Boulder Sleep Apnea - What Really Happens in Sleep?
Looking for information about Boulder sleep apnea? Read on...
When you are asleep, the kind of electroencephalographic (EEG) waves your brain produces differs from those it produces when you are awake.
When you're awake, the brain makes either very small, fast, and random waves called "beta" waves, or, when you relax and close your eyes, it makes "alpha" waves (8 to 12 cycles per second).
When you are asleep, it makes slower and bigger waves, the delta and theta waves.
The reason: When you are awake, each nerve cell in your brain fires individually.
What the EEG records is the average of millions of nerve cells firing; as they fire, their positive and negative electrical charges cancel each other out, and the average approaches zero.
That's why the waves are very small and the fluctuations from positive to negative are very fast.
When you're asleep, more of the nerve cells start working together and, like a bunch of feet all tapping to the same beat, they discharge at the same time, which makes the waves slower and larger.
Boulder Sleep Apnea: REM There are two kinds of sleep: REM sleep and non-REM sleep (pronounced "non-rem" and usually written "NREM").
NREM sleep is non-dreaming sleep; REM sleep is dreaming sleep.
REM stands for rapid eye movement, because our eyes move rapidly during that stage.
We look around in our dreams.
Indeed, without any instruments, you can tell whether a person is dreaming simply by watching the closed eyes.
If the bulge of the eyeball underneath the closed eyelids moves rapidly, the person is in REM sleep.
Watch for at least 30 seconds or so, because sometimes there are pauses between groups of eye movements.
Interestingly, the brain does not seem to know that we are dreaming, but still gives commands to our muscles to carry out the actions we dream about.
Luckily, just before dreaming starts, a nucleus of nerve cells deep within the brainstem relaxes all our muscles so deeply that they are practically paralyzed.
During dreaming, our brain's commands to move these muscles result only in very little movements, and this lets us sleep through our dreams.
Boulder Sleep Apnea: Cats and Dogs You might have seen these little twitches in cats or dogs as they dream.
In research animals, it is possible to block out the nucleus that inhibits muscle tension during REM sleep.
These animals then act out their dreams.
Although their eyes are closed, they crouch, scratch, hiss, and fight.
A similar phenomenon occurs in some people, usually middle aged or older, in whom the inhibitory nerve cells are not functioning properly.
They may move violently during their dreams, bang on the pillow, fling themselves out of bed, and occasionally hurt themselves.
This is called REM behavior disorder, and it can be treated.
Learn more about Boulder sleep apnea to find a program that can help you get the natural sleep you deserve.
When you are asleep, the kind of electroencephalographic (EEG) waves your brain produces differs from those it produces when you are awake.
When you're awake, the brain makes either very small, fast, and random waves called "beta" waves, or, when you relax and close your eyes, it makes "alpha" waves (8 to 12 cycles per second).
When you are asleep, it makes slower and bigger waves, the delta and theta waves.
The reason: When you are awake, each nerve cell in your brain fires individually.
What the EEG records is the average of millions of nerve cells firing; as they fire, their positive and negative electrical charges cancel each other out, and the average approaches zero.
That's why the waves are very small and the fluctuations from positive to negative are very fast.
When you're asleep, more of the nerve cells start working together and, like a bunch of feet all tapping to the same beat, they discharge at the same time, which makes the waves slower and larger.
Boulder Sleep Apnea: REM There are two kinds of sleep: REM sleep and non-REM sleep (pronounced "non-rem" and usually written "NREM").
NREM sleep is non-dreaming sleep; REM sleep is dreaming sleep.
REM stands for rapid eye movement, because our eyes move rapidly during that stage.
We look around in our dreams.
Indeed, without any instruments, you can tell whether a person is dreaming simply by watching the closed eyes.
If the bulge of the eyeball underneath the closed eyelids moves rapidly, the person is in REM sleep.
Watch for at least 30 seconds or so, because sometimes there are pauses between groups of eye movements.
Interestingly, the brain does not seem to know that we are dreaming, but still gives commands to our muscles to carry out the actions we dream about.
Luckily, just before dreaming starts, a nucleus of nerve cells deep within the brainstem relaxes all our muscles so deeply that they are practically paralyzed.
During dreaming, our brain's commands to move these muscles result only in very little movements, and this lets us sleep through our dreams.
Boulder Sleep Apnea: Cats and Dogs You might have seen these little twitches in cats or dogs as they dream.
In research animals, it is possible to block out the nucleus that inhibits muscle tension during REM sleep.
These animals then act out their dreams.
Although their eyes are closed, they crouch, scratch, hiss, and fight.
A similar phenomenon occurs in some people, usually middle aged or older, in whom the inhibitory nerve cells are not functioning properly.
They may move violently during their dreams, bang on the pillow, fling themselves out of bed, and occasionally hurt themselves.
This is called REM behavior disorder, and it can be treated.
Learn more about Boulder sleep apnea to find a program that can help you get the natural sleep you deserve.