Blog Post #4

I listened to the radio broadcast "Teens and Sleep" and I found a lot of what they were talking about to be very interesting. It was quite ironic that it was almost midnight when I was listening to this lechure on teens needed sleep. The whole broadcast was about how teens don't get enough sleep because they are always doing somethings and its keeping them up. I find this very relevant to my life becuase I get maybe six hours of sleep every night. I always have homework or I'm working and don't have time to get to my homework until later. I found it interesting that as a teenager our biololgical habits change according to our schedule, but still stay as a regular pace. They used the example that our bodies/minds are in a constant stage of jetlag. I found it strange that according to our age is what determines how much sleep we need and the teen and kids in college require more hours of sleep than younger children and adults. This is because of the growth of our brains. Our minds need our sleep in order for it to function properly.

I also learned that our mind goes through different stages while we sleep and all those stages at up to making different forms of rest. The stage I found most intersting out of the 4 stages involved in sleep was the first stage, the REM stage. I found it very interesting that during our first stage of REM sleep our eyes will move back and forth very rapidly. Also during this stage of sleep the gentials are aroused in both men and women. I also found it cool that during our REM sleep that our dreams are usually emotional and storylike almost hullucinatory.

I also found it very interesting the number of reasons, why it is believed that we dream. Things like we dream in order to satisfy our own wishes or file away memories, to develop and preserve neural pathways, to make sense of neural static, or to reflect cognitive development. It was also very interesting how quickly any drug or stimulant affects the brain and how well your brain functions. I thought it was shocking how quickly the effects take and how it can effect your entire body drastically changing you and your appearance.

I didn't disagree with really anything I thought all the information made sense and I was able to learn a lot from this section about dreams, conscious mind, and how stimulants affect our brains. I somewhat disagree on the radio broadcast I listened to. I understand that teens need lots of sleep to function and when we don't receive or get enough sleep it deprives our bodies from thinking properly or even to be lively. I don't get that much sleep and I am still a very active and enthusiastic student. I retain good grades and have fallen into such a pattern that it no longer affects me. When I get too much sleep it affects me, so sometimes, I think its all on how you do things and are able to manage. It takes a lot to change habits.