How much sleep do our bodies need?
| You hear it all the time: in order to function like normal human beings, we’re always being told we need to get eight hours of sleep, every night of the week. But what are the consequences if we don’t get that much? Will our bodies start falling apart? |
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The advent of electricity has brought about a fundamental change in the way humans live — there are reasons now to stay awake.A Adelaide sleep researcher Nicole Lamond, from the University of South Australia, is a leading researcher in the field of sleep deprivation. She says our reduced reliance on sleep is problematic: “We suffer both emotionally and physically if we don’t get sleep.”Therefore this theory is put to the test: five university students will check into Nicole’s sleep lab for a night of fun and frivolity. |
| Lauren: | Will sleep for eight hours. |
| Phoebe: | Will sleep for six. |
| Emma: | Four hours. |
| Alexandra: | Two hours. |
| Melissa: | Won’t get any sleep at all. |
| The girls will be run through a few performance tasks before heading to bed. A driving simulator will test the girl’s ability to concentrate, while a response time task will test their reaction times in milliseconds.The girls will again be tested the following morning to see how they go on the same tasks. The outcomes will therefore help determine how much, or how little sleep our bodies really need.The test gets underway at 11pm as Lauren is put to bed for her eight-hour beauty kip. The rest of the girls are taken out for some fun, games and pool at an Adelaide nightclub. They aren’t allowed any stimulants — so, no caffeine or alcohol.At 1am, Phoebe hops into bed back at the lab where she’s got six hours of dreamtime ahead of her. |
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By 3am the nightclub is closing and it’s bedtime for four-hour girl Emma. Two hours later Alexandra tucks in for her two-hour kip while Melissa, who gets zero sleep, rapidly loses her kick without any of her friends left around — she’s longing to curl up between the sheets like the other girls.Nicole says that the way human sleep works is that it is divided into five different stages: |
| Stage one: | This is known as non-Rapid Eye Movement (non-REM) sleep — where we’re half awake and half asleep and can awaken easily at this stage. Muscle activity slows down and slight twitching may occur. |
| Stage two: | Within 10 minutes of light sleep (stage one) we enter True Sleep — the period we spend most of our night in. |
| Stages three and four: | By the time we begin Deep Sleep our body has begun restoring itself to function normally the next day. |
| Stage five: | Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM sleep). This is when the brain is at its most active and when dreams occur. REM usually begins about 70 to 90 minutes after falling asleep. We have around three to five REM episodes a night. After REM sleep, the whole cycle begins again. |
| So basically we cycle through these stages through the night. There’re about 90 minutes to 120 minutes each cycle and we sort of have four or five cycles during the night, says Nicole. Continue Reading » Ty Tran on February 10th 2008 in Interesting Sheepy In The Middle
How did this sheep get there? Have you ever been this position, where you didn’t know how you got there & don’t know how to get out? Ty Tran on November 8th 2007 in Interesting About My Blog, About Me!About my blog Ty-Tran.com is where I will tell you about me obviously, my ramblings and discuss my opinions to you. So post comments, lots of comments. My favorite topics are finances, investments, technology, making money, cars, dining and other crazy stuff like left or right brain. So bare with me, I’m no writer just a determined person that is trying to make it. About Me I’m currently sitting at the desk working as IT support for a large tourism company. I see a bright future here at this company. That is if I choose to go down the career path. The people are good, everyday I learn new things, lots of room for promotion and I earn $32,000 net a year. I share an apartment with my partner’s cousin, where I only pay $100 a week. I have a 92 Toyota Trueno which is about to fall apart on me. Also I have about $16,000 of consumer debt that includes student loans, credit card, tax and personal loans. I have a semi dependent brother who stays with me for 2 days a week. Now that you know a bit about me and my finances, let me share my goals with you. My main goal in life is to be financially free, so I can:
& enjoy life as I journey to freedom. Every step I take toward my dream, I will share here. Ty Tran on October 31st 2007 in Ty In The CutIs it just me? That I only get my hair cut when I am feeling miserable? That cutting my hair is like cutting away all the terrible feelings that I had inside of me? My hair used to be fairly long, and that wasn’t too long ago either. Say, in January, my hair was down close to my elbows. Since then I’ve cut my hair about four or five times now; it’s a trend because everytime I get a cut I’m feeling miserable. From then my hair has just been getting shorter and shorter. Just last Saturday I’ve cut my hair to the point that if it was any shorter that I might as well have it shaved off! But I’m really glad to say that out of all the cuts I’ve had in the past, this one was the best! It’s a short bob that’s short at the back and slightly longer at the front. When I look in the mirror I feel like I see a different person and it’s awesome! I feel lighter, less stressed and more carefree! So I guess if your feeling like crap…try getting a haircut! Feels so much better afterwards but remember to go to someone decent for your cut! Julie on October 30th 2007 in Jules The Right Brain vs Left Brain TestDo you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise? If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa. Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it. LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS Ty Tran on October 26th 2007 in Interesting Night Out With Linkin Park
Headed out to the entertainment center around 7 pm and my girlfriend was already going off her rocket! It seemed a little gloomy while driving there because there was a bush fire only a few suburbs away and smoke was flowing over the roads. Finally we made it to the gate and the hype was building up. We looked at our tickets and saw that the special guest playing with Linkin Park was a feller named Chris Cornell. We were seated by 7:30pm and by that time Chris Cornell had already started…and he didn’t stop till one and a half hours later!!!! It was ridiculous!!! Who has ever heard of a special guest playing his entire album at a concert?!?!?! It got to the point where people were giving him the finger and told him to F*@K OFF! Seated behind us was a gentleman in his mid to late 40s who also brought his family to the concert (himself, his wife and 2 children under 18). Boy, you should of seen him swear his nuts off about Chris Cornell! It was hilarious! The Mexican wave proved to be more exciting than Chris Cornell. When we all got back from intermission the stage was covered in cloth so there was this curiosity building up…oh man can I say the opening was completely mind blowing! It kicked off with my favorite song on their new album (’Minutes To Midnight‘) ‘No More Sorrow’. The entire entertainment centre was rocking hardcore till the very end. I felt so satisfied yet still longing for more Linkin Park. Everyone lingered for at least a full five minutes to make sure that Linkin Park were definitely done; you couldn’t risk missing a single second! Being in the concert I felt oblivious to the outside world so when we exited, the entire center was smothered in smoke from the bush fire. The whole experience was so surreal… Sure, I also went to the Chili Peppers concert which was also out of this world but this experience seemed somewhat more empowering! What a night! Ty Tran on October 26th 2007 in Wanna Go Out? | |
Started the night with dinner at a nice little a Vietnamese restaurant at West End. It’s the best Asian place I know. It’s fast and reasonably priced. Though I have to mention that I did see a mouse run through the shop a little while ago but I guess maybe that’s why the food tastes so good!!! 