The Brain and Sleep

The Brain and Sleep

Sleep is when the brain is able to restore itself and recover from our daily activities. If one does not receive enough sleep then there can be detrimental effects on our overall health. Not only does sleep re-energize our bodies but sleep also serves to increase our mental health as well.

While it was once thought that our brains were not active during sleep, which is indeed false. While we are both sleeping and awake “neurotransmitters act on different groups of neurons in the brain” (National Institute of Neurological Disorders 2007). Neurons in the brainstem produce the neurotransmitters serotonin and noepinephrine that keeps the brain active while we are awake during the day. On the opposite side, there are neurons at the base of the brain that signal when we should be asleep. This can be contributed to a breakdown of the chemical adenosine (National Institute of Neurological Disorders).

There are many stages of sleep going from stage 1 to stage 4 and ending in REM sleep. It is in REM sleep that we have our dreams. REM sleep begins with “signals from the pons travel to the thalamus which then relays to the cerebral cortex” which is the outer layer of the brain associated with learning, thinking and organizing information (NIND). The pons will also send signals to the spinal cord to shut off neurons that will temporarily paralyze the limbs. Without this temporary parallelization of the limbs then people will act out their dreams or sleep walk. It is also during REM sleep that the specific brain regions are stimulated for learning.

Sleep also produces circadian rhythms which affect the suprachiasmatic nucleus located in the hypothalamus. Signals from the SCN travel throughout the brain including the pineal gland which produces melatonin. Melatonin increases after it becomes dark and makes people feel drowsy, leading people to fall asleep, thus restoring the body to a re-energized state. It is when the body does not...