What is Sleep?

Jasmine Martinez, Leslie Hernandez

Names:
Philosopher Plato - thought sleep was caused by vapors rising from the
stomach to clog the pores of the brain like an old furnace filter
Alcmaeon - Sleep occurs when blood flows away from the surface. He also
believed that death occurred if all the blood went deep into the body.
Jean-Jacques dOrtous - the human Circadian Rhythm is a 24-hour cycle driven
by our biochemical, physiological, and behavioral processes
Hippocrates - theory of sleep as being due to blood retreating to the inner
regions of the body (400 BC).

Dates:
6th century B.C. - people were encouraged to sleep as it was believed that during
sleep they would be visited by Asclepius and his two daughters to be healed from
illnesses and evil spirits.

350 BC - Aristotle states another theory of sleep, which he saw as caused by warm
vapours rising from the heart during digestion, and concludes that sleep is a time of
physical renewal

162 BC - Greek physician, Galen, establishes that consciousness resides in the brain,
not the heart

2007 - The influential American Academy of Sleep Medicine reclassifies the model of
sleep stages for the first time since 1968, stating that there is a three-stage classification
of non-REM sleep, rather than four.

Stages of Sleep
- The two main types of sleep:
NREM: When people were woken up from this sleep they rarely reported that
they were dreaming. This is broken up into stages:
~Stage 1: The transition between sleep and wakefulness, there is low eye
movement, involuntary twitches occur, and people don't remember being asleep
~Stage 2: Heart and breathing rates slow down, eyes do not move at all,
people don't usually dream. People may be easily awaken.
~Stage 3: This is when delta waves start to occur. Delta waves are
associated with deep sleep. There is some dreaming but not as much as during
REM sleep.
REM: Sleep experts thinks that the eye movements are related to dreams.
When people are woken up from this sleep they reported that they had been
dreaming very vivid and sometimes bizarre dreams. During this sleep, muscles in
the arms and legs are temporarily paralyzed. This is thought to be a neurological

Disorders
- Sleep Apnea: Breathing repeatedly stops and starts. There are two types:
Obstructive: More common, occurs when throat muscles relax.
Central: Brain doesn't send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing.
- Insomnia: Difficulty to fall asleep or stay asleep. The two types are:
Primary: Having sleep problems that are not directly associated with any health
problems.
Secondary: Having sleep problems because of something else like health
problems, pain, medication, or a substance being used.

Works Cited
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