chamomile and lavender sleepy kaur
sleep & dreams outreach project by michelle chang & nathan lee for the sleep that holds us
contents
sleep cycle & rhythm...................................................05 sleep debt.....................................................................11 sleep disorders.............................................................15 sleep misconceptions & sleep quality factors..............22
sleep cycle & rhythm
i thank my glymphatic system for taking the toxins that need to be cleaned and restoring to me a working - balance
During sleep a “plumbing system� called the glymphatic system may open, letting fluid flow rapidly through the brain. This activity is far more active during sleep than wake, and is thought to improve cognitive function.
06
you tell me i am not like most sleep as i teach you to color your nights with vision beyond the world’s confines something about the phrase--something about how i have to be unlike the other sleep in the natural cycle of ebbs and flows in order to be wanted makes me want to spit your tongue out like i am supposed to be proud you picked me you picked my EEG language of low voltage waves and contradictory frequencies the paradoxes of rapid eye movement and no body movement as if i should be relieved you think i am better than them i dominate the end of the night but i am but percent twenty-five - a letter from REM, to the ill-informed human
REM sleep is as different from non-REM sleep as it is from wake. REM sleep comprises of about 25 percent of sleep, and is when we dream. During this stage of sleep, which occurs more frequently in the last third of the night, we are only able to move our eyes-with the rest of the body under muscle atonia.
07
losing you was the becoming of myself i am a whole percent seventy-five a whole three stages - from non-REM, to REM
non-REM sleep consists of 75% of the sleep cycle and is nuanced, comprising 3 different stages of the sleep cycle.
08
i am stage 1 soft enough that you may wake strong enough to carry you down to deeper sleep
Stage 1 is the lightest stage of non-REM sleep, and is defined by slower EEG (electroencephalographic) waves. Sleepers in this stage are easily disturbed or awoken.
09
do not look for k-complexes or sleep spindles at the start of cycles that you dream in
k-complexes and sleep spindles are patterns in EEGs characteristic of and unique to Stage 2 of sleep. This stage is the most common, taking up approximately 45% of the night. However, no dreaming occurs in stage 2, as it is part of non-REM sleep.
10
sleep debt
i know it’s hard believe me i know it feels like tomorrow is already here and it is too late to get through too difficult to make it to bed but i swear you will get through the sleep debt will lessen as it always does if you give it time and let it so let it go slowly like a broken promise let it go and sleep earlier - sleep debt survivor in recovery
sleep debt accumulates and can only be reduced and made up for by increasing the amount of sleep you have. sleep debt can kill
12
i always get myself into this mess i always let it tell me my eyes would be better off closed and half believe it i always doze off thinking it will catch me at the fall i am hopelessly a dozer and a denier and that it will be the death of me - drowsiness is red alert
failure to be cognizant of how easily we can fall into light sleep--and even deny it--may result in an overestimate of our ability to stay awake and avoid drowsiness. many car accidents, sometimes fatal, can happen when we are not careful and acknowledging of our drowsiness.
13
you have been taught that sleep is a pit stop for workers that need a time to rest a vacant time restorative enough to get back to work but you never sleep and it is not enough
A major consequence of a culture that focuses highly on productivity is that sleep is often treated as a hindrance, something we would not do if it wasn’t necessary. Ironically, this attitude costs the economy. Not only are many Americans in sleep debt, but chronic sleep deprivation costs the country an estimated $411 billion dollars.
14
sleep disorders
sleep will come and when sleep comes sleep will hold you sleep will call your name and you will dream sometimes though sleep will hurt you but sleep will never mean to your brain will just choose sleep over breathing cause it knows life has been hard enough already - apnea
During sleep apnea, the brain chooses to sleep over breathing. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when a person stops breathing during sleep due to muscles in the throat completely stopping breathing-sometimes for up to 10 seconds. This intermittent suffocation causes people experiencing obstructive sleep apnea to wake up constantly during the night, and overall get poor sleep.
16
i had to journal i was tired of allowing insomnia to make me feel anything less than whole
journaling away your thoughts an hour before bed can help with “racing thoughts� that contribute to insomnia.
17
i do not want hypocretin to cure my constant sleeping i want my autoimmune system to be full on my own i want to be so complete i could process hypocretin and cure catatonia and then i want to sleep at night and not in the day - narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a condition of rapid onset-REM sleep, often during inconvenient, atypical, and uncontrollable times during the day, triggered by strong emotions such as laughter. (coined “cataplexy�). It is a condition characterized as being in between wakefulness and sleep.
18
itchy legs you leave when i move but you don’t stay gone you come when i don’t move but you are not welcome why do you do that why do you keep the thing you don’t want why do you linger in a place you do not want to stay as i cry out i need iron why do you think it’s okay to do both go and return all at once - restless leg syndrome
Restless Leg Syndrome, a sleep disorder in which one’s legs feel extremely itchy-especially at night, is characterized by main criteria: an unpleasant urge to move, urges intensifying during inactivity, urges relieved by activity so long as the movement continues, urges heightened at night, and urges not explained by any othe reason. The syndrome is often associated with iron deficiency. While it is is genetic, some remedies include moving around or increasing iron intake.
19
sleep misconceptions & sleep quality factors
sleep mustn’t have to make you want it you must want sleep yourself
While there is a homeostatic drive to sleep, so strong that we can go longer without food or water, it is important to be proactive about when we get to bed.
22
the way they breathe tells you everything - answers
Breathing primarily through the mouth is associated with lower oxygen intake and thus long-term decrease in brain function. Nose breathing is far more efficient at delivering oxygen, especially during sleep.
23
if you were born with the drive to sleep you soon learned how to - the need to sleep is innate, how you sleep is learned
24
you said. if it is meant to be. no phone use past 9pm will bring sound sleep. for a second i wonder if you are really that naïve. if you really believe sleep works like that. as if it is a moth in the night, attracted to any light to keep it frenzying and flailing and buzzing. as if it is not the content in our phones and the choices we make. who taught you that. tell me. who convinced you. you’ve been given a heart and mind that isn’t yours to use. that the content of your phone do not define what will become of your sleep. i want to scream and shout stop with the prehistorical madness fool. but instead i shut my phone off quietly. fuming softly through quivering lips thinking. isn’t it such a tragic thing when you see it so clearly but the other person doesn’t. - teenage daughter of Palo Alto parent
This poem addresses misconceptions of phone usage before bedtime, as referenced in Jamie Zeitzer’s lecture. People often come into conversations about light before bedtime, and melatonin being halted by light, with their own agendas. For example, many parents believe that light from phones is what keeps teenagers awake. However, Zeitzer claims that it is more likely the content of what teenagers look at before bed that has a greater influence. Light from phones is not a significant agent in shifting sleep schedule.
25
if it can’t help but worsen your sleep when taken 0, 3, 6 hours before bed if toxicity is central to its language of adenosine inhibition then it could be in your hand and be warmth it could be doused in sugar and drenched in milk but that still could not make it sweet - breaking up with caffeine before bed
Studies have shown that caffeine consumed up to six hours before sleep time can lead to delays in sleep, potentially leading to overall shorter and worse quality sleep.
26
this is the journey of sleeping through poetry this is the yawns snores tears of twenty-one years this is our sleep in your hands this is the sleep cycle & rhythm sleep debt sleep disorders sleep misconceptions & sleep quality factors - sleepy kaur