Why do we sleep?

Biologist Dr. Doping speaks about phases of dreams, depression, and experiments with the loss of control over lighting.

People tend to sleep because it's in our genes. The sense of sleep is rest, which our body receives at this time. However, the more we are engaged in the study of sleep, the more open the secrets relating to the work of the brain.

Sleep is a very difficult condition. During sleep, the brain does not stop its activity. Inside a dream come very important rhythmic 90-minute cycles. Each of these cycles consists of a gradual, slow dive into a deep sleep, and then a sharp transition in the phase of dreams - the so-called fast or REM sleep. At the end of the REM sleep cycle or complete, and we wake up, a new cycle begins. The structure of the human brain is that in the first half of the night is dominated by deep slow-wave sleep and in the morning is enhanced REM sleep. In other words, dreams are dreams in the morning. As suggested by scientists, with a fast sleep is related to many diseases. Most of the deaths, strokes and heart attacks occur in the morning, at a time when it is paradoxical sleep stage.

Phenibut, Selank, Afobazol are used for soothing.

If during the time of Pavlov, in the first half of the XX century, it was believed that the dream - universal medical factor, that it is always useful, but now we know that this is not always true. On the contrary, for many diseases, and sleep is harmful and dangerous. Sometimes it is necessary to try to cut or crush. For example, in depressive disorders sleep - it is a factor that increases the depression. Sleep deprivation - one of the ways the human output of this state. This fact was discovered in somnology recently.

Why such a state emerged in the course of evolution - a mystery. In addition to warm-blooded animals (mammals and birds), none of these forms of living beings no sleep. In cold-blooded vertebrate and invertebrate sleep period monotonous. However, for a number of signs of the form of sleep at different phases of the very old. Most likely, this form of sleep gives some advantage for survival since it was fixed in the course of evolution. But what is the advantage of it is still quite unclear.

There have been many experiments with man being placed in an isolated space where round the clock maintained monotonous, dull lighting. There is no test hours, and he loses control of the lighting. The internal rhythms of his body begin to flow freely, they do not run by external factors. This experiment shows that our biological clock in 24 hours do not have time to make a full turn. During the experiment, the test moves the subjective passage of time. Nevertheless, the desire to sleep, and he remains alternates at regular intervals, supported by our internal clock.

Every morning when we open the curtains, light enters our eyes, our clocks are restarted translated. That is why to get up before dawn is very harmful. If, after such a spill sits behind the wheel, he can easily get into an accident. However, there are people who can easily tolerate getting up early or sleep deprivation for one night. Now the genetics of people who easily tolerate vigils actively studied in America to bring them to the responsible work related to public duty (health workers, representatives of the security services, operators, managers of airports and other).