What is Sleep Lab

It has been more than 50 years since scientists first discovered that the brain is highly active during sleep. Since then, careful observations and technical innovations have helped us understand a great deal about what goes on when we sleep. We know many of the most common characteristics and patterns of sleep, as well as how diseases, medications, certain behaviors, and varied lifestyle choices influence when and how well we sleep. Take a first-hand look at the sleep patterns of healthy sleepers of various ages and explore how shift work and certain sleep disorders affect the amount, pattern, and depth of sleep. To see what sleep looks like to researchers and sleep physicians, enter the Sleep Lab. launch interactive During REM sleep (the stage of sleep most associated with dreaming) there is an increase in the firing rate of most neurons throughout the brain, as compared to non-REM sleep. In fact, the brain in REM sleep can even be more active than when we are awake. Patterns of brain activity during REM sleep are more random and variable, similar to during wakefulness. This pattern of brain activity during REM sleep probably underlies the intense

dreaming that occurs during this state.

 In all mammals and many other animals, sleep can be defined in much the

same way that we define sleep for humans. However, there are some

notable differences among species. When humans sleep, the entire brain is

involved. Dolphins and whales, on the other hand, need to maintain

consciousness while they sleep so they can occasionally surface to breathe.

In these marine mammals, sleep occurs in only one hemisphere of their

brain at a time—allowing for some degree of consciousness and vigilance

to be maintained at all times.