Sleep Restoration Theory

Veronique Greenwood’s article, “Why Do We Need to Sleep?” was written in early January for The Atlantic. The studies for the article were located in Tsukuba, Japan. In Tsukuba, there is a new institution, the International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine. The institution was built for researchers to be able to do more in depth studies of sleep. The benefits of sleep are still mysterious, however, there is still hope in uncovering these sleepy mysteries. The man behind the institution is the director, Masashi Yanagisawa; who created it to learn more about the basic biology of sleep, rather than the causes and treatment of sleep problems. If there is someone or thing that is awake for a long period of time they will eventually have a

Considering the restoration model, the concept explains, “Sleep recharges our run-down bodies and allows us to recover from physical and mental fatigue” (187). Considering this, days that I work especially hard in the classroom and in the gym I will follow up with a good night’s rest. In addition, because I am bombarded with information every day, from studying and homework assignments, I will be sure to create my sleep schedule while considering the memory consolidation theory, which states that during sleep the brain begins a gradual process by transferring information into the long-term memory (188). In light of these two reasons, my sleep and circadian rhythm management becomes even more essential. Experiencing this better sleep, my body and mind will refresh and my ability to pay attention and encode material in class will

Sleep is important for our health and well-being. Extensive research has been done on the effects of sleep. These studies consistently show that sleep plays a vital role in promoting physical health, longevity, and emotional well-being. This explains why, after a good night's sleep, we feel better, our thoughts are clearer, and our emotions are less fragile. Without adequate sleep our judgment, mood, and ability to learn and retain information are weakened.

Foster states, “Essentially, all the stuff we've burned up during the day, we restore, we replace, we rebuild during the night.” Foster also explains that “Within the brain, a whole raft of genes have been shown to be turned on only during sleep, and those genes are associated with restoration and metabolic pathways.” I agree with Foster’s first explanation of why we sleep. Sleep helps repair and renew tissue and nerve cells, the neutralization of neurotoxins, and the restoration of normal levels of chemicals throughout our bodies. Sleep can also heal the body physically. For example, it can heal wounds, strengthen the immune system, and increase growth hormone levels in the

Sleep is undoubtedly one of the most essential requirements for the human body to function properly. It plays a very important role in ensuring the wellness of the human body both physically as well as mentally. In fact, the importance of sleep is clear from the fact that it helps you in maintaining a good lifestyle throughout our entire lifetime. Not only does it help maintain our physical and mental health; rather it also helps in maintaining a decent and healthy lifestyle along with ensuring safety from a number of fatal diseases. It is usually said that the mood in which you wake up is largely dependent on the type of sleep you have been in. This in itself is a big proof of the importance of sleep in our lives. While sleeping, our body finally gets its share of rest and it also gets ample time in rejuvenating from all the wear and tear that it went through during the entire day. Not only this, the body is in its own working condition when we are sleeping as this is the time when it supports the healthy functioning of the brain as well as physical attributes of our body.

Sleep is “a normal state of decreased consciousness and lowered metabolism during which the body rests”; a deprivation of this restoration can result in various health issues ("Sleep and Sleep Disorders”). During sleep, the body restores damaged cells and re-energizes the body. However, this restoration takes multiple hours to fully complete. Although many people can function without proper amounts of sleep, the average adult needs five to six hours of sleep a night to fully recuperate from the previous day’s toll on the body. Surpassing seventeen hours of being awake can be as dangerous as intoxication (Improving Sleep).

The function of sleep is to promote restoration. The human body accumulates damages due to impact strain and from reactive oxygen species that damage cells and buildup during times of activity (Sleep-wake cycle, 2006). During sleep, most of the body's systems are in an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems (Sleep-wake cycle, 2006). Most of the body has restorative processes that can supplement the restorative processes that happen during sleep for long periods of time, but the brain is more reliant on regular intervals of sleep for restoration as quiescent restoration is insufficient (Sleep-wake cycle, 2006). When the body does not get enough sleep, most body functions work at diminished capacity. (Brain Basics, 2017). Sleep deprivation is defined as obtaining inadequate sleep to support adequate daytime alertness (Kryger, Roth, & Dement, 2005). The pathological effects of sleep deprivation can lead to undesirable physiologic

Sleep is one of the unavoidable daily-living activities and it is one of the most important factors contributing to a person’s health. A quality sleep is essential for the physical, cognitive and psychological well-being of a person. Learning, memory processing and maintenance of the brain are among the most important functions of sleep. In addition to maintaining the brain, sleep has important roles in controlling the

Have you ever wondered why do we sleep ? Most people confuse it as a time period where we shut down to catch up on energy. When in reality sleeping means an active period in which a lot of restoration, strengthening, and important processing occurs. The power of sleep is so huge, it's quality directly affects the quality of your waking life. Affecting your mental sharpness, productivity, emotional balance, creativity, and your weight. One of the vital roles of sleep is to help us solidify and consolidate memories. While we are up during the day our brains take in an incredible amount of information. These facts and experiences first need to be processed and stored ; many of these steps happen while we sleep. Overnight a process called, consolation, takes place where pieces of information are transferred from more tentative, short-term memory to stronger, long-term memory. Researchers have shown that after we sleep we tend to retain information and perform better on memory tasks.

 A most popular theory on why we sleep is the restorative theory of sleep:

Sleep is a beautiful thing, but people do not get enough of it. It is a time for the body to rejuvenate and process the events of the day. Sleeping is something that we seek out. Getting the recommended amount of sleep allows our body to function properly the next day. Without it, there could be detrimental consequences. The National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke says that without sleep, neurons could be “polluted with byproducts”. In severe cases, people who get very little sleep often experience mood swings, hallucinations and cells do not continue to reproduce.

The average human spends about 25 years of their life sleeping. That is equal to one-third of a person’s life. So if sleep is vital and common among every single human, what do you know about it? What happens when we sleep (Attention Grabber)? Before the 1950s, scientists believed that the brain would just “shut off” when we would go to sleep. It wasn’t until the discovery of the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) state that scientists really looked into what happens in the brain while we are asleep. Studies have found that we go through a cycle of stages during sleep, and it is important for our health (Orientation to Topic). Today, I am going to inform you about what really happens when we sleep, and some issues that are found among it (Specific Purpose). In order to really understand this worldwide commonality, you need to know some background on sleep, the stages in the cycle, and some common disorders (Central Idea). I have taken a year long psychology course that went into depth on sleep psychology, and I have done extensive research on the topic to better grasp it (Statement of Credibility). I want to inform you on sleep so you can understand what happens when you close your eyes every night, and so you can detect any irregularities in your sleep pattern (Statement of Goodwill). First, I will give a background of why and how we know to sleep, then I will explain the stages in the sleep cycle, and finally I will tell you about some common disorders (Preview).

“Why did you sleep in so late?” A question everyone has been asked and then abruptly replied with “I guess I was just tired.” But why were you tired? Well to be completely honest we don’t know for sure. But we do have theories on why we may sleep, including the: Inactivity Theory, Energy Conservation Theory, Restorative Theories, and the Brain Plasticity Theory. These theories are still very controversial for most scientists. Even though we don't know why, we do know it’s necessary to survive since its reflexive and it enables us able to function.

“Why do we sleep?” is a very popular questions that many humans ask today. Sleep is very sufficient to the human body. If it was not important, then God would not have designed for a third of our life to be occupied by sleep. During this time period, many people are interested to know what is a good amount of sleep and what are the harmful effects to not getting enough sleep.

Biologists, Psychologists and Therapists have been trying to inaugurate a treatment for insomnia which has a negative effect on sleep. Deep sleep aids a “major biological restorative function” as it renews our physical energy. The issue is that insomniacs don’t sleep enough and that means they lack physical energy. (2)