The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Brain and Behavior
Sleep deprivation is a commonplace occurrence in modern culture. Every day there seems to be twice as much work and half as much time to complete it in. This results in either extended periods of wakefulness or a decrease in sleep over an extended period of time. While some people may like to believe that they can train their bodies to not require as much sleep as they once did this belief is false (1). Sleep is needed to regenerate certain parts of the body, especially the brain, so that it may continue to function optimally. After periods of extended wakefulness or reduced sleep neurons may begin to malfunction, visibly effecting a person's behavior. Some organs, such as muscles, are able to regenerate even when a person is not sleeping so long as they are resting. This could involve lying awake but relaxed within a quite environment. Even though cognitive functions might not seem necessary in this scenario the brain, especially the cerebral cortex, is not able to rest but rather remains semi-alert in a state of "quiet readiness" (2). Certain stages of sleep are needed for the regeneration of neurons within the cerebral cortex while other stages of sleep seem to be used for forming new memories and generating new synaptic connections. The effects of sleep deprivation on behavior have been tested with relation to the presence of activity in different sections of the cerebral cortex.
The temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex is associated with the processing of language. During verbal learning tests on subjects who are fully rested functional magnetic resonance imaging scans show that this area of the brain is very active. However, in sleep deprived subjects there is no activity within this region (3), (4), (5). The effects of this inactivity can be observed by the slurred speech in subjects who have gone for prolonged periods with no sleep (6).
Even severely sleep deprived people are still able to perform to some degree on a verbal learning test. This implies that some other area of the brain must become active to compensate for the loss of temporal lobe functioning. In fact, activity can be seen in the parietal lobe that is not present during verbal learning tests using rested subjects (5). Greater activity within this region corresponded to better performance by subjects in research studies (7).
Pierce, Jon L. and John W. Newstrom (2011) 6th edition. Leaders and the Leadership Process.
In a study conducted by Mary Fox, she found that preferences for academic careers in research universities are higher among men, whereas preferences for academic careers in teaching at colleges or universities is higher among women. Preferences can be established early in the child’s life, whether it is from childhood socialization or experiences in the classroom. These preferences play a role as an intervening factor that can reflect individual inclinations and expectations of what is deemed feasible by both gender and the field in science. For example, in an evaluation study by Shelly Correll, participants were asked to assess their own competence at a particular task. The assessments they made either increased or decreased their emerging aspirations for paths that required competence at that certain task. When men and women make different assessments of their own competence, gender differences emerge with respect to aspirations for paths requiring some level of task ability. Prospects, on the other hand, can be influenced by the individual’s perception of possibilities.
The statistics can be somewhat startling, while women receive 56% of BA degrees in the United States, they receive only 37% of the Science, Mathematics, and Engineering (SME) bachelor degrees (Chang, 1). As scary as the statistics on women are, they only point to an even bigger problem among all SME majors. According to one study, there is a 40% decline in the number of undergraduate science majors between the first and senior year of college (Didon, 336). Another study found that about 50% of the students who enter college in SME majors will change their major in two years (Change, 1). In a study of Hispanic American women who declared physical science or mathematics majors, 50% drop out within the first grading period (Ortiz, 1). The lack of SME majors has often been blamed on America’s high schools or even elementary schools, with university professors claiming students are not encouraged to consider science careers or are unprepared by their high school teachers. The statistics tell another story, no matter which specific numbers you consider, 50% in two years or 40% in their college careers, students are getting turned off from SME careers while in college, not high school. And the problem isn’t just with women; men are fleeing the sciences as well.
When a narrator is deemed unreliable, there is conflict between the narrator’s presentation and the rest of the novel that makes readers suspect his sincerity and reliability. Readers often read between the lines and come to the conclusion that the narrator is either withholding the true version of the story or lacking the ability to tell the truth. There are three specific sources of unreliability according to Rimmon-Keenan they are the narrator’s limited knowledge, his or her personal involvement, and his or her questionable morals (100-101). Factors that could contribute to a narrator’s unreliability is that the narrator is young and inexperienced, old with failing memory, or has a low IQ. These are all cases of limited understanding and knowledge on the part of the narrator. When narrators are personally involved in the story, they tend to portray events or characters i...
Medical technology is advancing faster today than ever before allowing for easier, faster, simpler and advances in medical devices, procedures and diagnosis’. Medical devices also keep getting smaller; very, very small – the size of a nanometre. Nanotechnology is technology that controls matter at a molecular level. Nano means one billionth of a metre which is the range of an atom. (Appendix 1, Figure 1)
...rior temporal cortices during word generation. However, dlPFC changes are not seen during tasks when they are required to made lexical decisions about hear words suggesting that the dlPFC plays a role in modulating the generation of words (Frith et al., 1991). In a study of the effects of focal anterior and posterior brain regions on verbal fluency, Stuss and colleagues (1998) suggest that although deficits are seen with superior medial frontal damage, those with left dlPFC, striatal and left parietal damage are most impaired on letter-based fluency. Patients with right dlPFC lesions do not show deficits in this task. The same lesions also produced deficits on category-based fluency, but so did right dlPFC damage. They are that the specific role of the dlPFC in these tasks is initiation and activation, verbal articulatory rehearsal and sustained production.
Many studies of the role of sleep are partial or total sleep deprivation studies which support Oswold’s restoration theory. One of these supporting studies was Dement’s. He deprived participants of REM sleep and consequently found that they increased their number of attempted REM stages from 12 to 26 over 4-7 nights. During their first uninterrupted night, participants increased their REM sleep by 10% which is known as REM rebound. This suggests the importance of REM and the possibility that the purpose of sleep is to get into REM sleep. The participants reported anxiety, irritability and difficulty concentrating which shows that REM sleep is needed to avoid these affects and enable brain recovery which corresponds with Oswold’s theory. Even so, Dement’s study has low ecological validity, it has low population validity because there were only 8 participants and they were a self-selected sample. Participants would probably have shown demand characteristics because the experiment took place in a lab. It also has low mundane realism because people would not usually sleep in a lab and be interrupted repeatedly.
Sleeping is something that is an essential part of human nature and is a must in order for one to be a functional human being. Sleep is an idea that is accompanied by many wives’ tales, including the ideas that one needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night and alcohol helps one fall asleep and sleep more soundly. One myth about sleep is that during sleeping, one is in a state of nothingness. In truth, however, it has been discovered that during sleep the brain is active, variations in heartbeat and breathing occur, and the eyes and ears are active throughout the time of sleep. These activities during a person’s sleep are important because they help that person be more aware, awake, and alert during consciousness. If all of these important activities occur during sleep, why is it that people are so willing to short themselves of this vital activity? Although much about sleep still remains a mystery, research and experiments continue to show how important sleep is to each and every person. Throughout this paper, I will discuss sleep and the effects that it has on performance and health, especially in college students. A college student’s sleeping pattern is a reliable indicator to their level of performance in the classroom and other school-affiliated activities, as a lack of sleep leads to decreased performance. Sleep is directly related the level of performance and health in an individual; the more rested a person is, the better that person will perform and feel (Dryer, 2006).
Kathleen Buse, Diana Bilimoria, Sheri Perelli, "Why they Stay: Women Persisting in US engineering careers". Career Development International, 18 (2013): 2. Print.
Science that deals with study of materials or any particles that is so small and measured in nanometer scale is called “Nanoscience”. Study about very small particles and its chemical and physical changes at nanoscale is not an easy business. Nanotechnology studies the big picture of those small particles, manipulates them to advance new devices and materials. The name “nanotechnology” was created in year 1974 (). But the concept of manipulating Nano particles has been around for centuries mainly in crafting examples are 4th century Lycurgus cup, 13th-18th centuries Damascus saber blades and etc (). Introduction of nanotechnology was to attain multiple benefits to society in many areas like energy production and conservation, pollution clean-up and medicine (). The danger that tags along with this benefiting science does need to be understood before their usage becomes prevalent. Environmental scientists who are concerned about health of organisms and hazard to environment are researching and accessing about toxicity, distribution and fate of the nanoparticles that is released into the environment.
Throughout the years, the technology available has increased drastically. Technology has evolved from the things that were once seen as unbelievable and mindboggling, to common everyday devices and some of which are now a part of us. Thanks to technology we are able to examine and solve problems now that were only a dream to many scientists 25 years ago. As we have increase our ability to use these devices, the developments and progress in artificial intelligence and molecular technology have created a new form of technology; Nanotechnology.
Early in the 20th century, Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, built a factory on 2,000 acres of property in where huge machines, and a massive assembly line and everything needed to build an automobile was located on sight. At the time, bigger was better to mass-produce this new up and coming “transportation technology”. With the passing of time, we have moved away from the idea of “bigger is better” and with the advancements of the computer technology, and medicine world finding out ways of improving the way of life at a microscopical level, “smaller and smaller will be better”. One such technological advancement that will function at this microscopical level will be nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology deals with matter that cannot be seen with the naked eye, nor the typical classroom microscope because it involves objects with the dimensions of 100 billionths of a meter or less. It is hard to truly imagine how small nanotechnology is. There are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch. A sheet of newspaper is approximately 100,000 nanometers thick. Due to its extremely small
Sleep is a very important factor in the human function. Our body and brain is able to reset itself and rejuvenate while we sleep. When we do not get the required amount of sleep, we start to feel lethargic and foggy minded, because our mind and body wasn’t able to replenish itself. Sleep is imperative that an insignificant rest deficiency or lack of sleep can affect our ability to remember things; decisions and can affect our temperament. Chronic sleep deficiency can get the body to feel agitated and it could lead to serious health problems such as, heart problems, stress, acne, and obesity.
Nanotechnology is the construction and the use of functional structures designed from an atomic or molecular scale with at least one characteristic dimension measured in nanometers. The prefix "nano" comes from the ancient Greek word for "dwarf". In science it means one billionth (10 to the minus 9) of something. So, a nanometer (nm) is one billionth of a meter, or 0.000000001 meters. A nanometer is about three to five atoms wide, or some 40,000 times smaller than the thickness of human hair. Their special size allows them to significantly improve physical, chemical, and biological properties, phenomena, and processes. Nanotechnology is an exciting area of scientific advancement which promises “more for less”. It offers ways to create smaller, cheaper, lighter and faster devices that can do more and cleverer things while using less raw mat...