Sleep, resting state in which an individual becomes relatively quiescent and relatively unaware of the environment. During sleep, which is in part a period of rest and relaxation, most physiological functions such as body temperature, blood pressure, and rate of breathing and heartbeat decrease. However, sleep is also a time of repair and growth, and some tissues, e.g., epithelium, proliferate more rapidly during sleep.
The amount of sleep needed depends on both the individual and the environment: For instance, worrying, critical individuals tend to need both more sleep and more dream sleep than easygoing ones, and stress and worry during the day result in an increase in REM sleep. It has been hypothesized that while deeper stages of sleep are physically restorative, REM sleep is psychically restorative. REM sleep is also believed to integrate new information in the brain and to reactivate the sleeping brain without waking the sleeper. There is evidence that the hypothalamus and thalamus of the brain initiate sleep and that part of the midbrain acts as an arousal system.
As reported by Steven Reinberg, research by Maria M. Wong of the University of Michigan, published in 2004 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, cautions parents to pay more attention to their children's sleep habits. "Sleep problems are a risk factor for alcohol and drug problems," Wong concluded from data obtained in the first study to link alcohol and drug use with sleep disorders in early childhood. The study obtained sleep data from 257 boys ages three to five years and followed them until they were 12–14 years old. Almost half of the children in the study who experienced childhood sleep problems began using alcohol and drugs by the time they were 14 years old.
Children who consume caffeine throughout the day, in soda or iced tea beverages, also lose the sleep required for optimal health and cognitive functioning. A survey by the National Sleep Foundation released in 2004 found that 26 percent of children ages three and older drink at least one caffeinated beverage a day and suffer a loss of about 3.5 hours of sleep each week.
the encyclopedia makes no sense to me. i am a worrying, critical individual, but i don't tend to need more sleep. i dun have a alcohol or drug problem. i don't drink soda or tea or coffee.
they should drag me to a lab and study me.
Unknown "Mai Angel" Petulant
- 16 years, 2 months, 17 days ago
