Chapter One - What Is Sleep?
The Evolutionary Background
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 April 2023
Summary
Sleep is a need, just like food, water, or oxygen. If we don’t get enough of it, we die. But right off the bat, we need to qualify this claim a bit. There are at least two forms of sleep documented in human beings: NREM (non–rapid eye movement) and REM sleep. While it is clear that we will, in fact, die without NREM, the case of REM is more complicated. Since this book is also an introduction to the science of dreams, it is worth digging into REM biology right at the start as well, as it is the form of sleep wherein we most often experience vivid dreams. Without REM, it seems, we will likely crumble mentally, but we may not die.
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- Information
- The Neuroscience of Sleep and Dreams , pp. 1 - 26Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
References
Further Reading
Lyamin, O. I., Manger, P. R., Ridgeway, S. H., Mukhametov, L. M., & Siegel, J. M. (2008). Cetacean sleep: An unusual form of mammalian sleep. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 32, 1451–1484.Google Scholar
McLay, L., Jamieson, H. A., France, K. G., & Schluter, P. J. (2021). Loneliness and social isolation is associated with sleep problems among older community dwelling women and men with complex needs. Science Reports, 11(1), 4877. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83778-w.Google Scholar
Rattenborg, N. C., Amlaner, C. J., & Lima, S. L. (2000). Behavioral, neurophysiological and evolutionary perspectives on unihemispheric sleep. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 24, 817–842.Google Scholar
Rattenborg, N. C., Martinez-Gonzalez, D., & Lesku, J. A. (2009). Avian sleep homeostasis: Convergent evolution of complex brains, cognition and sleep functions in mammals and birds. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 33, 253–270.Google Scholar
Siegel, J. M. (2005). Clues to the functions of mammalian sleep. Nature, 437, 1264–1271.Google Scholar