4/11/2020
Why We Sleep:
Rest and Activity are the
Steps of Progress
1

Sun Monday
Timeline: 7:45 – 9:00
Tuesday Wed Thursday Friday
Sept
Sept
11: Paradigms 13: Brain
Development
Mongolia Conference
Sept
Oct
Yom Kippur
2: Science and
Pseudoscience
27:
Sleeping
4: Other
Meditations
28: TM and TC
Oct 9: Cosmic
Consciousness
Drfredtravis.com
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Sat

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Wholeness
Sleeping and dreaming repair the brain and are essential maintain optimal health and uphold growth towards enlightenment. Rest and activity are the steps of progress.

Adenosine Receptors:
The cells ’ accountant

Rhythms in Sleep
• Most of the organisms living on earth show 24 hour circadian rhythms that are endogenously controlled by biological clocks.
• In mammals these rhythms are generated by the circadian pacemaker located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus or SCN of the hypothalamus.

Rhythms in Sleep

Rhythms in Sleep
During the daytime the SCN neurons fire rapidly but at night they fire very slowly. This was a single rat neuron from the SNC maintaining a basic circadian rhythm in a dish.

Rhythms in Sleep

Rhythms: Pineal Gland
The SCN takes the information on the lengths of the day and night from the retina, interprets it, and passes it on to the pineal gland, a tiny structure shaped like a pine cone and located in the center of the brain.

Rhythms: Pineal Gland
In response, the pineal secretes the hormone melatonin. Secretion of melatonin peaks at night and ebbs during the day and its presence provides information about nightlength.

Rhythms: Pineal Gland
The pineal gland also plays an important role in animals in setting seasonal rhythms.

The Pineal Gland

• Sleep pressure —how long since you have slept
(“adenosine-accountant”).
• Circadian rhythms

Light Sensitive Circadian rhythms (24-hour cycles) in physiological processes of all mammals
Midnight 6 AM Noon 6 PM Midnight

Normal Sleep Cycles in
Young Adults (Sleep/Dream)
AWAKE
REM
1
2
3
4
REM Stage
NREM
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Hours of Sleep
Adapted from Berger RJ. The sleep and dream cycle. In: Kales A, ed. Sleep Physiology & Pathology: A
Symposium . Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott; 1969.

Dreaming
Sleep

1 st CEO
1
2
2 nd
Thalamus
You wake up in reverse —thalamus first and then the CEO, called sleep inertia.

Desseilles et al, 2012. Consciousness and Cognition

Sleeping and Dreaming
Repairs the Brain
1. Replenish brain energy resources
(adenosine triphosphate) and intracellular house-keeping — replace neurotransmitter vesicles.
2. Conduct neural plasticity — maintain appropriate connections and eliminate accidental connections.

How Much Sleep Do I Need?
Number of Hours Sleep/Night in Adults
60 e n t c r
P e
50
40
30
20
10
0
<4 4-5 5-6 6-7 7-8 8-9
Number of Hours of Sleep/Night
9-10 >10
Men Women
Ursin, et al. (2005) Sleep duration, subjective sleep need, and sleep habits in 8860 adults. Sleep. 28,(10), 25-34.

Restricting Sleep--
Reduced Vigilance
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
Base1 2 3 4 5 6 7 line
Days on Experimental Schedule
Better
Worse

•
– Heavy-call residents (every 3rd night) vs low-call residents who drank three beers (BAC level
.08)

– Sustained attention
– Vigilance
– Performance on a simulated driving test.
• Anyone working > 70 hrs/week functions at the level of being legally drunk (BAC = .08).

Fatigue Makes Experiences More
Intense
Rested 36-hour Sleep Dep.
Amygdala
60% more active and 3 times greater area when amygdale disconnect.Current Biology, Vol. 17, No. 20, R877-R878.

Main Point
Sleep involves active processes of repairing brain circuits after a day of activity. Dreaming supports this through auto-activation leading to structured forgetting. Brain circuits created during the day are erased if they are not deep. Rest and activity are the steps of progress during waking and during sleeping and dreaming.

How to get good sleep, part 1
• Keep a regular schedule.
• Be consistent with sleep times, including weekends.
• Exercise regularly.

How to get good sleep, part 2
• Eliminate caffeine and, of course, alcohol and nicotine.
• Eliminate TV and computer use later in the evening.
• Don't use your time in bed to plan the next day.

How to get good sleep, part 3
• Switch off lights.
• To get more enough sleep, go to bed
15 minutes earlier every 3 rd -4 th day.
• When you wake in the night, don't panic and worry that you aren't getting enough rest. It's natural, so just take it easy and enjoy your rest.

Group Exercise
Witnessing sleep is a marker of
Cosmic Consciousness. What function does sleep play in
Cosmic Consciousness?

Maharishi on Sleep
Sleep is the blessing of God,
Feel love of God,
Lie in the showers of His blessing.
Let your heart melt in the love of God.
Sleep in the thought of God and in the love.
It is not necessary to say anything,
But feeling of God is of maximum value.
The love flows.
Sleep is only at the surface.
Sleep in the warmth of Divine Grace
Without any words -- only this feeling.
Maharishi, 1962

Cerebral Blood
Flow during
Waking,
Dreaming and
Sleeping
Braun et al, 1997, Brain

Computer analogy of sleep and dreaming
• During the day, store data in RAM.
• During NREM sleep, write data to disk.
• During dreaming REM, disk defragmentation.
– Repeat the write-and-defragment cycle until all data is written to the disk and your RAM is clear and ready for a new day of learning.
• At waking up, you reboot the computer.
If you reboot early with the use of an alarm clock, you often leave your disk fragmented.

11,000
10,000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
Circadian Rhythms and
Performance Errors
Sweden
Meter Reading Errors
N = 74,927
Time of Day
Noon Midnight 6 AM 6 PM Midnight
Mitler MM, et al. Sleep . 1988.

1200
1100
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
Circadian Rhythms and Vehicle
Accident Data
Fatigue-Related Accidents
International Data N = 6052
Time of Day
Midnight 6 AM Noon 6 PM Midnight
Mitler MM, et al. Sleep . 1988.

Fatigue
Sleep
Deprived
Rested

Sleep Effects Day 2 Recall
Red: Sleep deprived
Blue: Full sleep

How Much Sleep Do I Need?
Newborns : 16 to 18 hours
Age 1 : 13 to 14 hours
Teenagers : > 9 ½ hours
Adults : 8 hours and 20 minutes
Seniors : 8 hours
National Sleep Foundation Poll in 2000
1. 33% adult Americans < 6.5 hours per night
2. 45% will sleep less to accomplish more