The way we go from sleeping to the state of wakes is more complex than you might think. The form and, most importantly, the moment we wake up can have a great effect on the way we immediately feel.
We have known for a long time, at least since the REM band exists, that the Sleep happens in cycles. There is phase I of sleep, in which, perhaps, intuitively, we are still awake – this is where we can feel that we are “falling asleep”, perhaps with some hypnotic bumps along the way.
Siturally, passages the sounding II of the sound, ou “they are levers“, Of which one can wake up quite easily. It is then passed to phase III, the level deep sleepwhich is more difficult to wake up.
We oscillate through these phases throughout the nightpunctuating each fall and climb with an explosion of remmpeth sleep and, more often than one might think, a short wave period.
Throughout this cycle, our brain is going through Some amazing changes. Our brain waves, usually a constant alpha oscillation when we are relaxed, move to a teat pattern – a rhythm often associated with memory formation and navigation which is sporadically interrupted by sudden and short explosions of neural activity known as “sleep zones”.
Finally, in deep sleep, our brain waves slow down in such a way that they become delta waves, with frequencies as low as 0.5 Hz.
All this is known, thanks to EEGthat is, to electroencephalographyBut what is not known yet so far is how we wake up from this cycle. Can this same technique be used to answer this new question?
According to, a Swiss team thought It was worth trying. “Conventional electroencephalography […] It is the standard technique for recording sleep in a naturalistic environment and clinical disorders, ”they point out in their new article – but“ regional EEG changes at the exact moment of sleep transition to the waking were not investigated in detail ”.
Document what happens in the brain when wakes up is “of great interest,” the authors write, in the study published in “Not only to better understand how regional vigil reestablishment affects cognition and behavior, but also because many sleep disorders, including insomnia and parasonies, are characterized by incomplete, excessive or abruptly timed awakens.”
“Understanding spatial dynamics underlying these awakenings can thus improve their detection and help identify underlying neural substrates,” they suggest.
You may think that waking up is the same as falling asleep, but on the contrary. It turns out that this is not the case. Rachel Roweneuroscientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder, who did not participate in the study, said that “waking up is an orderly wave of activation that moves from front to the brain.”
This was the conclusion that the team arrived at Analyst Mais of 1000 Awakens – both spontaneous and resulting from an alarm – experienced by 20 participants in the studyeach with 256 EEG sensors on the scalp. To be clear, there are many sensors: “In their usual configuration, [um EEG] It uses only a few electrodes, ”says the document.
But “the surprise is the consistency [deste padrão] in all awakening, ”he said Francesca Siclariresearcher at the Dutch Institute of Neuroscience and senior author of the study. The sleep march to the wakefulness begins, it seems, on the front, in regions associated with executive function and decision making; The warning state spreads backwards through the brain, ending in a region in the back associated with vision.
At least, that’s what happens normally. “The brain responds differently to signs of excitement, depending on the phase in which it is,” continued Stephan, in a statement about the investigation.
And waking from front to back? Technically, this only happens when we wake up from REM sleep – which is sleep associated with lived dreams, when brain activity is more similar to when we are awake. Apparently, it is also a state of which we need to be shaken: when we wake up from REM sleep, “the cortex responds immediately with a quick activity, similar to the awakening,” explained Stephan.
The not-tone awakening, on the contrary, is a gradual process – And there is an extra step, with the warning state slowly starting in a “hub”Brain central. It is only after this that the standard standard from front to back begins.
The reason for this is critical to the functioning of non-dem sleep, explained Stephan. “In non-sleep, the neurons that connect centers of excitement to the cortex alternate between states of activity and silence-a dynamic known as ‘Biestability’,” he said. “As a result of this biestability, any stimulus of arousal triggers a slow wave first, before going to a faster activity.”
“In contrast, REM sleep does not have this BIESTABLE STANDARD”.
So, with the process of awakening now understood more with more detail than ever, can we finally say goodbye to those horrible mornings in which we dragged out of bed? Well… maybe, in fact – because, it seems, there is a perceptible pattern of how we feel awake based on how and when we wake up.
“We discovered a new look when slow waves can have very different and opposite behaviors,” said Stephan. Some slow waves are acting as elements of excitement – They are part of the “wake up!” Sign. The more these waves occur immediately before awakening, the more alert they tend to feel upon waking. ”
However, he explained, “the other slow waves – whether they are present before waking or persisting later – are the reason we sometimes feel so sleepy in the early moments of the day.”
It is just an initial step, but the team expects its results to be used in future investigations on various Sleep disorders.
With further investigation, their findings can help predict drowsiness in people with Sleep Apnea or to control sleep -related seizures. “If we better understand the process, we can also better identify the signs of hyperexcitation in sleep disorders,” said Stephan.
Generally, “This study provides a new perspective on the path of the brain between sleep and wakefulnessHe added, “offering a window to one of the most fundamental transitions of human consciousness.”
Teresa Oliveira Campos, Zap //
