Sunday, February 22, 2015
Sleep; How Much Sleep do We Need
I recently read a study regarding sleeping habits. In the study the researchers proposed that we are getting too much sleep and that the idea that 8 hours of sleep a night is to much sleep. Before we had clocks or alarms or things to make us get up in the morning people would sleep for 2 to 4 hours then wake up for 2 hours and then return to sleeping for 4 hours. This would rejuvenate your body more fully than a straight 8 hours but with people packing each day really full and not allowing for enough time to get enough sleep we have reverted to a bad habit of sleeping for 8 hours. The researchers address pathos in this article because they talk to people who have performed the new sleeping pattern and they have described it as amazing and how they feel so much better and how they have more energy. People who sleep for 8 hours a night do not always have the same feelings towards waking up in the morning. Many times people who only sleep for 8 hours a night fall behind especially when they have commitments or have not planned enough time for sleep. The researchers also use logic. They placed someone in complete darkness for a month and this person reverted to the pattern of sleeping for 4 hours waking up for a few hours and then going back to sleep. They draw from this conclusion that our body does not want to sleep for 8 hours straight but we have trained them to function this way. It is important for us to remember to take care of our bodies. If we fight ourselves then we are harming our greatest asset to our productivity. Taking care of our bodies is the most important thing we need to do. If we let our bodies go we are sacrificing our greatest asset.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this blog post because I nap a lot, but I don't get a lot of sleep at night. So reading through the facts made me really curious about how much time we really need. I know that in Spain, they have a 'siesta time' which translates into 'nap time' and is a time in the afternoon they take a nap and rest, which makes me curious as to how there sleeping habits relate to the study. Another thing that connects to the study are the sleeping cycles: REM and non-REM. non-REM has three stages, each stage can last from 5 to 15 minutes, and you go through all of these three phases before reaching REM sleep. During the deep stages of non-REM sleep, the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle, and strengthens the immune system. As you get older, you sleep more lightly and get less deep sleep. Aging is also linked to shorter time spans of sleep. REM sleep usually happens 90 minutes after you fall asleep. You can have intense dreams during REM sleep, because the brain is more active. Babies can spend up to 50% of their sleep in their REM stage, compared to adults which only spend 20%. Which makes me curious about who the study was conducted on, since each sleeping patterns depend on the age of the sleeper.
ReplyDeleteFrom the description of the study, it seems that many various factors could be accounted for explaining why 8 hours of sleep is not the ideal amount. I agree with the previous comment that my sleep schedule is thrown off sometimes because of late nights and napping throughout the day. It is suggested that a 30 minute or 90 minute nap is ideal because that means a full REM cycle is completed. However, I find that many times after waking up from a 90 minute nap I feel more groggy and tired than I initially did before I went to sleep. I believe that in order for the article to be more effective, a greater appeal to logos could be used to address issues such as age for a sleep study. Additionally, pathos seems like a strong tool in studies like these because it convinces the reader to feel a certain way and lean toward the author's argument.
ReplyDeleteFrom the description of the study, it seems that many various factors could be accounted for explaining why 8 hours of sleep is not the ideal amount. I agree with the previous comment that my sleep schedule is thrown off sometimes because of late nights and napping throughout the day. It is suggested that a 30 minute or 90 minute nap is ideal because that means a full REM cycle is completed. However, I find that many times after waking up from a 90 minute nap I feel more groggy and tired than I initially did before I went to sleep. I believe that in order for the article to be more effective, a greater appeal to logos could be used to address issues such as age for a sleep study. Additionally, pathos seems like a strong tool in studies like these because it convinces the reader to feel a certain way and lean toward the author's argument.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this post because when I get more sleep, I find myself to be more drowsy and tired the next day. It had never made sense to me why it is easier to wake up for my 8:00 a.m. class than it is to wake up for my 11:00 a.m. class. When I did some research as to why that was happening, I read that your attempt to stock up on rest makes you feel even more tired by confusing the part of your brain that controls your body’s daily cycle. Over-sleeping regularly can actually cause long lasting health issues. But I would not say 8 hours of sleep would be over-sleeping.
ReplyDeleteRemember to relate your comments and posts to rhetoric! See BYU's site (the first blog post) or ask me if you're still rusty on the concept of rhetoric.
ReplyDelete