Sleep – Knowing Neurons

Sleep Paralysis: What Is It and What Causes It?

December 30, 2019June 3, 2021 Mira Rakicevic 2 Comments Anxiety, Cataplexy, circadian rhythm, EEG, Electromyogram, Genetics, Hallucination, hypnagogic hallucination, Hypnopompic, Insomnia, Narcolepsy, NREM sleep, parasomnia, PER2, Polysomnography, REM sleep, Sleep, Sleep Apnea, Sleep Atonia, Sleep paralysis, stress, Vestibular-motor Hallucination

Sleep paralysis is a type of REM parasomnia or abnormal behavior that takes place during the REM sleep cycle. Also known as sleep atonia, this condition refers to the feeling… Read more

Image split in half with two backgrounds, day and night, with a watch in the center. A face on the watch is half awake on the day side of the image and asleep on the night side. Illustrated by McCall Sarrett.

Collaborations Neuroscience Technologies Sleep

What I Learned from Tracking My Sleep with Fitbit for Two Months

August 28, 2019August 28, 2019 Joel Frohlich 1 Comment Blood Oxygenation, EEG, Fitbit, Non-REM Sleep, Photoplethysmography, Polysomnography, PPG, REM sleep, Sleep, Sleep Apnea

If someone had told me a year ago that he sleeps with his watch on at night, I’d probably wonder just how eccentric of a personality I was dealing with.… Read more

Consciousness Sleep

Our Dreams Have Many Purposes, Changing Across the Lifespan

July 5, 2018 Patrick McNamara 0 Comments Brain, Brain Disorders, Cognition, Cognitive neuroscience, Consciousness, Cortex, Dream, Dream state, Dreaming, dreams, EEG, Inception, Multiple personality disorder, Neuroscience, NREM sleep, REM sleep, Research, Science, Science of sleep, Sex differences, Sleep, Sleep disorders, sleep-wake cycle

lthough radically different in terms of their content and feel, the range of dream states are just as complex as waking states. If we look across an individual’s lifetime, we… Read more

Brain Basics Culture Sleep

The Wisdom of the Sloth: Is Sleep a Lost Virtue?

June 14, 2018October 8, 2019 Joel Frohlich 10 Comments Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid plaques, beta-amyloid, circadian rhythm, dreams, Health, PET, Positron emission tomography, Sleep, sloth

In the sixth century, Pope Gregory I compiled an infamous list of seven deadly sins. Of these seven, sloth is the only sin named for an animal in English. But… Read more

Learning and Memory Neuroscience Technologies Sensation and Perception Sleep

How Binaural Beats Affect Your Brain – and How They Don’t

December 21, 2017December 21, 2017 Sophie Fessl 4 Comments Alpha waves, bayer, Binaural beats, brain waves, digital drugs, EEG rhythms, entrainment, Gamma waves, monaural beat, Perception, phase synchronization

he beat is low and steady – but it’s all just in my head… While I’m sitting on my couch, listening to some smooth jazz, there is a faint beat… Read more

Brain Basics Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep

The inescapable nightmare of fatal familial insomnia

October 31, 2017October 31, 2017 Sean Noah 1 Comment Brain, Cortex, Disease, Disorders, Fatal Familial Insomnia, FFI, Genetics, Insomnia, Molecular neuroscience, Neuroscience, Prions, Psychiatry, Sleep, Sleep disorders

A family curse During the early 1980’s, an Italian physician was investigating a mysterious and dreadful disease that had long plagued his family. In earlier generations, this disease had killed… Read more

Brain Basics Did You Know? Sleep Weird Animal Brain

Weird animal brain: Bottlenose dolphin

October 10, 2016June 30, 2017 Kayleen Schreiber 0 Comments Awake, Brain, Calf, Dolphin, Drown, EEG, Fact, Knowing Neurons, Mother, Neuroscience, Porpoise, Science, Sleep, Swim, WAKE, Whale

Marine mammals, such as dolphins, whales, and porpoises, spend their entire lives at sea. Like us, they need to breathe, avoid danger, and care for their young. Like us, they… Read more

52 Brain Facts Sleep

Myth or Fact? Your brain paralyzes your body when you sleep.

August 8, 2016June 30, 2017 knowingneurons 0 Comments 52 Brain Facts, Paralysis, REM, Sleep

52 Brain Facts Sleep

Myth or Fact? A misfolded protein can cause you to never sleep again.

July 4, 2016June 30, 2017 knowingneurons 0 Comments 52 Brain Facts, Brain, Disease, Fatal Familial Insomnia, FFI, gene, Insomnia, Misfolded, mutation, Neurons, Prion, Protein, Sleep, Thalamus

Did You Know? Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep

Melatonin: An Old Hormone with New Tricks

December 2, 2015March 5, 2017 knowingneurons 1 Comment Autoimmune, Circadian, Clock, Disease, EAE, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, Inflammation, interleukin, melatonin, MS, multiple sclerosis, Neuroinflammation, Pineal gland, Rhythm, Season, T cell

Melatonin: you’ve undoubtedly seen it in the supplement aisle at the drugstore…that natural sleep remedy your aunt recommended once, sounding vaguely like a portmanteau of mellow and serotonin. But between… Read more

Consciousness Did You Know? Sleep

Screensavers of the Brain: The Science of Dreaming

September 2, 2015July 10, 2017 Joel Frohlich 0 Comments Awake, Cycle, Dream, EEG, Hypnogram, K-complex, PGO, ponto-geniculo-occipital, Rapid eye movement, REM, Sleep, Spindle, waves

Each night, you place your head on your pillow, close your eyes, and, barring insomnia, you lose consciousness of the world around you, drifting into blissful oblivion. Eventually, you reawaken,… Read more

Did You Know? Sleep

Messing with the ‘Flip-Flop’ Switch: Why Getting Sick Makes You Sleepy

August 26, 2015March 5, 2017 knowingneurons 0 Comments Brainstem, Cytokines, Flip-flop, Grossberg, Histamine, Hypothalamus, Imeri, Narcolepsy, Neurotensin, Nishino, Orexin, Raphe Nucleus, Saper, serotonin, Sick, Sickness, Sleep, Switch

We all know how it feels to be sick. The fatigue, increased sleep, and general malaise that accompany a cold are the primary reasons people stay bedridden when ill. Even… Read more

Neuro News SfN 2014 Sleep

WIDE AWAKE at #SfN14

November 15, 2014March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 0 Comments Amita Sehgal, Awake, Brain, Circadian, Circuits, Clock, Cycle, Drosophila, Fruit fly, GABA, HHMI, Johns Hopkins, Large ventrolateral neurons, Neurons, SfN14, Sha Liu, Sleep, WAKE, Wide awake, Wu Lab

There’s always one person snoring through the talk you’re trying to listen to at SfN. That person might even be you at some point during this meeting! Whether you are… Read more

Neuro News Sensation and Perception Sleep

Sleep ‘til you’re Hungry. Eat ‘til you’re Sleepy.

November 25, 2013March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 0 Comments 2013, Brandeis, Drosophila, Fruit fly, Ghrelin, Hunger, Insomnia, Leslie Griffith, Neuron, Neuropeptide Y, NPY, obesity, Short Neuropeptide F Is a Sleep-Promoting Inhibitory Modulator, Sleep, sNPF

Have you ever tried to go to sleep hungry? Believe me, it doesn’t work. You just end up lying in bed, listening to your stomach growl, and dreaming about your… Read more

Aging Did You Know? Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep

Sweet Dreams or Amyloid Nightmares

November 7, 2013March 5, 2017 Jillian L. Shaw 0 Comments Alzheimer’s disease, Amyloid beta, amyloid-β plaques, Biomarker, circadian clock, circadian rhythm, David Holtzman, dementia, Disruption of the sleep-wake cycle and diurnal fluctuation of beta-amyloid in mice with Alzheimer's disease pathology, Hippocampus, Jee Hoon Roh, Memory, Microdialysis, Science Translational Medicine, Sleep

Sleep deprivation has become a badge of honor in our modern society. Competitions break out in coffee shop lines over who is functioning on the least number of Zzzzzs and… Read more

Neuro News Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep

From Turkey Comas To New Disease Treatments

April 22, 2013March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 0 Comments 2013, Alzheimer's, Amino acid, BBB, Blood-brain barrier, Crystallography, Disease, Drug, Huntington's, KMO, Metabolism, Nature, Neurodegeneration, Neurodegenerative disease, Sleep, Structural basis of kynurenine 3-monooxygenase inhibition, Target, Therapy, Tryptophan, UPF648

Neurodegenerative disorders, like Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s disease, are devastating. As you can imagine, witnessing the slow and progressive loss of a loved one’s mental and emotional states is an extremely… Read more

Brain Development Did You Know? Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep

Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Infographic

April 17, 2013March 5, 2017 Jooyeun Lee 1 Comment ASD, Asperger syndrome, Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorders, DSM-5, PDD-NOS

Neuro News Sleep

Disruption of Circadian Cycles Linked to Weight Gain

March 4, 2013March 5, 2017 Jooyeun Lee 3 Comments biological clock, BmaI1, circadian clock, circadian rhythm, diabetes, glucose, high-fat diet, Hypothalamus, insulin, insulin resistance, obesity, Sleep, sleep-wake cycle, suprachiasmatic nucleus

Every night during finals week, I studied into the wee hours of the morning and caught only a few hours of sleep. It was exhausting! After finals were over, I… Read more

Did You Know? Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep

24-Hour Service: The Circadian Clock

December 12, 2012March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 0 Comments circadian clock, clock genes, cortisol, depression, jet lag, melatonin, SAD, SCN, seasonal affective disorder, sleep-wake cycle, suprachiasmatic nucleus

Have you ever woken up minutes before your alarm sounded? This strange phenomenon isn’t just a bizarre coincidence! Like most living things, we have an extremely accurate and powerful internal… Read more

Learning and Memory Neuro News Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep

Let There Be Light!

December 10, 2012March 5, 2017 JuanVelasquez 0 Comments Aberrant light directly impairs mood and learning through melanopsin-expressing neurons, Brain, circadian rhythm, depression, Fluoxetine, Hattar, ipRGC, Learning, melanopsin, Memory, Nature Neuroscience, Retinal ganglion cells, RGCs, Sleep

When I was an undergraduate student, I was an expert at pulling “all-nighter” study sessions prior to exams and project deadlines. Once everything was said and done the next day,… Read more

Neuro News Sleep

Can you learn while you sleep?

November 12, 2012March 5, 2017 Kate Fehlhaber 0 Comments Arzi, Brain, Humans can learn new information during sleep, Learn, Learning, Nature Neuroscience, Neuroscience, Sleep, Stickgold, To sleep: perchance to learn

As a student, I have admittedly entertained the idea of learning by osmosis. Who wouldn’t want to catch some shut-eye with a textbook as your pillow and absorb all its… Read more

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