Sleep Phys exam 1 Flashcards
What did people originally think sleep was during ancient times?
Soul left the body during sleep, blood retreats from the surface of the body, brain turned off
What happened when puppies were sleep deprived during a study?
They died
What happened when CSF was transferred from sleep deprived animals to undeprived animals?
The undeprived animals became sleepy
What happened during the mammoth cave studies?
Study of circadian rhythms - caves had constant temp and can control light
When does REM usually occur?
After 90 minutes of sleep
How do we define sleep?
Reversible behavioral state of disengagement from and reduced responsiveness to the environment
Complex amalgam of physiological and behavioral processes
Define polysomnography.
“Many writings of sleep” - a way to measure a variety of electrical activity during sleep using EEG, EOG (eye movements), EMG (muscle), respiration, and ECG
What variables are important to measure using an EEG?
Speed/frequency, amplitude, morphology
Describe awake state brain waves.
Faster frequency (15-35 Hz), small amplitude → β activity
Describe drowsy state brain waves.
Higher amplitude than awake, slower frequency (8-12 Hz) → α activity
Describe stage 1 of sleep brain waves.
Non REM, sometimes characterized by head bobs in class
Even higher amplitude than drowsy state, slower frequency (4-7 Hz) → θ activity
Describe stage 2 brain waves.
Spend 50% of your time in sleep here
Contain the sleep spindle (burst of 10-14 Hz), K complex (info processing of environmental and exogenous stimuli)
The rest is θ activity (4-7 Hz)
Describe delta sleep brain waves.
Slow wave, very high amplitude, very low frequency (0.5-2.5 Hz), deepest stage of sleep
Describe REM sleep brain waves.
Low amplitude, fast frequency, θ wave, sawtooth waves, where the bizarre and fantastic dreams occur
Describe slow waves in deep sleep.
Coordinated silencing of neurons in multiple brain areas
How much time is spent in REM/NREM sleep?
In 8 hours of sleep, 80% of time in NREM and 20% in REM
How long does it take for the average adult to fall asleep and reach REM?
10-20 minutes to fall asleep, 90 minutes to reach REM
How common is it to wake up during the night?
Many people wake up 10-15 times per night, only remember if we’re awake for more than 2 minutes
What are the patterns of deep sleep, stage 2, and REM sleep in a typical 8 hour night of sleep?
Deep sleep only in first half of the night, REM increases throughout the night, stage 2 equal throughout
How is the sleep cycle different in rats/mice?
Still have NREM and REM but go through cycles much faster
What does respiration look like during NREM and REM?
NREM: deeper and regular, end expiratory carbon dioxide increases (blow off more)
REM: rate and depth variable
What is the effect of REM and NREM on temperature regulation?
NREM: normal regulation
REM: paralysis results in no shivering - can’t thermoregulate - we wake up if it’s too cold
What are the components of sleep health?
Sleep duration, timing, regularity, and quality
Describe the importance of sleep duration.
- What is the necessary amount of sleep needed per night
Adults aged 18-60 should sleep at least 7 hours per night, correlation between less sleep and obesity, diabetes, etc due to loss of stage 2 and REM sleep
Describe the importance of sleep timing.
Later sleep timing = worse sleep health, greater association with disorders
Describe the importance of sleep regularity.
General consistencies = healthy
Define and describe the importance of sleep quality.
Defined as subjective perception, can tell by some measurements such as how fragmented sleep is
No standard markers but evidence for sleep efficiency (time in bed asleep/time in bed), fewer awakenings and less WASO (wakefulness after sleep onset)
What is social jetlag?
Sleeping in on the weekend causes brain to be on a different “time zone” during the week, causes jetlag - shown by difference in midpoint of sleep
Define sleep latency.
The time it takes someone to fall asleep
What are the objective measures of sleepiness?
Multiple sleep latency test (MSLT): attempts to fall asleep 20 minutes test, if avg is 8 minutes or less = excessive sleepiness
Maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT): attempts to stay awake in dim lights, comfy
What are tests for subjective measures of sleepiness?
Karolinska sleepiness scale (KSS) and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS)
What is the two process model of sleep regulation?
Controls and regulates sleep - sleep-wake homeostasis and circadian rhythm
Describe process S.
Sleep homeostasis: we build up our drive to sleep over the day from when we wake up to when we sleep, affected by what we do while we’re awake and how long we’re awake
Why don’t we get progressively more sleepy over the day?
Circadian drive for wakefulness counteracts homeostatic drive for sleep by increasing over the day
Define slow wave activity.
Delta activity: computer assessment of the amplitude of brain waves while sleeping - they are higher if we’ve been awake longer, is a measure of our sleep need but can only be seen when we fall asleep, declines in a course of sleep as sleep drive dissipates
What is the effect on SWA (slow wave activity) during sleep deprivation?
Increased “sleep pressure” when sleep is insufficient or absent - results in more slow wave activity at the beginning of sleep
How does a nap affect SWA?
Decreases sleep pressure so drive to sleep is less and less SWA at the beginning of sleep
How does physical activity affect SWA?
More physical activity = more sleep need = more SWA at beginning of sleep
Define process C.
Circadian physiology
Define ɸ in circadian terminology.
Phase: time within the circadian cycle at which a particular event occurs (e.g. onset, minimum, maximum)
Define τ in circadian terminology.
Period: cycle length/period of an oscillator; the time it takes to get from the phase on one day to the same phase on the following day
Define T in circadian terminology.
Zeitgeber (time giver) period: day length (12:12 light dark cycle)
Define Ѱ in circadian terminology.
Phase angle: time within the circadian cycle relative to other events (biological or environmental) at which a particular event occurs (e.g. timing of DLMO relative to habitual sleep time)
Define amplitude in circadian terminology.
Half the distance between the peak and the trough of the rhythm or the distance between the mean/mesor (central tendency of the fitted curve) and peak
Define acrophase in circadian terminology.
Peak - look at fitted line to determine
Define nadir in circadian terminology.
Minimum or trough - look at fitted line to determine
Describe circadian degrees in circadian terminology.
Time is circular, hour is 15º, 0º = 360º - minimum usually
Describe the heliotrope experiment.
Studied heliotropes which are open during the day and close at night, he put the plant in the cupboard and it still followed the same rhythm suggesting rhythm was due to a circadian clock not the sun
Describe the E. coli lipopolysaccharide experiment.
Gave mice E. coli lipopolysaccharide which causes an immune response at different times during the day. The mice that were exposed during the day (when they would normally be sleeping) had a high % death but the mice exposed at night (when awake) had a low % death
What is the SCN?
Suprachiasmatic nucleus - located in the hypothalamus, location of internal circadian clock in mammals, self sustained clock even when out of the body
Describe constant routine protocol.
Gold standard to assess circadian phase, sees if a rhythm is circadian, constant environmental conditions (dim light, same temp) and constant behavioral conditions (bedrest, hourly snacks, continuous wakefulness)
Why is the constant routine the gold standard method to assess circadian phase?
It equally distributes factors impacting rhythms across the circadian cycle
What are the circadian phase markers in humans?
Melatonin (rises few hours before bed, drops after wake), cortisol (rises throughout night and drops during day), body temperature (lower during sleep)
How is melatonin made and where does it go?
SCN uses the sympathetic nervous system to deliver info to the pineal gland to produce melatonin which goes to MT-1 and MT-2 membrane bound receptors and MT-3 intracellular receptors
Describe the relationship between glucose utilization and circadian rhythm.
SCN causes more glucose utilization during the light phase even in nocturnal animals
What happens when the SCN is removed?
Still has circadian rhythm, shows it doesn’t require input or neural connections and that the SCN is the only thing that regulates our internal clock
Define forced desynchrony.
Force a much different clock so the SCN can’t control timing
What were the results of forced desynchrony in humans?
Average of 24.15 hour clock, some people shorter clock (morning people) and most later clock (night people) - shows internal clock is genetically driven
How did internal clocks affect fitness in cyanobacteria?
The species that had an internal clock closer to the light dark cycle survived and competed out the other species, even if they started with an advantage. Shows having periodicity helps survival
Why are humans on a 24 hour cycle when they average a 24.15 hr intrinsic circadian cycle?
Visual perception resets our circadian clock and brings us onto the same schedule
What is entrainment?
Daily adjustment to the circadian period - period of the oscillation (biological circadian tau) becomes equal on average to that of the synchronizer (T length)
What are the types of entrainment?
Daily phase delay (for morning/ <24hr people) or daily phase advance (for >24hr people)
What are ganglion neurons?
Output neurons of the eye that give information to the brain (from rods and cones). Novel photoreceptors that sometimes contain melanopsin
Define melanopsin.
Blue light photoreceptor in ganglion neurons activated by photons in the blue light spectrum. Gives info directly to the SCN and is the main contributor to affect on circadian rhythm due to light - not much effect on vision
How was melanopsin discovered?
Scientists used techniques to knock out rods and cones individually and mice could still shift to 24 hr cycle without them - they were blind but could still respond to light for circadian rhythm
What happens if melanopsin is knocked out?
Rods and cones can still communicate to the SCN through the ganglion cells
What are the two pathways of giving light info to the SCN?
Photic input → intrinsically photoreceptive (melanopsin containing) retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) → SCN
Photic input → retinal photoreceptors (rods and cones) → ipRGCs → SCN
What time of day is best to entrain humans to a 24 hour clock?
Morning light → phase advances
What happened when subjects camped and were exposed to only the light dark cycle?
Melatonin onset happened at sunset, melatonin offset happened around sunrise
What does this show us?
Light in the modern world shifts our biological night
Describe a physiological dose of exogenous melatonin.
<0.5 mg - produces endogenous levels similar to what’s seen physiologically
Describe a pharmacological dose of exogenous melatonin.
0.5-10 mg - produces endogenous levels greater than seen physiologically
How does exogenous melatonin affect the SCN?
Causes phase advances where light would cause delays and vice versa, shifts the SCN
What are the three neurophysiological processes that integrate to impact cognition?
Circadian rhythms, sleep homeostasis, and sleep inertia (grogginess after wake)