How Sleep Works: Understanding the Science of Sleep | Sleep Foundation
Curated from: sleepfoundation.org
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Why We Sleep
While even experts haven’t reached a consensus explanation for why we sleep, numerous indicators support the view that it serves an essential biological function.
In adults, a lack of sleep has been associated with a wide range of negative health consequences including cardiovascular problems, a weakened immune system, higher risk of obesity and type II diabetes, impaired thinking and memory, and mental health problems like depression and anxiety.
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Sleep Stages
- Stage 1. Your breathing slows as well as your heartbeat, eye movement, and brain wave activity. Your muscles begin to relax.
- Stage 2. Your breathing, heartbeat, and brain wave activity continue to slow. Eye movements stop.
- Stage 3. You’re now in deep, restorative sleep.
Stage 4. The most intense dreaming takes place during REM sleep.
The first three stages of sleep fall into the category of non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. The fourth stage is REM sleep.
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How The Body Regulates Sleep
The body regulates sleep with two key drivers:
- Sleep-wake homeostasis. The longer you’re awake, the more you feel a need to sleep. This is because of the homeostatic sleep drive, the body’s self-regulating system in which pressure to sleep builds up based on how long you’ve been awake.
- The circadian alerting system. Light exposure is the biggest influence on circadian rhythms, encouraging wakefulness during the day and sleepiness at night.
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