known as K complexes.
• Both sleep spindles and K complexes are thought to serve as
protection for the brain from awakening from sleep.
• Body temperature begins to decrease and heart rate
begins to slow.
 Stage 3 and 4 Delta Sleep 10-20%
• Known as deep NREM sleep.
• These are deep sleep stages, with stage 4 being more intense
than stage 3. These stages are known as slow-wave, or delta,
sleep.
• The most restorative stage of sleep, stage 3 consists of delta
waves or slow waves. Also brain produces extremely slow
waves with occasional bursts of faster brain wave activity
• Awakenings or arousals are rare and often it is difficult to
awaken someone in Stage 3 sleep.
• Parasomnias sleep
(sleepwalking,
or somniloquy and night terrors) occur talking
during the
deepest stage of sleep.
• Stage 4, our brains produce extremely slow waves almost
exclusively. These stages are known as “Deep Sleep” or
“Delta Sleep”.
• It's most difficult to wake up during this stage.
• During these stages our bodies emit growth hormones and
work on repairing physical damage done during the day
 REM 20%

• Known as rapid eye movement, is most commonly known

as the dreaming stage.
• First occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep.
• Eye movements are rapid, moving from side to side and
brain waves are more active than in Stages 2 & 3 of sleep.
• Awakenings and arousals can occur more easily in REM;
being woken during a REM period can leave one feeling
groggy or overly sleepy.
• Each REM stage can last up to an hour. An average adult
has five to six REM cycles each night. During this final
phase of sleep, your brain becomes more active.
• The period of REM sleep is marked by extensive
physiological changes. These include:
Accelerated respiration
Increased brain activity
Eye movement
Muscle relaxation
• The first period of REM typically lasts 10
minutes, with each recurring REM stage
lengthening, and the final one lasting an hour.
SLEEP
CYCLE
• A person would begin a sleep cycle every 90-
120 minutes resulting in four to five cycles per
sleep time, or hours spent asleep.
• A sleep cycle progress through the stages of
non-REM sleep from light to deep sleep, then
reverse back from deep sleep to light sleep,
ending with time in REM sleep before starting
over in light sleep again.
The first sleep cycle takes about 90 minutes.
After that, average between 100 to 120
minutes.

Typically, an individual will go through four to

five sleep cycles a night.
NREM
1
NREM
2
NREM 3

NREM
4

NREM
3

NREM
2

REM

BRIEF
AWAKENING
 SLEEP-WAKE

REGULATIO
N
THE
Maintains PROCESS TWO- PROCESS Promotes
wakefulnes C PROCESS S sleep
s MODEL
 Sleep-Generating Systems in
the Brainstem

• These neurons are found in the preoptic

area of the hypothalamus.

•
 Wake-Generating Systems in
the Brainstem
Wakefulness is generated by an ascending arousal
system from the brainstem that activates forebrain
structures to maintain wakefulness.
• Excitatory norepinephrine arising from the locus
ceruleus (LC)
• Serotonin from the midline raphe nuclei
• Histamine from the tuberomammillary nucleus
• Dopamine from the ventral periacqueductal
gray
matter
• Acetylcholine from the pedunculopontine
tegmentum, and the laterodorsal tegmentum of the
pons
 Circadian
THE 24-HOUR CLOCK rhythms refer,
collectively, to
the daily
rhythms in
physiology and
behavior.
Regulate body
temperature,
heart rate

Modulate
Control the physical
sleep- CIRCADIAN activity and
wake RHYTHMS food
cycle consumption

Regulate
muscle tone,
and hormone
secretion