What Makes You Sleep
By: Mark ShowalterTotal Views: 248, Word Count: 543,
Even though much research works have been conducted to know the mechanisms of sleep, the exact answer to what makes you sleep is still undetermined. Sleep is a behavioral activity that is to be carried out by a living being when the body is excessively exhausted while carrying our living functions and needs a restful sleep so that the brain gets the scope of reenergizing the body. A good sleep is certainly good for help and if hampered may lead to inability to carry out daily activities perfectly.
The Mechanisms of Mammalian Sleep
The two conditions that are related to sleep are REM and non REM. These two conditions are responsible to form the cycle of sleep. But what makes you sleep may deal with activities occurring at certain areas of brain. The areas that are related to the mechanism of a mammalian sleep may include the reticular activating system, the pre-optic area and the hypothalamus.
The process of what makes you sleep is actually divided into two procedures, sleep-agonists and sleep antagonists. The areas of the brain that work during the process of sleep agonists consist of pre-optic nucleus, the ventrolateral pre-optic nucleus and the pineal gland. The areas of the brain that work during the pre-antagonist process are namely the raphe nucleus, the locus coeruleus, perifornical
lateral hypothalamus and the tuberomammillary nucleus.
The Theories of Sleep
Scientists down the ages have deduced several theories to find out the processes of sleep initiators.
Energy conversation – The most common theory behind what makes you sleep is the conservation of energy. While the body is awake there is exhaustive process of consumption of energy. Through sleep the body is able to save some of energy for the body to work more actively when awake.
The System of Metabolism – The process of metabolism also initiates sleep. The process of metabolism involves the method of anabolism and catabolism. The catabolism is the method of breaking down tissues and protein compounds while anabolism is process of developing and synthesizing of tissues and protein related compounds. To restore energy the body needs to sometimes lower down the metabolic rate so the increased anabolic rate may result storage of energy.
Thermoregulation – Sleep is initiated to regulate heat inside the body. It is also studies that when the body generates excess heat, the living being has the tendency of falling off to sleep.
Out of Harm – This theory is based on the concept of evolutionary phenomena than physiological mechanisms. Animals who are easy prey to other stronger animals need the aid of sleep to save themselves from any kind of harm. Normally, it has been seen that animals tend to sleep in areas where they have least risk of getting attacked. Some burrow deep inside the ground while some take refuge in high tree tops. The animals that are predatory in nature are most nocturnal and have strong sense of hearing and sight even in dark.
If you are suffering from any form sleep disorder caused due to poor sleep, you may try out with some medical sleep aid like the Melatrol. While purchasing it is always recommend to consult a good physician.
About the Author
Mark Showalter is an expert in treating various types of sleep disorders. He has carried out series of research works that deal with the various mysteries of sleep and its associated disorders. If you find yourself to be too stressed out during the day or suffer from disorders caused by improper sleep, you may take a good medical sleep aid. You must be prudent enough to select the right one for you that would keep you away from any form of harmful side effects.
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