The Brain’s Secret to Sleeping Like a Log

[n2doc]

By Wired Science Staff August 9, 2010

In this clamorous modern world, heavy sleepers have an advantage: They can snooze despite noisy neighbors and car alarms, and they’re capable of conking out on a red-eye flight to awake refreshed and smiling.

But how do these sound sleepers do it? According to a neuroscience study published today in Current Biology, they’re blessed with a type of brain activity that may essentially block out noise.

Sleep researchers from Harvard Medical School performed a slightly torturous experiment on 12 healthy volunteers. On their first night at the sleep lab, the subjects’ brain waves were monitored via electroencephalography (EEG), but they were otherwise left in peace. That night, the researchers measured one particular sleep phenomenon: the brief bursts of high-frequency waves known as “sleep spindles.” On the following two nights, the researchers did their best to replicate a really irritating night’s sleep.

“The volunteers would come in and we’d show them this luxury environment with a queen bed and comfy sheets, but there are these four very large speakers pointed straight at their heads,” said study coauthor Jeffrey Ellenbogen.



Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/08/sleep-spindles/

[flamingdem]

1. Now I have to worry about my spindles, yeesh nt

[tridim]

2. I haven't been a light sleeper since I discovered the pre-bedtime toke.

Just one puff is all it takes, not enough to even notice a high. It really works, at least for me. I've never not slept 8 hours straight since.

I really wish there would be more hard research done on THC and sleep. It's one of the most beneficial "side-effects" I've found.

[femmocrat]

3. K&R Very interesting!

I can sleep through just about anything. It's a blessing and a curse!

[Better Today]

4. Being an older woman, living alone,.... I wouldn't want to be a heavy sleeper.

Particularly this time of year when the only way to survive without AC is to open the windows during the cool nights.