Posted on 07/06/2019 7:44:48 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
It has been a mystery why REM sleep, or dream sleep, increases when the room temperature is 'just right'. Neuroscientists show that melanin-concentrating hormone neurons within the hypothalamus increase REM sleep when the need for body temperature defense is minimized, such as when sleeping in a warm and comfortable room temperature. These data have important implications for the function of REM sleep.
A control mechanism saving energy
The need to maintain a constant body temperature is our most expensive biological function. Panting, piloerection, sweating, or shivering are all energy consuming body reactions. In his hypothesis, Markus Schmidt suggested that REM sleep is a behavioral strategy that shifts energy resources away from costly thermoregulatory defense toward, instead, the brain to enhance many brain functions. Neuroscientists at the DBMR at the University of Bern and the Department of Neurology at Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, now confirmed his hypothesis and found neurons in the hypothalamus that specifically increase REM sleep when the room temperature is "just right."
REM sleep promoting neurons
The researchers showed that mice will dynamically increase REM sleep when the room temperature is warmed to the high end of their comfort zone, similar to what has been shown for human sleep. Their work confirms the necessity of the MCH system to increase REM sleep when the need for body temperature control is minimized.
Breakthrough for sleep medicine
REM sleep is known to play an important role in many brain functions such as memory consolidation. REM sleep comprises approximately one quarter of our total sleep time. "These new data suggest that the function of REM sleep is to activate important brain functions specifically at times when we do not need to expend energy on thermoregulation, thus optimizing use of energy resources," says Schmidt.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Maybe we will try getting used to a higher temperature and see if we sleep more soundly.
cool, with a blanket; prefer cold with blankets and night cap, rare in FL.
And the 3 bears came home, found a blonde in their bed, so they all hopped in and lived happily ever after.
Whenever I have a bad dream and wake up all sweaty, I wonder if I’m sweaty because I had a bad dream, or I had a bad dream because I was too warm.
This meshes well with my wearing sweatpants and socks discovery to better sleep.
REM sleep is high frequency low amplitude waves of about 60 to 70 Hz. This is in the gamma frequency of consciousness.
REM sleep decreases as a person gets older.
REM sleep frequency is higher than lucid dreaming g frequency of 30 you 40 Hz.
Beau and I both like it cooler in the bedroom.
72 in summer (when it’s 90+ outside) and 58 in the winter (when it’s freezing or below zero outside)...which makes absolutely NO sense, whatsoever!
We’re both VERY happy that I’m past that ‘Hot Flash’ stage, though; for a number of years he was seriously working on a way to trap heat from menopausal women as an energy source, LOL!
Same here!
Had to look up piloerection.
This must be why I have insomnia. I have dark hair.
Funny.
I find that a good, hard day’s work helps me sleep quite well.
“Melanin.”
Melatonin?
On a positive note, it looks like having a bad dream generally means you had solid REM sleep:
https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/nightmares
I am glad I don’t have them, but I do remember what they were like.
Of note, I haven’t watched horror movies for about as long!
Oh, I avoid horror movies, always. But I do have the WILDEST dreams, I mean technicolor, orchestra, panoramic view, slow-motion, stop-action, intricate, and long. Very long, sometimes. Yeah, I get plenty of REM sleep, I guess. LOL! Thank you for the link!
A little off-topic from REM sleep but I’ve had good results (therapeutic) using tDCS with the square-wave frequency set at around 12 Hz (alpha). That is, if you can stand the internal light show (I like it).
Transcranial Stimulation has been around for a few years. They really don’t understand how and why it works.
Our former chair in the Psychiatry Department specializes in TMS research. I never shared with her as my concerns are about its potential misuse.
Because I have the unusual ability to perceive consciousness external to the body as physical and also feel brain wave activity in a person by standing near them, my direct observations provide more insight than the experiments. This ability resulted from a brain injury that damaged my frequency inhibiting GABA neurons and changed my perception of reality. It’s kind of like changing channels on a TV to perceive a new station.
On behalf of the collectivist zombies, I say we need more soma and NLP therapy, and anyone who disagrees and says we can’t sleep because we are having spiritual turmoil should be labeled a terrorist.
Yeah, gotta spend some grant money (tax dollars) to find this out. Here’s the answer for FREE - if you’re too hot or too cold, you don’t get comfortable so you toss and turn and are constantly thinking someone should adjust the a/c. As a result, you don’t get into a nice comfy REM state. But then everyone knows that but keep wasting money.
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