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The Science Behind Missing Sleep

post #1 of 15
4/8/11 at 10:28pm
Thread Starter 
Is it possible to make up on lost sleep? I've been told it can't be done.
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post #2 of 15
4/8/11 at 10:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyCooN View Post
Is it possible to make up on lost sleep? I've been told it can't be done.

is it possible to make up the 10 seconds i wasted reading this thread,ha just kidding.
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post #3 of 15
4/8/11 at 10:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyCooN View Post
Is it possible to make up on lost sleep? I've been told it can't be done.
No, you can not make up for prolonged periods of sleep loss. Chronic deprivation can be damaging, both physically and mentally, but the body will often adapt to get by with less sleep, rather than make up for the lost hours that have accumulated. Due to this, cognitive function and performance will be sacrificed.
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post #4 of 15
4/8/11 at 10:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mm84321 View Post
No, you can not make up for prolonged periods of sleep loss. Chronic deprivation can be damaging, both physically and mentally, but the body will often adapt to get by with less sleep, rather than make up for the lost hours that have accumulated. Due to this, cognitive function and performance will be sacrificed.

so if it can't be made up, what's can be done to reduce the damage of sleep loss?
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post #5 of 15
4/8/11 at 10:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyCooN View Post
so if it can't be made up, what's can be done to reduce the damage of sleep loss?

I don't know...
Sleep?
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post #6 of 15
4/8/11 at 10:52pm
Sleep rebound does take place (and can last for years in the case of alcoholism REM-deprivation), but its really important to get the amount of sleep you need on a day-to-day basis. In other words, sleep debt is not relieved very well, and the effectiveness of catching up on missed sleep decays the more days you are sleep deprived in a row.

its funny that I read this thread while taking a short break between working on a sleep deprivation project ( http://i.imgur.com/hW47A.png )
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post #7 of 15
4/8/11 at 10:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TyCooN View Post
so if it can't be made up, what's can be done to reduce the damage of sleep loss?

Treating the underlying cause of your sleep deprivation.
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post #8 of 15
4/8/11 at 10:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeanathonHuff View Post
Sleep rebound does take place (and can last for years in the case of alcoholism REM-deprivation), but its really important to get the amount of sleep you need on a day-to-day basis. In other words, sleep debt is not relieved very well, and the effectiveness of catching up on missed sleep decays the more days you are sleep deprived in a row. its funny that I read this thread while taking a short break between working on a sleep deprivation project ( http://i.imgur.com/hW47A.png )
Sleep rebound takes place on more of an acute level, than a chronic one. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0702145152.htm
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post #9 of 15
4/8/11 at 10:54pm
Not in drug-related incidences, as I previously stated. but yes, you're right, sleep homeostasis is generally a short-term thing.
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post #10 of 15
4/8/11 at 11:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeanathonHuff View Post
Not in drug-related incidences, as I previously stated. but yes, you're right, sleep homeostasis is generally a short-term thing.

That's interesting. Do you have any studies on this?
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post #11 of 15
4/8/11 at 11:13pm
a fellow researcher told me (in think-tanking session). I could look it up, though. one caveat is that this applies to alcoholics, not casual use. some college students might qualify, though.
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post #12 of 15
4/8/11 at 11:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeanathonHuff View Post
a fellow researcher told me (in think-tanking session). I could look it up, though. one caveat is that this applies to alcoholics, not casual use. some college students might qualify, though.
Do you study sleep? I'm looking this up and found this: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1030183411.htm
Quote:
Godwin said the brain adapts to long-term alcohol use and doesn't immediately return to normal when alcohol use is stopped. It may take months for the brain to revert to normal sleep patterns, or it may never return to a truly normal state. In the meantime, sleep problems can get worse. Insomnia has been shown to occur in 36 percent to 72 percent of alcoholic patients during both active drinking and withdrawal.
Quote:
"There is a significant relationship between alcoholics returning to consumption because of this sleep issue," said Godwin, an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy. "One reason they may go back to drinking may be an attempt to make their sleep feel more normal or satisfying."
So, apparently, one of the reasons alcoholics struggle to prevent relapse is because alcohol helps them sleep. I can't find anything that says that they will make up for sleep loss incurred during their alcoholism, though.
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post #13 of 15
4/8/11 at 11:28pm
alcoholism initially helps you enter bouts of sleep (slow-wave sleep is the first stage you enter, so it can be said that alcohol promotes SWS). neural adaptations to this effect leads to insomnia without alcohol. You could consider this a withdrawal symptom, in the rawest sense. in the sense that alcohol initially makes it easier to enter slow-wave, deep sleep, it also prevents you from engaging in shallower sleep bouts (REM). Tolerance to this effect is not observed as readily as the beneficial sleep-inducing effects, IIRC. as a result, heavy users engage in years of REM-deprivation & some studies find that this does not return to normal. SWS is also affected long-term. interestingly, the direction of perturbation is different for REM & SWS sleep. The tolerance/adaptations to SWS induction never reverses fully, and REM-deprivation rebound takes a long time to dissipate. In other words, it appears former-alcoholics sleep less in deep stages & more in shallow stages. Its not simply that REM is pushing SWS out of the way, both are regulated in opposite directions by different mechanisms. some of my work is sleep patterns, some melatonin secretion, some nervous system repair. this summer I'm working on project involving the daily rhythms of metabolism with respect to metabolic disorders. I should be reading, instead of on SF.
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post #14 of 15
4/8/11 at 11:50pm
I understand that alcoholics will suffer from a deprivation of REM and NREM deep sleep stages 3 & 4, but my question is by which mechanisms does the individual regain and rebound from this loss once sobriety is reached?
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post #15 of 15
4/8/11 at 11:54pm
no one knows for sure. sleep rebound is pretty much the least well understood thing about sleep (that's saying a lot). if you knew the answer to that question, you could make a lot of money on insomnia treatments. I'm searching on your behalf, though.
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