During the first ten minutes of class today, let’s continue your regular writing and summarization practice. In class, write a summary of your reading of the Sleep chapter from John Medina’s Brain Rules. After class, type up your summary, save it, and copy-and-paste it into a comment to this blog post. You have until class on Monday next week to complete this. As you write your summary, you can write about how the reading relates to things that you have experienced, learned, or read before.
19 thoughts on “Beginning of Class Writing, John Medina’s Brain Rules, “Sleep””
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Medina starts talking about sleep in terms of the benefits and negatives of certain aspects of sleep. He talks about sleep in was we otherwise did not know about, have not heard about, or just downright not care about. The way our sleep works is that our brains have an internal chemical “war” where one side represents sleep, and the other, staying awake. If the sleep side wins, we fall asleep, and stay asleep, until the awake side wins. The more time the sleep side is active, or controlling, the more time the other side will control our brain when it comes time for them to control us. This is the basics on how our sleep pattern works. Sleep is also important in maintaining good physical and mental health. Not sleeping enough makes our cognitive skills suffer, while also making our organs function as that of someone older than ourselves. On the other hand, your body is rejuvenated every time you sleep the amount your body needs. In the long run, your body will be at its full potential. Sleep also helps us process knowledge that we got before we went to sleep. One accountant made so many calculations while asleep that his wife recorded them. One tip Medina gave that personally is gold, is that if you plan to pull an all-nighter, getting a 30 minute nap beforehand helps keep your cognitive processes exponentially better than not having that small nap. This is important because if finals are that tough where I need to study for that long, now I know what will help me process that info better.
Everybody loves to sleep. Most people is not sure why they love to sleep, but it is actually your mind that loves to sleep. Sleep plays an important role on how the human mind function throughout the day. In John Medina Brian Rules sleep chapter, he explains how without a good amount of sleep, the brain ability to function properly drops. The brain ability to function drops because the body and mind is not getting the rest it needs to take in all that occurred the past day. In addition to the past day, according to Brain Rules sleep chapter, the brain also helps you keep the memories of the past day. Judging from my own experiences John Medina hit it right on the money when he said, “Napping for 30 minutes before pulling an all-nighter keeps your mind sharper in the wee hours. (Medina 47).” As a student in college, during my breaks I would take a 30-45 minute nap in between class. These naps have shown help gain a significant increase in brain function, and awareness. Another fact that is true is how every person mind have their own alarm clock. Have you ever forget to set your timer for the morning, but still manage to wake up approximately that exact time you would have set that timer? It is said by John Medina Brain Rules that based on a person average wake up time, that the brain starts to adapt to the time so that a person wouldn’t even need a physical alarm clock. In conclusion Sleep is the best, and a healthy way to remove stress. The brain not only gets refreshed, but is sort of a way to restart a bad day with a new one. I recommend John Medina Brain Rules sleep chapter to all students because I believe that reading this chapter would improve a students studying, and brain functionality in school, just by sleeping.
In this chapter, John medina talks about how getting enough to sleep is good for the body and the human thinking brain. Sleep is a very important role for the body. When your brain tells your body to go to sleep your body will follow that command. When the body is at rest you are able to function better the next day, ur not hallucinating, and you won’t feel like a doormat. People who lack sleep hurt attention, proper body function, some type of hallucination, working memory, mood, logical reasoning, and quantitive skills. Supposedly, people are supposed to get 8 hours of sleep. Recently a study was done on a New York disk jockey, Petter Tripp about not sleeping for 200 hours straight. Throughout the experiment Petter Tripp agreed to having professionals watch his health and to see how well the experiment is going. Later on within the 100hrs or so he started to hallucinate. Finally at the end of the experiment he started to hear things that were not taking place. As a student in college I tend to get very tired at the end of the day where I just go home, eat dinner, shower, try to do home work, and sleep. Traveling puts a very big load on my shoulders because I loose large amounts of sleep and tend to be very tired. Taking a 20 minute power nap will help the brain function better. Both mentally and physically. People who work and go to school should have certain amount of sleeping hours so when they get up in the morning they wake up feeling good and ready to start their day.
In brain rules sleep chapter Medina talks about the costs, benefits, and the overall reason of why we sleep. There are a series of chemicals and hormones that contribute to you being awake and asleep known as process S and process C. he describes it as a battle for control over the body. He also talks about what happens when we don’t get enough sleep, our brain starts to lose its cognitive skill. These skills include attention, excessive function, working memory, mood, logic and reasoning, and motor dexterity. Another example is that when sleep deprived, the body can’t utilize food properly, like producing insulin to regulate blood sugar. Not only that but it can also cause an increase your body’s stress hormone levels, and by doing so it further accelerates the aging process. but he also says that every one needs the right amount of sleep and the amount varies for every individual. but overall the brain needs sleep to learn, the brain recalls past experiences in sleep and if interrupted could lead to forgetting it.
In the sleep chapter in John Medina’s Brain Rules, he talks about how sleep benefits and boosts our brains function. We are told during sleep, our brains are still functioning and is actually functioning more than when we are awake. This is a remarkable and crazy thing our brain does. We are also told that sleep not only helps our memory and mood but also logical reasoning and even motor dexterity. John Medina also talks about how our brain has “two sides”. He sees it as two armies of legions of our brain that fight constantly. Its the fight between cells and biochemicals or a fight between staying awake and going to sleep. Our brain is constantly at battle to keep us awake or to go to sleep. John Medina also talks about how when its 3PM, its the worst time to be productive because its a 12 hour span from when we are asleep. This is when our brains want to give us a break and take a nap and therefore, it isn’t functioning as well as if we were to use it at around 12PM. We are told that napping is actually very good for you, but we don’t really nap anymore because society pushed it aside to be more productive throughout our day. We are told that researcher found that a NASA pilot’s performance increased by 34% by just taking a 26 minute nap. So the next time, before i take a test or anything else, i’ll take a good 26 minute nap to boost my brain’s productivity.
Sleep, It’s something every human in the world pretty much need’s in order to function through out the day and without it most would pretty much be cranky and not function right (Even with the power of coffee being in your system every morning). In John Medina’s “Brain Rules” in the chapter called “Sleep” he speaks about how sleep is essential to the body and brain, However the brain does not actually shut off while you are sleep but in fact still active as ever. Without sleep though the brain tends to not to work correctly and will not function like it usually should when you get more sleep. For example, You won’t pay attention as much in class or pretty much anywhere, Your memory won’t be much so in tact or even your mood will drastically change without getting enough sleep. Ironically we never really know how much sleep a person needs specifically. It’s something that can change as the days go on by within your life. But if you take a nap along the day the body tends to get more of a boost and improves the body and pretty much catches up on those hours of sleep that you happened to miss out on. Overall sleep is something that is vital to the brain and without it the brain won’t be able to function like it should be able to.
In the sleep chapter of John Medina’s “Brain Rules,” he mentions how a man by the name of Peter Tripp attempted to stay up for 200 straight hours. During the first 72 hours, he seemed fine without any noticeable affects but shortly afterwards his attitude began to change as he became rude and offensive. After 120 hours, his condition became even worse as he started to have some paranoid hallucinations and psychosis. The sleep chapter focuses on how sleeping or even taking a small nap in the middle of the day can boost your brain’s performance by 34 percent. One major fact the Medina mentions is that your sleep and wake cycle is a continuous conflict that takes place in your body. Process C (circadian arousal system) consist of neurons and hormones that help keep you awake. Process S (homeostatic sleep drive) consist substances that keep you asleep. Medina also talks about how we each have our own sleep system. There are three types of sleep systems which are larks, owls, and hummingbirds. Larks (early chronotypes) are the type of people who are most productive in the morning and usually sleep around 9 p.m. Owls (late chronotypes) are the type of people who are most productive in the late evening and usually go to sleep around 3 a.m. The rest are known as hummingbirds but the majority of the hummingbirds are more like larks. Sleep is an essential factor for the brain because without it we would experience loss in our brain’s performance in forms of memory, mood, logic, and attention. One night without sleep can lead to a 30 percent loss of cognitive performance which is doubled if another day is added.
Within the Sleep chapter of John Medina’s “Brain Rules” the chapter starts off with a man who decided to raise funds for a major American charity by staying awake for 200 hours straight. This man was Peter Tripp. He got inside a glass booth in the most visible place possible in Time Square and rigged up a radio so that he could broadcast his show. While doing this, he allowed scientist and medical professionals to monitor his behavior the longer he stood without sleep. For the first 72 hours everything was fine, however, as time continued to progress, Tripp became much more rude and offensive to people around him. He eventually began to experience hallucinations and by the 120 hour mark, he began to show real signs of mental impairment. Once the 200 hour mark set in, he was done. Supposedly he stood in bed for a long time after that. This chapter takes an in depth look as to how important sleep really is to the human brain, as well as the complexity of sleep due to the fact that according to the text, your brain is never sleeping. It is stated that your brain is at constant war with itself, whether it be to stay awake, or to go to sleep. The chapter also explains why we actually sleep since the brain is never really asleep. It is done so that the brain can replay what you learned during the day. It is also stated in this chapter that every individuals sleep cycle may vary. In order to obtain the most out of sleep is to find out how much our body needs to rest in order to function properly through out the day. It is also stated that naps during the day can be very beneficial being that it is something universal.
In the third chapter of John Medina’s book “sleep” it contain a very important concept for our daily life. According to this chapter while we sleep the brain develops a little more, and refresh memories as well. Medina describes two types of hormones that are constantly in battle inside of us so they can have control over us. The fist one he describe it as Process C (circadian arousal system) this process contain the hormones that keep us awake. On the other hand we have Process S (homeostatic sleep drive) and this process consist in keeping us asleep. He also delight the reader with a short story that was about Peter Tripp. He decide not to sleep for 200 hr, specialist decide to look closer and see if anything changes in him during the experiment. The first 72 hr were fine he was doing his show as was on the scheduled. after that his humor and attitude changes he was being rude and disrespectful to the people and his humor was no longer the same. Scientist and specialist that were washing this reactions realize that sleep it’s a very important part for our brain health, it help to keep it fresh and rest. Moreover sleep it’s connected to concentration, humor, abilities (ETC ) so when their is not enough sleep this thing may go away as well. As he also said all depends on how many hours you need to rest, so you feel 100% release. So Sleep it’s a important a very important part of our develop and mental health. be careful! and rest!
In John Medina’s sleep chapter in “Brain Rules”, he states that sleep does impacts the way our brain functions. Medina mentions that without a proper night’s sleep it is difficult to focus and learn the next day. He states that studies have been made where one group has to accomplish a task without being able to “sleep on it” while another group did get that opportunity. It turned out that the group to sleep on their ideas had a better performance and results compared to the other group. John Medina also compares two functions in our brains to armies. He says it’s a constant battle between a drive that wants to keep you awake and another that wants to make you fall asleep. It’s always a win one-lose one battle between the two drives that constantly repeats
In John Median third chapter, he discusses the third brain rule, sleep. This to me is something very important because it’s something I never seem to get enough of. He starts off by telling us about Peter Tripp, who was a New York disk jockey in 1959. Tripp decided that he was going to put himself in a glass box and not sleep for 200 hours straight. He did it in the most visible place possible, Time Square and he welcome all scientist to observe. It was okay for the first 72 hours but as time goes on it started to worsen. At 120 hours or 5 days that’s when he started to show real mental impairment. In the end he made it spending 200 hours or a little more than 8 days in a glass box without sleeping. This was a onetime life experience and it shows the effect sleeping have on the body.
There are about twenty families in the world that suffer from Fatal Familial Insomnia. And because of this disorder, in they mid to late adulthood they started to experience fever and other medical problem and eventually died. This is another example that shows how not sleeping could be fatal. In this chapter there is one thing that seems to work and that is the power nap. By sleeping 30min during the mid afternoon it will help boost your brain power for the rest of the day. The brain is always in constant battle between keeping up awake and putting us to sleep. This is due to all the cells and chemical reaction in out brain. This chapter also says that for the brain to be working at full capacity you need to have the proper amount of sleep and that is something I am working on right now.
In the book brain rules John medina talks about how sleep is important, That taking a 30 minute nap before class can help your brain up 60%. he also talked about a man that stayed awake for 200 hours. In those 200 hours of no sleep he wa monitored by scientist. he started to get hallucination, angry, and rude to others. i’ve stayed up for three day when i was in high school. I when i went to school in the morning i felt really energised and every night i started to feel more and more sleepier. At night i watched anime until the sun rises then waited for my mom to “wake me up”. i was going for a fourth day but i fell asleep in class, it was my free period and i ended up sleeping for 3 periods.
John Medina’s chapter on sleep makes some very interesting points that sparked my curiosity to experiment. One of his points was that our minds, when sleeping, are actually more active than when we are awake. He later poses the question why, and developed a few arguable hypotheses that I find captivating. One of these states that the body sleeps in order for the mind to focus on its self. Another point is that our minds are at constant war. Different hormones and cells are constantly fighting for control of our mind and by extension body. One side fights for the body to stay awake while the other conversely fights for sleep. Both sides win and lose equally. Additionally this win lose cycle is not dependent of the time of day as some may have you believe. It is all dependent on how long each team of hormones is able to be dominant in your mind.
Sleep is a crucial part of human life. In most cases it’s incredibly good for everybody except in the face of danger where someone may be vulnerable to a dangerous animal in the wild. In the sleep chapter of John Median’s Brain Rules, it brings up the opponent process model. This model is made out of two armies and the only difference between the two is that one is made out of neurons while the other is made out of brain cells. The army that is made out of neurons is the one that keeps humans awake and is called, “Process C,” while the other army that is made out of brain cells is the one that makes human sleep is called, “Process S.” There is not a clear idea of how much sleep would be the best, but eight hours of sleep would be the normal for everybody. However, the amount of sleep somebody would get compared to another amount the sleep of somebody else could vary in how productive someone could be. Everybody sleep habits is split into three categories; lark, owl and hummingbird. A lark would be a morning person who is most productive in the morning to early afternoon and wouldn’t mind waking up early. A owl would be a night time person who is most productive in the night and sleeps in pretty late. While a hummingbird would be the middle ground between a lark and a owl and be productive in the afternoon and gets the average sleep time in while waking up at a reasonable time.
In the chapter “Sleep” by John Median talks about how our body is in constant war with itself to decide to sleep or stay awake. He also talks about how there is no sure amount on how many hours of sleep is needed each day. Although he does recommend that everyone takes a nap in the middle if an afternoon since in a study it shows an approximate workflow increase of 30%. This test was conducted on both minors and adults and both had have positive outcomes. In recent experience it seems like 6 hours is sufficient for myself.
In the Sleep Chapter of John Medina’s, “Brain Rules”, he explores the brain’s while we’re asleep and how we’re affected by how much sleep we get. Sleeping is such an essential part of keeping the human body and mind good shape. While sleeping the brain is still hard at work as its trying to make sense of what happened throughout the previous day. While asleep our brains attempt to make connection, find solutions, and figure out ways that we’ll use when we wake up. At the same time its also ordering around our cells all across our body to repair themselves and thus recharging for the next day. This repair allows for less stress to be exerted on the body. Medina told us that a while back in our ancestor’s times, sleeping could be considered to be an vulnerable thing to do since our bodies are in such a vulnerable state but without sleep our bodies wouldn’t be able to perform the tasks we as human beings in that time could do and now in our modern time.
As we enter to our adulthood from our teenage life, we have the idea that we can do everything we can without sleep. Just because we force our self to stay awake to experience more of our life, doesn’t necessary mean we should. Sleeping is very crucial component to our body and especially to our brain. While we sleep, the brain is in a state, where its release the stress from our body, to be more custom to the next day and it’s make our brain better focus on the next day. If we don’t sleep, well a lot would happen to you mentally, you would experience tiredness, angriness, start being delusional and losing your cool. These are the effects that would happen to you, this was shown on the Peter Tripp radio station, where he decide to do a 200 hour marathon of staying awake for charity work. At his first couple of hours, he had the same personality, which were making jokes, and having a good time. While the hours pass, he became more aggressive and started to yell at many individual for no reason. He completed his 200 hour marathon. Afterward he went home and straight to sleep. All this aggressive and tiredness characterizes was a message from his brain for him to go to sleep. There is a never-ending war inside our brain between our brain cells and biochemicals with two different agenda. Which one side force you to stay awake, while the other makes you want to go sleep. There is no victor here because eventually both side wins. At one point you’ll stay awake or you’re either asleep. We have this misconception that our brain shut down, when we are sleeping, but the truth is that it’s always active no matter what. Sleeping is the time, where the brain is cuts itself from the exterior world and it gathers all the information that occur that day to be revised and clarify the information to be remember. Having a good sleep or not could potentially affect the way you learn. It has been statically proven that people who had the amount of time to sleep properly, perform better and quickly understand information given to them, unlike to people who didn’t get enough sleep. Every individual has a certain amount of time they need to sleep and sleep at a certain time to get their brain function as new. Taking a nap during the day is just as important as sleeping. For many this seem abnormal, but this is really normal because we were meant to nap during the day to keep our brain productive. The brain function is to keep us at tip top shape everyday. So when we avoid our sleep, we are just harming ourselves and the brain.
In Chapter 3 of Brain Rules by John Medina, we learn about how sleep is a major factor in the basic brain functions. The thought that is emphasized is “sleep well, think well”. When you are asleep is when your brain is at its highest level of work usually. The amount of sleep that you need changes as you get older, and also varies between people, both male and female. Some individuals function well off of at most two hours of sleep daily, while other need more than the average 8 hours. The lack of sleep can lead to depression and anxiety, insomnia and eventually kill you if not dealt with. Naps throughout the day help with reaction times and will help give you more energy as your day goes on. Taking about 20-40 minutes helps making your mind sharper.
In John Medina “brain Rules”, he introduces the brain rule number three “sleep well,think well”. Medina describes an experiment involving New York disk jockey Peter Tripp done by the sleep researcher William dement . Furthermore, Tripp had to stay awake for quite some time. During this experiment Dement talks about Tripp after a couple of hours and he describes the changes in Tripp behavior. I was amazed by the shocking description Dement had made and how sleep can affect the brain. Tripp started to hallucinate, which to me would be a hell , since my brain will show me what I fear the most. I do think that there is a connection between sleep and stress. The human body needs rest after a long day of work and the brain needs to organize the memories that person made that day. Sleep can contribute so much towards our learning. If a student studies for a test overnight and gets a good amount of sleep,that student is more like to remember a good amount of what he or she study about.