Sleep Journal
Jennifer Nguyen
Professor Perry Daughtry
Intro to Psychology
09-28-2012
Sleep Journal Essay College students like myself often put off sleep for other activities like studying, doing homework or even just staying up all night with a friend. Our body follows the twenty-four hour cycle of each day and night through a biological clock called the Circadian rhythm. On the weekdays, staying up all night and skipping meals makes it difficult to focus in class. After lunchtime, I become sleepy and have difficulty focusing on my other classes. In the afternoon, this affects my body because it does not give me energy, but instead it makes me crash earlier in the day. David Myers, the author of Exploring Psychology the eighth edition, says, “Everyone needs to get eight hours of sleep” (Myers, 75). This quote I think is so underrated, because some people in our world today only get six to nine hours of sleep, on a daily basis. If you think about it, going to sleep is not that easy. There are five unique stages to sleeping. In stage one, this cycle is considered to be between being awake and slightly dozing off. When you are in this cycle, you wake up, but you do not feel like you fell asleep. The brain produces theta waves, which makes the brain waves decrease when you go into other sleep stages. In stage two, the brain begins to relax more. The sleep spindles, which are rapid, rhythmic brain waves, are present in this cycle. Your body temperature starts to decrease and your heart rate starts to slow down. In stage three, this cycle is forwarded to deep sleep. In stage four, you are in a deep sleep, but not enough to dream. Also in this cycle, “some children might wet the bed or even sleep walk” according to David Myers. In stage five, also known as the rapid eye movement (REM), the heart rate increases and eyes begin to move under the eyelids. Most dreams occur here because the brain activity was increased. The importance of sleep is a big deal, that if you did not
Professor Perry Daughtry
Intro to Psychology
09-28-2012
Sleep Journal Essay College students like myself often put off sleep for other activities like studying, doing homework or even just staying up all night with a friend. Our body follows the twenty-four hour cycle of each day and night through a biological clock called the Circadian rhythm. On the weekdays, staying up all night and skipping meals makes it difficult to focus in class. After lunchtime, I become sleepy and have difficulty focusing on my other classes. In the afternoon, this affects my body because it does not give me energy, but instead it makes me crash earlier in the day. David Myers, the author of Exploring Psychology the eighth edition, says, “Everyone needs to get eight hours of sleep” (Myers, 75). This quote I think is so underrated, because some people in our world today only get six to nine hours of sleep, on a daily basis. If you think about it, going to sleep is not that easy. There are five unique stages to sleeping. In stage one, this cycle is considered to be between being awake and slightly dozing off. When you are in this cycle, you wake up, but you do not feel like you fell asleep. The brain produces theta waves, which makes the brain waves decrease when you go into other sleep stages. In stage two, the brain begins to relax more. The sleep spindles, which are rapid, rhythmic brain waves, are present in this cycle. Your body temperature starts to decrease and your heart rate starts to slow down. In stage three, this cycle is forwarded to deep sleep. In stage four, you are in a deep sleep, but not enough to dream. Also in this cycle, “some children might wet the bed or even sleep walk” according to David Myers. In stage five, also known as the rapid eye movement (REM), the heart rate increases and eyes begin to move under the eyelids. Most dreams occur here because the brain activity was increased. The importance of sleep is a big deal, that if you did not