Peter Johnson Mrs. Camargo 3/25/2014 The Frontier of Sleep We sleep. A lot.

It is estimated that thirty two years of our lives are consumed by slumber. While this may excite, frustrate, or bore you senseless, one fact remains: we need it. Sleep is an essential part to a mammals well being. Which raises the question, Why do we need it? We have discovered the need for eating food. For keeping ourselves warm. It would seem that we would have found the reason for sleep. Yet, it isnt very clear. There are many leading theories as to why, but three remain prominent in the mapping of the frontier known as sleep. These theories prove to be valuable reasons as to why sleep is important, and what the lack of it does to the modern day American. However, sleep is largely unmapped, but several big names have various theories about it. Russell Foster, a circadian neurologist, is one such person who compares various ideas. In one of his lectures he compares three such hypothesis. Firstly, Foster talks about the restoration theory, which works on a cellular level. The next is the conservation theory, one that is used to save energy throughout the night. Lastly, Russell speaks about his favorite theory: the memory consolidation theory. This idea revolves around how we as a species need sleep to sort out our memories to help our learning capabilities. While sleep may be mostly unknown, there are still many medical journals documenting different sleep scenarios. From this, we can theorize that sleep serves some sort of purpose including memory consolidation. Perhaps this is to serve an evolutionary purpose to improve memory, and the only way to compose and process it is to do it while inactive. Various studies support his claim. One such study is by MIT. Their main focus was on a mouse called Buddy.

The researchers installed a probe inside the head of the mouse to measure brain waves during sleep. What they discovered is that during sleep, the brain doesnt shut down. In fact, certain areas are actually more active during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. This is contrary to the theory that the brain shuts down during sleep. From this, we can theorize that memory consolidation is very real. The areas that are active during sleep are also the ones that involve memory. There is another study from the International Journal of Mental Health in the Republic of China that also compliments this theory. It takes most of its data from willing subjects in a sleep study that observes REM and the collaboration of short term and long term memory. It appears that according to this study, the lack of REM sleep results in direct short term and long term memory loss. Yet another study from the Association for Psychological Science adds to this theory. It give evidence to the idea that memory is severely affected by lack of sleep. The less hours of sleep, the more memory loss is noticeable. Conservation of energy is a widely accepted theory of sleep. The Royal Society published a study that evaluates the trade-off between sleep, memory, and energy conservation. While this article doesnt directly support a proposed theory, it does shed light into how sleep could, in addition to other benefits, help with energy conservation. It states that energy management and conservation are paramount to survival. During sleep, the body temperature can drop up to three degrees celsius. This greatly reduces the need for thermoregulation. In fact, thermoregulation is almost entirely eliminated during REM sleep. Due to the colder body temperature, the body does not need to spend needless energy. Lastly, there is the theory of restoration. The restoration theory states that in order to rejuvenate the cells that have been damaged throughout daily use, there has to be someway of healing that sleep provides. In a recent TEDtalks lecture, Russell Foster elaborates on what he

thinks the theory of restoration entails. He states that just as Aristotle theorized that our bodies rejuvenate during sleep, scientists have studied a similar behavior on the cellular level in mammals. This is due to the fact that certain genes within our cells only activate according to our biological clock, which is located in the hippocampus, directly above the brainstem. This essentially means that these genes only work during our sleep, and that they help aid our rejuvenative process. All of these theories have decent evidence supporting them, and help prove a point about sleep. It is an invaluable part of our lives. In fact, Foster believes that it is possible that all of these theories may even compliment each other, which would go to show that sleep is much more important than feeling forgetful or tired. This is the crux of sleeping issues in modern day America. Due to the rise of televisions, computers, and video games being played in the afternoon and evening, western society, as Foster puts it, has invaded the night. We have effectively confused our hippocampus into thinking that the night will come at a later time, giving us less sleep. Thousands of issues can arise due to our invasion. Just to provide the scope of the issue, it is theorized that thirty one percent of drivers in america have, at some point, micro slept in their own cars while driving. This is not some minor issue. It can affect people on a dangerous level. Another example can be observed by looking at the average time the american teen gets sleep. Nine hours is recommended, yet only an average of five is normal. This results in short term memory loss, and is, quite possibly, a reason for the rising rates of ADD and ADHD in America. Though morbid, even tragic historical accidents can be traced back to the lack of sleep. Chernobyl and the Challenger explosions are just two of many accidents responsible due to micro sleeps. Sleep is largely unmapped. It is somthing that we spend a huge portion of our lives doing,

yet it is still a mystery to most. Through technical advances in modern medicine and the continuous effort shown by researchers like the ones at MIT, we may just discover its purpose yet. However, one fact remains clear: We need our sleep. Regardless of what we think it does, it is necessary for us to function. Maybe, with the right amount of determination and smarts, we may just figure out what it is, and why we need this mysterious facet of our lives.

Evaluative Works Cited (EWC) The Science of Slumber Science News , Vol. 176, No. 9 (Oct. 24, 2009) , pp. 16-24 Published by: Society for Science & the Public Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40384449 Function Of Sleep C. M. Shapiro and M. J. Flanigan BMJ: British Medical Journal , Vol. 306, No. 6874 (Feb. 6, 1993) , pp. 383-385 Published by: BMJ Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29718466 Why do We Sleep? Russell Foster Published by: TEDTalks Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWULB9Aoopc The Relationship of Sleep to Learning and Memory Li Deming, Wu Zhenyun, Shao Daosheng and Liu Shanxun International Journal of Mental Health , Vol. 20, No. 1, Psychoneurological Research in the People's Republic of China (Spring 1991) , pp. 41-47 Published by: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/41344571 Sleep Preferentially Enhances Memory for Emotional Components of Scenes Jessica D. Payne, Robert Stickgold, Kelley Swanberg and Elizabeth A. Kensinger Psychological Science , Vol. 19, No. 8 (Aug., 2008) , pp. 781-788 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the Association for Psychological Science Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/40064992

The Ecological Relevance of Sleep: The Trade-off between Sleep, Memory and Energy

Conservation Timothy C. Roth II, Niels C. Rattenborg and Vladimir V. Pravosudov Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences , Vol. 365, No. 1542, Integrating Ecology, Psychology and Neurobiology within a Food-Hoarding Paradigm (Mar. 27, 2010) , pp. 945-959 Published by: The Royal Society Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org.librarylink.uncc.edu/stable/40538257

Peter Johnson Mrs. Camargo 4/5/14 Reflection What I noticed throughout constructing my second draft is that it is quite easy to move my examples and details around within the paragraph. However, I realized that much of my essay still did not make sense due to the fact not the details made it unreadable, but rather the order of the paragraphs did. It was quite a challenge to get them to work together. Some parts

Ive even had to add in and replace. I rewrote the last paragraph because the original didnt have the same effect that I wanted it to have. It really now brings a sense to why we need to know about sleep, because it leaves you questioning whether or not sleep is needed to be studies about. It makes the reader look at their own sleeping habits and question if they themselves have gotten the appropriate amount of sleep today. Due to the fact that the reverse outline method worked very well for my, I think it would be a great idea to use it in other writing areas of my life. It really puts a new perspective on your own writing that makes you see the errored, and well executed, areas of your own work. It would help your own professional work, especially in how you would present an argument, and it would even help you in personal work, so that you can get rid of errors easier. While there isnt a whole lot of areas that should stand out in particular, I would hope the instructor would notice if the flow of the paper has improved or not. And, if at all possible, if the last paragraph is closes the paper better. Finally, my final draft will have some edits in the very small details. It will mostly be sentence structure editing, with maybe some more switching and swapping of where sentences are. There may even be some complete replacements if it is warranted. In the final draft, I aim to have most of the paper already nailed down, so I will cross that bridge when it comes.