Sleep Cycle Research Paper

My roommate has been coming back to the dorm at all hours of the night, disrupting my sleep. This has caused my sleep cycle to be disturbed and have become sleep deprived.

A typical night’s sleep cycle consists of five stages which are N1 (R&K Stage 1), N2 (R&K Stage 2), N3 (R&K Stages 3 and 4), and R (R&K REM).

First, people enter N1 sleep, or light sleep where theta wave activity increases and alpha wave activity fades away. In this non-REM stage of sleep if people are awakened, they will most likely not believe that they were sleeping. People may also experience vivid visual events called hypnogogic or hallucinations. A much more common occurrence is called the hypnic jerk. The relaxation of the muscles as one drifts into sleep causes

Heart rate slows, breathing becomes more shallow and irregular, and the EEG will show sleep spindles or brief bursts of activity lasting only a second or two. Theta waves still predominate in this stage, but if people are awakened during this stage, they will be aware of having been asleep.

The third stage is N3 is the slowest and is where the largest waves make their appearance. These waves are called delta waves. People are in the deepest stage of sleep, often referred to as slow wave sleep (SWS) or deep sleep. During this stage growth hormones are released from the pituitary gland and reach their peak. The body is at its lowest level of functioning. Eventually, the delta waves become the dominant brain activity for this stage of sleep. People in deep sleep are very hard to waken. If something does wake them. they may be very confused and disoriented at first.

After N3, the sleeping person will go back to N2 and then into a stage where the body temperature increases to near-waking levels, the eyes move rapidly under the eyelids, the heart beats much faster, and the brain waves resemble beta waves. The person is still asleep but in the stage known as rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and sometimes referred to as paradoxical