Sleep

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, 2018July 12, 2018 Joel Frohlich 8 Comments Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid plaques, beta-amyloid, circadian rhythm, dreams, Health, PET, Positron emission tomography, Sleep, sloth

n 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 5 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

… Read more

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

… Read more

Did You Know? Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep 

Melatonin: An Old Hormone with New Tricks

December 2, 2015March 5, 2017 knowingneurons 0 Comments 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 2 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 7 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