Restoration Theory
Two Main sub-theories
Oswold’s (1980) Restoration Theory:
Horne’s (1988) core sleep model:
Research into the theories
**KEY STUDY**
Gulevich, Demend and Johnson (1966)
Sleep deprivation study of Randy Gardner.
17- year old school boy attempting to break the
record for longest time of wakefulness, staying
awake for 264 hours and 12 minutes. Finding
that lack of sleep alters vision, coordination,
hallucinations, lapses in memory and
concentration. After the study Randy slept for
just 14 hours and soon returned to his usual 8hour pattern. Concluding that stage 4 and REM
sleep are most important and it is possible to
have long period of sleep deprivation with
suffering long term effects.
Further Research into the theories
Everson et al (1989)
Found that depriving rats of sleep causes
increased metabolic rate, loss of weight and
death in about 19 days, possibly due to immune
system damage, suggesting that sleep is
necessary for restoration.
The theory that people sleep to rejuvenate and repair
This explanation sees sleep as helping to reverse
and/or restore biochemical and/or physiological processes that are progressively degraded during
the day. High levels of brain activity during sleep indicate brain restoration.
Sleeping does not supply any repair functions except for the brain (most process’s occur whilst
awake- digestion, removal of waste products). He saw core sleep to be essential for brain
restoration, and optional sleep, whose main purpose is energy conservation.
The study was poorly controlled with a lack of objective measurements (no EEG readings were taken
so micro-sleeps could have occurred.)
Natural experiment- high external validity but extraneous variables weren’t controlled therefore
lowering the reliability of the study.
Participants in sleep studies are aware that they are being studied which might increase their stress
levels. Daily routines, like work and leisure time, are suspended, making results difficult to generalise
to more realistic situations.
Ethical issues with using rats as they died- but using rats good due to fast reproductive cycles
Hard to extrapolate as rats have different brain structures to humans
Laboratory experiment means low extraneous variables, but low mundane realism
Provides evidence for restoration theory.
Horne (1988)
Performed a meta-analysis of sleep deprivation
studies, finding little evidence of reduced
physical functioning or stress responses,
suggesting that sleep is not primarily for
restoration.
Cirelli et al (2004)
Found that during SWS, genes associated with
the protein production regulating synaptic
connections are activated, supporting
restorations theories.
Practical Application
Meta-analysis – has an overview of one area, but doesn’t offer any new evidence and is open to
personal interpretation
Evidence against restoration theory
Supports Oswold’s restoration Theory
Biological approach- Doesn’t take into account individual and cultural differences
To research this, participants would have to be studied using an EEG and therefore true sleep
patterns may not be reflected.
Endurance based athletes use short sleep sessions after intensive training to promote protein
synthesis to repain tissues. Lending support the to the idea of sleep being for restoration.