THE EXPLAINER WHY DO WE SLEEP?

Q&A:

- PROF ALICE GREGORY

WHAT IS SLEEP?

Sleep is a state of altered consciousness in which we become less aware of what’s going on around us. Sleep can take different forms in different animals. Dolphins, for example, sleep just half a brain at a time, and can even continue to swim while asleep.

For humans, sleep involves four stages, called N1, N2, N3 and rapid eye movement (REM). N1 is the lightest stage of sleep. It usually occurs right after you fall asleep, and typically lasts less than 10 minutes. During N2, you sink deeper into sleep. This stage is characterised by brief, high-amplitude brainwaves called ‘K-complexes’ and bursts of lower amplitude waves called ‘sleep spindles’. The N3 stage is the deepest stage of sleep, and is characterised by slow brain waves called delta waves. Finally, during REM sleep your brain activity and breathing rate speed up, and your eyes move quickly in lots of directions. Our most vivid dreams tend to occur in REM sleep, and our brain paralyses our muscles so that we’re unable to act them out. During the night, we continually cycle through these four sleep stages, with a full cycle taking around 90 minutes in adults.

HOW MUCH SLEEP DO WE ACTUALLY NEED?