What really happens to your body when you’re sleeping?
Did you know that you spend 1/3rd of your life sleeping? Sleep allows your body to repair and detoxify itself after a hard day’s work. When you’re sleeping, a plethora of activities take place in your body, which are essential for your physical, emotional and mental well-being. Read on to find out what happens to your different body parts after you’ve drifted off…
Brain
Even though activity in the brain’s cortex (the outer part of the brain) falls by about 40% in the first few stages of sleep, your brain still continues to remain extremely active; especially in the final stage. During the REM phase your brain activity increases with your blood flow rising considerably in those areas of the brain that are responsible for processing emotional experiences and memories.
Eyes
Like the brain, even the eyes are active when you’re asleep and the movement of your eyes is indicative of the different stages of sleep. REM (rapid eye movement) sleep denotes deep sleep and occurs in the first 90 minutes of falling asleep (which is dreamless sleep). On the other hand, NREM sleep (non-rapid eye movement) is when you’re dreaming and your sleep quality is rather poor in comparison. This takes place during the later part of your sleep.
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Showing posts with label brain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brain. Show all posts
Friday, 29 January 2016
Thursday, 28 January 2016
Autism Spotlight
Unlike tuberculosis and polio, two infectious diseases that were nearly eradicated in the twentieth century as a result of scientific advances, many neurological disorders are actually on the rise. One prominent example is autism, a disorder that results in difficulty with communication and social interaction. According to a study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2009, the rate of autism among children is now 1 in 100, more than double the rate assessed in the mid-1990s. This striking growth has renewed public dialogue about the causes of autism and the subjectivity of its diagnosis.
For many decades, autism was considered to have purely psychological origins. Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, a psychologist at the University of Chicago and survivor of the Dachau concentration camp, believed that circumstances of severe deprivation are the basis of severe emotional disturbance. Consequently, through his work with children, he concluded that the emotional disorder now known as autism is a psychotic disturbance caused by maternal neglect. Due in part to Bettelheim's influence, the notion that autism is caused by environmental factors rather than biological factors became widespread during the 1950s and 1960s. However, in 1964 Dr. Bernard Rimland, a psychologist and the father of an autistic child, showed through analysis of data gathered from twins that the occurrence of autism has a strong genetic basis, and is not linked to maternal behavior. His work shifted the focus of blame from so-called "refrigerator" mothers, and launched a vigorous new era of research into the biological basis of autism.
Research has now associated as many as fifteen genes with autism, most of which support the strength of connections between different areas of the brain. According to this research, none of the relevant genes are absent or mutated in an autistic person, but their expression levels vary from expected norms. This results in an abnormally functioning nervous system characterized by poor brain connectivity that causes impaired social behavior and communication.
Recently, the scientific community has developed a more nuanced understanding of autism's origins that takes both biological and environmental causes into account. Advances in the field of epigenetics, in particular, show that environmental interaction with genes can modulate neurological functioning. Intense research is underway today in genetics, neuroscience, psychology, and even nutrition studies to refine our understanding of autism's origins and settle the question of why the rate of autism has grown so much during the past twenty years.
There is another intriguing possibility to consider that involves the work of social scientists: what if it is not the rate of occurrence but the rate of diagnosis of autism that has increased? Physicians and parents are now more aware of the disorder and its symptoms than they were before, and the standards for diagnosis have changed over time. In the mass media, for instance, classical autism proper is often conflated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), a broad grouping of disorders characterized by milder forms of impaired language development, social interaction, and motor skills than classical autism. Two of the more familiar ASDs are Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger's syndrome. Would these shadow syndromes have been considered autism in the mid-nineties? The American Psychological Association recently announced, for instance, that it is again reviewing the terminology that distinguishes Asperger's syndrome and other ASDs from autism, illustrating how changing standards of diagnosis over time might factor into the growth of autism rates.
Opinions about the best treatments for autism have been as varied as about its origins. Some treatments — Applied Behavioral Therapy, Pivotal Response Therapy, and Verbal Therapy, for instance — are purely behavioral, in that they reinforce desired behaviors with consistent rewards, to develop a patient's social abilities. Other treatments involve pharmaceuticals or special nutritional approaches. Opinions about the best treatment for autism are as complex and changing as the research about its causes.
Popular impressions of autism have been largely shaped by mass media. Dustin Hoffman's Oscar-winning performance as an autistic savant (someone whose social impairment is combined with exceptionally high computational or other intellectual abilities) brought autism into public discussion in 1988. Claire Danes's current performance in an HBO movie as Temple Grandin, an animal scientist who used her autistic sensitivity to develop improved techniques of animal handling in the agricultural industry, presents an even more nuanced and accurate depiction of the experience of an autistic person.
We hope that many people will use Temple Grandin and other mass-media discussions of autism as starting points for learning about the neurological basis of the disorder and its treatment. In this Spotlight, we guide you through the basics of autism, the context for understanding diagnosis rates, and the culture surrounding autistic people and their caretakers.
Read the feature and set of articles
For many decades, autism was considered to have purely psychological origins. Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, a psychologist at the University of Chicago and survivor of the Dachau concentration camp, believed that circumstances of severe deprivation are the basis of severe emotional disturbance. Consequently, through his work with children, he concluded that the emotional disorder now known as autism is a psychotic disturbance caused by maternal neglect. Due in part to Bettelheim's influence, the notion that autism is caused by environmental factors rather than biological factors became widespread during the 1950s and 1960s. However, in 1964 Dr. Bernard Rimland, a psychologist and the father of an autistic child, showed through analysis of data gathered from twins that the occurrence of autism has a strong genetic basis, and is not linked to maternal behavior. His work shifted the focus of blame from so-called "refrigerator" mothers, and launched a vigorous new era of research into the biological basis of autism.
Research has now associated as many as fifteen genes with autism, most of which support the strength of connections between different areas of the brain. According to this research, none of the relevant genes are absent or mutated in an autistic person, but their expression levels vary from expected norms. This results in an abnormally functioning nervous system characterized by poor brain connectivity that causes impaired social behavior and communication.
Recently, the scientific community has developed a more nuanced understanding of autism's origins that takes both biological and environmental causes into account. Advances in the field of epigenetics, in particular, show that environmental interaction with genes can modulate neurological functioning. Intense research is underway today in genetics, neuroscience, psychology, and even nutrition studies to refine our understanding of autism's origins and settle the question of why the rate of autism has grown so much during the past twenty years.
There is another intriguing possibility to consider that involves the work of social scientists: what if it is not the rate of occurrence but the rate of diagnosis of autism that has increased? Physicians and parents are now more aware of the disorder and its symptoms than they were before, and the standards for diagnosis have changed over time. In the mass media, for instance, classical autism proper is often conflated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), a broad grouping of disorders characterized by milder forms of impaired language development, social interaction, and motor skills than classical autism. Two of the more familiar ASDs are Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger's syndrome. Would these shadow syndromes have been considered autism in the mid-nineties? The American Psychological Association recently announced, for instance, that it is again reviewing the terminology that distinguishes Asperger's syndrome and other ASDs from autism, illustrating how changing standards of diagnosis over time might factor into the growth of autism rates.
Opinions about the best treatments for autism have been as varied as about its origins. Some treatments — Applied Behavioral Therapy, Pivotal Response Therapy, and Verbal Therapy, for instance — are purely behavioral, in that they reinforce desired behaviors with consistent rewards, to develop a patient's social abilities. Other treatments involve pharmaceuticals or special nutritional approaches. Opinions about the best treatment for autism are as complex and changing as the research about its causes.
Popular impressions of autism have been largely shaped by mass media. Dustin Hoffman's Oscar-winning performance as an autistic savant (someone whose social impairment is combined with exceptionally high computational or other intellectual abilities) brought autism into public discussion in 1988. Claire Danes's current performance in an HBO movie as Temple Grandin, an animal scientist who used her autistic sensitivity to develop improved techniques of animal handling in the agricultural industry, presents an even more nuanced and accurate depiction of the experience of an autistic person.
We hope that many people will use Temple Grandin and other mass-media discussions of autism as starting points for learning about the neurological basis of the disorder and its treatment. In this Spotlight, we guide you through the basics of autism, the context for understanding diagnosis rates, and the culture surrounding autistic people and their caretakers.
Read the feature and set of articles
Monday, 25 January 2016
Sleep Can Bring Life Changing Ideas
From solving problems to flashes of inspiration, scientists are beginning to unravel the creative powerhouse that is the mind at night.
By Kate Wighton / The Times UK
History is peppered with tales of phenomenal ideas taking shape in sleeping minds; Paul McCartney said that he awoke with the tune of Yesterday in his head, and Robert Louis Stevenson said that the idea for The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hydecame to him in a dream.
But what exactly is going on in our minds while we sleep? Does slumber really prompt creative genius? And can the most uncreative of people receive flashes of inspiration once their head hits the pillow?
Scientists believe that the mind at night weaves together bits of information in innovative ways. Throughout the day your brain rarely gets a chance to stop and think. In a state of constant alertness, it responds to a stream of challenges, from writing a report for a work deadline to remembering where you left your car keys and figuring out what to buy for dinner.
Even when we are relaxing in front of the television, the brain is still beavering away, processing the information about the plot lines, or co-ordinating your arm movements every time you sip your wine. Believe or not, even watching Strictly Come Dancing requires brain power.
Sleep is the only time when your brain gets to relax and mull over the thoughts of the day. This is when new ideas and ways of thinking start to emerge.
“Think of your brain like a web,” says Russell Foster, Professor of Circadian Neuroscience at Oxford University.
“During the day the web is very tight, so you can only put information in a certain number of places. During sleep the web expands, and with the luxury of time, those bits of information can be put into lots of different places and make new associations.”
He adds that this process may help to foster the formation of new ideas. Experts, however, are divided on whether this occurs when you dream, or during deeper, non-dreaming sleep. This bringing together of seemingly unrelated bits of information is crucial to helping the brain think itself out of problems, says Matthew Walker, a sleep researcher at University of California, Berkeley.
“Sleep seems to stimulate your mind to make non-obvious connections. It puts all the information from the day into a big biological theatre and forces the mind to speak to people at the back of the theatre, who you may not think you have any connection with. This is the basis of creativity - connecting ideas, events and memories that wouldn't normally fit together.”
In fact, this creative process has been visualised by scientists. By placing volunteers into brain scanners and sending them to sleep, scientists have seen that the areas associated with emotion go into overdrive, especially while dreaming, while the areas that are responsible for logic are switched off. This not only explains why dreams are incredibly random - you can be talking to a colleague one minute and the next minute sitting in a your old school classroom dressed in your pyjamas - but this rewiring also explains how the brain can pull together disparate information. As to how much sleep we need, experts believe this varies from person to person. But a sure sign of sleep deprivation is feeling sleepy during the day, aside from the mid-afternoon slump.
Raad the full post
By Kate Wighton / The Times UK
History is peppered with tales of phenomenal ideas taking shape in sleeping minds; Paul McCartney said that he awoke with the tune of Yesterday in his head, and Robert Louis Stevenson said that the idea for The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hydecame to him in a dream.
But what exactly is going on in our minds while we sleep? Does slumber really prompt creative genius? And can the most uncreative of people receive flashes of inspiration once their head hits the pillow?
Scientists believe that the mind at night weaves together bits of information in innovative ways. Throughout the day your brain rarely gets a chance to stop and think. In a state of constant alertness, it responds to a stream of challenges, from writing a report for a work deadline to remembering where you left your car keys and figuring out what to buy for dinner.
Even when we are relaxing in front of the television, the brain is still beavering away, processing the information about the plot lines, or co-ordinating your arm movements every time you sip your wine. Believe or not, even watching Strictly Come Dancing requires brain power.
Sleep is the only time when your brain gets to relax and mull over the thoughts of the day. This is when new ideas and ways of thinking start to emerge.
“Think of your brain like a web,” says Russell Foster, Professor of Circadian Neuroscience at Oxford University.
“During the day the web is very tight, so you can only put information in a certain number of places. During sleep the web expands, and with the luxury of time, those bits of information can be put into lots of different places and make new associations.”
He adds that this process may help to foster the formation of new ideas. Experts, however, are divided on whether this occurs when you dream, or during deeper, non-dreaming sleep. This bringing together of seemingly unrelated bits of information is crucial to helping the brain think itself out of problems, says Matthew Walker, a sleep researcher at University of California, Berkeley.
“Sleep seems to stimulate your mind to make non-obvious connections. It puts all the information from the day into a big biological theatre and forces the mind to speak to people at the back of the theatre, who you may not think you have any connection with. This is the basis of creativity - connecting ideas, events and memories that wouldn't normally fit together.”
In fact, this creative process has been visualised by scientists. By placing volunteers into brain scanners and sending them to sleep, scientists have seen that the areas associated with emotion go into overdrive, especially while dreaming, while the areas that are responsible for logic are switched off. This not only explains why dreams are incredibly random - you can be talking to a colleague one minute and the next minute sitting in a your old school classroom dressed in your pyjamas - but this rewiring also explains how the brain can pull together disparate information. As to how much sleep we need, experts believe this varies from person to person. But a sure sign of sleep deprivation is feeling sleepy during the day, aside from the mid-afternoon slump.
Raad the full post
Sunday, 24 January 2016
The Scientific Benefits of Meditation
This post deals with "14 Ways Meditation Rewires Your Brain for Happiness, Peace and Success"covering the following:
Why Meditate?
Who Meditates?
The Mind-Blowing Science of How Meditation Rewires Your Brain
How Do I Start?
Nine Major Types of Meditation
How do I pick the best type of meditation for me?
In case you were curious…
Get Meditating!
Read the full post
Why Meditate?
Who Meditates?
The Mind-Blowing Science of How Meditation Rewires Your Brain
How Do I Start?
Nine Major Types of Meditation
How do I pick the best type of meditation for me?
In case you were curious…
Get Meditating!
Read the full post
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Brain-machine interfaces -- Special compilation from Nature
Brain-machine interfaces promise to aid paralyzed patients by re-routing movement-related signals around damaged parts of the nervous system. A new study in Nature demonstrates a human with spinal injury manipulating a screen cursor and robotic devices by thought alone. Implanted electrodes in his motor cortex recorded neural activity, and translated it into movement commands. A second study, in monkeys, shows that brain-machine interfaces can operate at high speed, greatly increasing their clinical potential. This Nature Web Focus includes exclusive interviews and video footage of experiments, alongside papers that paved the way for these recent advances.
Read the compilation
Read the compilation
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