According to Your Health Today, sleep is defined as a period of rest and recovery from the demands of wakefulness and consists of a state of unconsciousness from which a person can be aroused by stimulation (Teague, 2019). Sleep quality and quantity impact overall wellness and human productivity. Adequate sleep allows the body to recover from the stress of the day, repair cells, and feel energized for future activities. People vary on the number of hours of sleep they need, but most adults rely on sleeping seven to nine hours a night for full body restoration. Sleep deprivation is associated with a wide range of health problems including cardiovascular disease, immune dysfunction, weight control issues, and even mental health disorders. People must establish a consistent sleep schedule in order to benefit from a good night’s rest. In this lab, students will keep a sleep diary for one week identifying habits that help and/or interfere with sleep quality and quantity. Students will use the sleep log to track sleep habits for seven days both in the morning and before they go to bed. Students will then answer the discussion questions in a written lab report.
Sleep Cycle
Human beings follow a circadian rhythm or a biological clock slightly longer than 24 hours. The brain and environmental cues such as darkness induce sleep. In the brain, two tiny structures in the hypothalamus control circadian rhythm—suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). These structures sense light and form an internal clock that controls body temperature, hormone release, metabolic rate, and levels of alertness and activity during the day. SCN regulate the pituitary gland that releases growth hormone during sleep which helps repair damaged body tissues. As darkness approaches, SCN signal the pineal gland to release melatonin which increases sleepiness and relaxation and leads to sleep. After a full night of sleep, the body re-sets this biological clock each morning.
Every night, the body cycles through several stages of sleep characterized by brain waves, different stages of muscle relaxation, and nervous system activity. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep begins 70 to 90 minutes after the body falls asleep. REM sleep occurs when the body is in a more active phase and brain activity consolidates learning and memory. People dream during REM sleep, heart rate remains slightly elevated, increased metabolism, and reduced muscle tone. Deeper sleep occurs during four stages of non-rapid eye movement. Stage one of NREM sleep resembles a transitional, light sleep. During this stage, the heart rate slows, breathing becomes shallow and rhythmic, and metabolism slows. Brain activity during stage two NREM slows even further and lack of movement decreases muscle tension. Stages three and four of NREM mark the restorative phase of deep sleep in which blood pressure lowers, heart rate and respiration slow down even further, and blood supply to the brain is minimized. Homeostasis helps regulate the slow wave brain activity during the restorative phase of NREM sleep. Throughout the night, the body cycles between four to five REM and NREM sleep stages which repeat every 90 to 110 minutes until the body awakens.
Sleep Quality v. Sleep Quantity
Adults including college students depend on seven to nine hours of good quality sleep per night for rest and recovery. Day time optimal alertness during waking hours indicates whether a person benefits from sleep quality. The National Sleep Foundation recommends several key concepts when people measure sleep quality. Sleep latency is the amount of time it takes to fall asleep at night. Ideally, people want sleep latency to take less than 30 minutes at night. The number of awakenings can affect sleep quality. Tossing and turning can disrupt the regular sleep cycles, so one or no awakenings per night indicates adequate sleep quality. If a person does wake during the night, it should take less than 20 minutes to fall back to sleep in order to optimize sleep quality. Finally, sleep efficiency which measures the amount of time asleep compared to the total time spent in bed should achieve a ratio of 85 percent or higher.
There are different ways to measure sleep quality which range with traditional methods in a sleep laboratory to more modern technology with wrist band sleep trackers. Polysomnography is the clinical sleep tracking method that involves wires, electrodes, and tubes attached to the body. During these tests, experts measure heart rate, brain waves, muscle tension, blood oxygen, breathing, and eye movement during sleep. Although this technique provides the most reliability, the tracking occurs in a sleep lab setting and cannot be monitored daily. Personal wrist trackers found in Fitbit and other popular products are tiny and sophisticated trackers that measure heart activity, movements, skin conductivity, and location during sleep. Wrist actigraphy measures movements during sleep while accelerometers measure your heart rate. Small chips found in sleep trackers convert movement into electrical signals which measures heartbeat. Every sleep stage has a certain heart rate which helps these tracking devices identify the duration of deep sleep.
Tart cherry juice has claims of improving sleep quality and quantity due to containing melatonin. There have been trends on social media claiming a cheap and effective solution to your sleep troubles. However like most trends, there is not much scholarly research being promoted along side this treatment. Nonetheless anecdotal evidence had been piling up to say that it can be helpful.
Key Vocabulary
Circadian rhythm, hypothalamus, suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), rapid eye movement (REM), non- rapid eye movement (NREM), pituitary gland, human growth hormone, sleep quantity, sleep quality, sleep latency, awakenings, sleep efficiency, polysomnography, wrist actigraphy, accelerometer, sleep disorders.
Procedures
Students will use the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep Diary both morning and night for 6 days (please include a weekend day and weekday). The first 3 days will track their normal sleep patterns. The next 3 days will track their sleep patterns taking 1-2 tbsp of tart cherry juice.
Equipment
National Sleep Foundation Sleep Diary (morning)
National Sleep Foundation Sleep Diary (night)
Data
At the beginning of the day, students record information regarding their sleep patterns on the sleep log. Record the day of the week, bedtime, time awake that morning, number of hours of sleep, number of minutes it took to fall asleep, number of times awaken during the night and how long it took to fall back asleep, observations about quality of sleep, morning alertness, environmental and individual factors that affect sleep.
At the end of the day, students record daytime activities that might impact sleep, such as napping, exercising, eating, caffeine, alcohol, medications, computer time, meditation, relaxation, tv, etc. Students will record drowsiness, alertness, and positive and/or negative moods, and stressful events that might affect sleep.
Observations
Students record any observations about the quantity and/or quality of sleep over the course of a six-day period.
Discussion Questions
1)Describe your evening routine one hour prior to bedtime. Do you follow a consistent routine and sleep schedule? If not, what can you do differently to aid in a regular sleep schedule? Do you leave your cell phone on at night? If yes, do you respond to texts, use social media, and/or send e-mails before you have to sleep?
2)Analyze your sleep. What was the difference in sleep quality and quantity between using tart cherry juice and not?
3)Did the tart cherry juice improve your overall sleep quality and quantity? Does research say tart cherry juice may improve your sleep OR is it placebo OR is it inconclusive?
4)How does sleep affect the brain? Explain how sleep impacts hormones, neurogenesis, mood, self esteem and overall mental health?
5)Adults who sleep less than seven hours a night are at higher risk for obesity than those who sleep a full night. What are five factors associated with sleep deprivation that impair normal metabolic function in adults? How do these factors interfere with proper weight control?
6)Chronic sleep deprivation weakens the effectiveness of the immune system. Explain how inadequate sleep suppresses immune function. How does sleep deprivation increase inflammation in the body and contribute to disease?
Conclusion
Students will write a lab report that includes data, observations, discussion, and a conclusion and will submit this on Tuesday, March 19th by 11:59 pm.
Your Health Today 7th edition by Teague, M; MacKenzie, S; Rosenthal, D. (2019). Publisher: McGraw Hill Education, pg. 86.
Rubric:
Data:
Shows all the numbers and steps in calculations. Labels units of measurements. Includes any figures (equations, graphs, charts, and or tables) used to organize and record the measurements. Includes observations that may impact outcome of results.
Discussion:
Answers the discussion questions using clear, illustrative, and complete sentences. Explains in physiological terms the underlying biology that occurs. Cites outside scientific sources to support arguments or points made to build the case
Conclusion:
Restates major findings in the lab. Explains public health significance of conducting the lab and any further need for study.
5 pts
No Marks
Does not restate major findings in the lab. Reports personal significance of the findings, but does not link a public health message to the reader.
15 pts
Grammar, Writing, and Spelling
Edits work appropriately so there are no typos or grammatical errors. Uses proper capitalization, punctuation, and follows the rules of grammar and writing.
For the source part can you fgive scholarly sources
