Restoration theory of sleep

Key idea
1. Sleep serves an important biological function in restoring our body's resources so that we can function better and for cell and tissue repair
2. when sleep deprived research has found that people spend more time in SWS 4 and REM sleep
3. Oswald suggested that SWS is for our body's repair and REM sleep is for brain restoration.
4. SWS
  1. Growth hormone is secreted during slow wave sleep which enables protein synthesis and cell growth, both of which are vital for repair of body tissue.
  2. Although GH is produced during the day greater amounts are released at night and seemed to be linked neural mechanisms related to SWS
  3. There is a decline in the amount of GH produced in elderly people who also spend less time in SWS
5. REM sleep neurotransmitters
  1. it is thought that REM sleep is important from neurotransmitter activity in the brain
  2. Seigel et al suggests that their is less released while we are asleep which allows the neurons to regain their sensitivity
  3. REM sleep and Development
    1. in babies and infants it is suggest that brain growth and devlopment occurs during REM sleep as they spend a high proportion of sleep in that section.
    2. Comparing sleep in other animals, the amount of time spent in REM sleep is proportional to the immaturity of the brain.
AO2 and IDA
1. Total sleep deprivation
  1. Case studies such as Peter Tripp who strayed awake for 201 hours and suffered from psychotic episodes as a result supports the idea that REM is restoration of the brain and neurotranmitters
  2. however other case studies such as Randy Gardener have not support this model of sleep as he showed no signs of psychotic episodes.
  3. Case study evaluation
    1. however case studies only represent a small sample of people and these people are likely to be unique in how they react to little sleep.
    2. they have probably volunteered to be part of a sample so are prepared to fight sleep deprivation
    3. We should therefore be careful in generalising the findings to the rest of the population.
2. Animal Studies
  1. Experiments on animals suggest that total sleep deprivation can lead to death, supporting the restoration theory
  2. However sleep patterns in animals are different to humans who are more effect by exogenous zeitgebers such as social dues and cultural factors.
  3. Also the ways of keeping the animals awake may have caused stress and lead to death.
3. Partial sleep deprivation
  1. Empson studies or partial sleep deprivation found that when participants were denied REM sleep, they spent more time in REM sleep when allowed it again
  2. However these studies were conducted in lab so the results lack ecological validity as the person wouldn't of sleep as well as they would have at home
  3. This suggest that REM sleep is the most important part of sleep to us.
4. Endurance atheletes
  1. Sharpio found that athletes such as marathon runner slept for longer after an event that usual which supports the idea of sleep being for restoration.
  2. However other research suggests that although they fall asleep faster they dont spend longer asleep.
5. Biological Reductionism
  1. A strength of this approach is that it can provide predictions and can be tested, also the theories can be falsified by research such as Horne's
  2. Although it is sometime described as reductionist as it ignores the complexity of sleep and the influences of external factors such as social cues and cultural influences.

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Restoration theory of sleep

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	Created by 07setchfields over 10 years ago