Sleep Archives - Knowing Neurons

It’s that time of year again when the days are getting shorter and the clocks are moved back. While many of us may consider the biannual time change to be… 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.

Multilingual Spanish

Lo Que Aprendí al Realizar Seguimiento de Mi Sueño con Fitbit Durante Dos Meses

August 6, 2021 Joel Frohlich Blood Oxygenation, EEG, Fitbit, Non-REM Sleep, Photoplethysmography, Polysomnography, PPG, REM sleep, Sleep, Sleep Apnea

Artículo original: What I Learned from Tracking My Sleep with Fitbit for Two Months, Joel Frohlich Traducido por Daniela Semerjian y Delaney Ivey ~~~ Si alguien me hubiera dicho hace… Read more

Multilingual Spanish

La Parálisis del Sueño ¿Qué es y qué lo causa?

June 26, 2021August 6, 2021 Mira Rakicevic 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

Artículo original: Sleep Paralysis: What Is It and What Causes It?, Mira Rakicevic Traducido por Valia Gregory ~~~ La parálisis del sueño es un tipo de parasomnia (un término general… Read more

Multilingual Spanish

Neuro Cartilla: El Envejecimiento

June 26, 2021August 6, 2021 Gabrielle Torre AD, Age-related cognitive decline, Aging, ALS, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer’s disease, Amyloid, amyloid plaques, Baby Boomers, beta-amyloid, Brain activation, Brain cells, Cardiovascular health, Childhood, Cognition, Cognitive performance, Cortex, dementia, Disease, Executive function, Exercise, Genetics, glutamate, Hippocampus, Longevity, Memory, Memory decline, myelin, Nervous System, Neurogenesis, Neuroimaging, Neurons, Neuroplasticity, Neuroscience, Neurotransmitters, Normal aging, Parkinson's, Parkinson's Disease, Plasticity, Quality of life, Research, Science, Sleep, Sleep habits, Ventricles, Working memory

Artículo original: Neuro Primer: Aging, Gabrielle Torre Traducido por Daniela Semerjian ~~~ ¿Qué le sucede al cerebro en el envejecimiento? El envejecimiento normal viene con muchos cambios en la estructura… Read more

Multilingual Spanish

Neuro Cartilla: El Sueño

May 28, 2021August 6, 2021 Joel Frohlich Adenosine, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer’s disease, ascending activating system, atonia, Brainstem, Caffeine, Coffee, Dreaming, dreams, general anesthesia, Hypnogram, locus coeruleus, NREM, Optic Chiasm, parasomnia, Raphe Nucleus, rapid eye movement sleep, REM, REM sleep behavior disorder, Sleep, Sleep paralysis, suprachiasmatic nucleus, synchronization, tuberomammillary nucleus

Artículo original: Neuro Primer: Sleep, Joel Frohlich Traducido por Daniela Semerjian. ~~~ Es fácil preguntar: “¿Por qué dormir?” Pero también podemos darle la vuelta a la pregunta: “¿Por qué despertarse?”… Read more

Interviews Joel's Pick

So that’s what the claustrum does!

September 24, 2020October 31, 2020 Marco Travaglio claustrum, Consciousness, Interviews, Joel's Pick, Optogenetics, Research, Sleep, sleep waves

Three years ago, I asked “What the heck is a claustrum?” In that piece, I described the mystery of this oddly shaped brain region, located just below the cerebral cortex.… Read more

Brain Basics Consciousness Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sensation and Perception Sleep

Sleep Paralysis: What Is It and What Causes It?

December 30, 2019June 3, 2021 Mira Rakicevic 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

Collaborations Neuroscience Technologies Sleep

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

August 28, 2019August 28, 2019 Joel Frohlich 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

Brain Basics Neuro Primer Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Neuro Primer: Sleep

March 20, 2019May 31, 2021 Joel Frohlich Adenosine, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer’s disease, ascending activating system, atonia, Brainstem, Caffeine, Coffee, Dreaming, dreams, general anesthesia, Hypnogram, Hypothalamus, locus coeruleus, NREM, Optic Chiasm, parasomnia, Raphe Nucleus, rapid eye movement sleep, REM, REM sleep behavior disorder, Sleep, Sleep paralysis, suprachiasmatic nucleus, synchronization, tuberomammillary nucleus

Spanish Translation also available here: Neuro Cartilla: El Sueño ~~~ It’s easy to ask: “Why sleep?” But we can also turn the question on its head: “Why wake?” We need… Read more

Aging Brain Basics Neuro Primer Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Neuro Primer: Aging

October 10, 2018October 8, 2018 Gabrielle Torre AD, Age-related cognitive decline, Aging, ALS, Alzheimer's, Alzheimer’s disease, Amyloid, amyloid plaques, Baby Boomers, beta-amyloid, Brain activation, Brain cells, Cardiovascular health, Childhood, Cognition, Cognitive performance, Cortex, dementia, Disease, Executive function, Exercise, Genetics, glutamate, Hippocampus, Longevity, Memory, Memory decline, myelin, Nervous System, Neurogenesis, Neuroimaging, Neurons, Neuroplasticity, Neuroscience, Neurotransmitters, Normal aging, Parkinson's, Parkinson's Disease, Plasticity, Quality of life, Research, Science, Sleep, Sleep habits, Ventricles, Working memory

What happens to the brain in aging? Normal aging comes with many changes in brain structure and function. As individuals approach the age of 65 years and above, they experience… Read more

Consciousness Sleep

Our Dreams Have Many Purposes, Changing Across the Lifespan

July 5, 2018 Patrick McNamara 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 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

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

Consciousness: The Final Frontier

February 21, 2018February 21, 2018 Joel Frohlich Anesthesia, Brain, Cerebellum, Cerebral Cortex, complexity, Conscious, Consciousness, Cortex, Death, Evolution, Giulio Tononi, Human, Information, Integrated Information Theory, Lesions, Life, Neurons, Neurophilosophy, philosophy, Qualia, Seizure, Sleep, Solipsism, Systems, Thomas Nagel, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulaion, Zombies

When I walk through my kitchen, I smell fresh food and feel warmth radiating off of it. These internal, subjective experiences are called qualia. I assume that my refrigerator, my… Read more

Brain Basics Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep

The inescapable nightmare of fatal familial insomnia

October 31, 2017May 27, 2022 Sean Noah 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

How to Give Thanks Like a Neuroscientist

November 23, 2016June 30, 2017 Anita Amygdala, Brain, Brain stem, Cortex, Cranial nerves, Emoji, Flight or fight, Food, Fusiform, Gratitude, gravy boat, Hippocampus, melatonin, Nerve, Neuroscience, Neuroscientist, olfactory, PLoS, PLOS Blogs, PLOS Neuro, Prefrontal, Pumpkin pie, Receptor, Sleep, suprachiasmatic nucleus, Thanks, Thanksgiving, Ventral, Ventral Tegmental Area, VTA

You’re on your way to the traditional Thanksgiving family get-together. You drive down a familiar street, locate your familiar house, and park in a familiar spot.… Read more

Brain Basics Did You Know? Sleep Weird Animal Brain

Weird animal brain: Bottlenose dolphin

October 10, 2016June 30, 2017 Kayleen Schreiber 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

Did You Know? Sensation and Perception

This is Your Brain on Starbucks

October 6, 2016June 30, 2017 Joel Frohlich Adenosine, Adenosine triphosphate, ATP, Caffeine, Coffee, Espresso, Mescaline, neurotransmitter, Psychoactive, Sleep, Starbucks, Stimulate, Tea

My father often jokes that hundreds of years from now, future anthropologists will speak of the cult of the Seattle goddess, her shrine adorning every airport, shopping mall, and train… Read more

52 Brain Facts Sleep

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

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

Big Ideas

Learning from Disorder: The Paradox of Information in the Brain

July 20, 2016June 30, 2017 Joel Frohlich Brain, Calcium, Carol Jung, Chaos, Chinese, Claude Shannon, Entropy, Experiments, Granule, Imaging, Information, Information theory, inhibitory, Komiyama, Mice, Mitral, Neurons, Neuroscience, Odor, Olfaction, Olfactory Bulb, paradox, Research, Seizure, Sleep, Sparse coding, theory, Videos, x, YouTube, z, Zebrafish

In Dante’s Inferno, the fifth circle of Hell is a place where the wrathful fight each other for eternity. Similarly, I often consider YouTube comments to be an extracanonical circle… 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 52 Brain Facts, Brain, Disease, Fatal Familial Insomnia, FFI, gene, Insomnia, Misfolded, mutation, Neurons, Prion, Protein, Sleep, Thalamus

52 Brain Facts

Myth or Fact? A single number can soon quantify your level of consciousness.

June 6, 2016June 30, 2017 knowingneurons Asleep, Awake, Brain, Conscious, Consciousness, Giulio Tononi, Integrated Information Theory, Math, Mathematical, Phi, Sleep, State

52 Brain Facts

Myth or Fact? We only dream when we sleep.

March 14, 2016March 13, 2016 knowingneurons 52 Brain Facts, Day Dream, Dreaming, hypnagogic hallucination, Narcolepsy, Sleep

52 Brain Facts

Myth or Fact? The mechanism by which caffeine keeps humans awake is a mystery.

November 2, 2015 knowingneurons 52 Brain Facts, Adenosine, Awake, Caffeine, Receptor, Sleep

Consciousness Did You Know? Sleep

Screensavers of the Brain: The Science of Dreaming

September 2, 2015July 10, 2017 Joel Frohlich 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 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 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 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 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 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

Neuro News Sleep

Disruption of Circadian Cycles Linked to Weight Gain

March 4, 2013March 5, 2017 Jooyeun Lee 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

Learning and Memory Neuro News Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Sleep

Let There Be Light!

December 10, 2012March 5, 2017 JuanVelasquez 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 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