Explore the neuroscience of sleep and discover how the brain regulates sleep cycles and dreams.
Sleeping too little is not just a persistent feeling of fatigue. Even after the first shortened night, sustained attention becomes unstable, reaction times slow, and brief episodes of disconnection occur, often without conscious awareness. These lapses in attention are well documented and lie at the heart of high-risk situations such as traffic accidents or errors…
Long regarded as mere support cells, astrocytes are now emerging as key players in the orchestration of sleep. Recent studies reveal that these glial cells do far more than accompany neurons they actively regulate sleep cycles, especially slow-wave sleep, which is vital for recovery and memory consolidation. From the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) a crucial…
In summer, heat doesn’t just lull the body, it also dulls our alertness. In the midst of an afternoon, lying in the shade or sitting still, you may notice your thoughts begin to drift. Eyes half-closed, sounds fade away, and mental images arise unbidden. It’s not quite dreaming, yet it’s not fully awake. This peculiar…
Midnight. In the stillness of a darkened room, the cold glow of a smartphone draws the gaze of a tired eye. As eyelids grow heavy, fingers continue their silent dance across the screen, responding to notifications. Once, nighttime signaled rest and renewal. Today, it’s interrupted, hijacked by technology. The blue light emitted from our screens…
In the dim light of a Chicago laboratory, a young girl was sleeping peacefully. Her name was Ester Kleitman, and although she had no idea, she was about to help her father make one of the most significant discoveries in the science of sleep. Her father, Nathaniel Kleitman, was a passionate scientist driven by a…
Sleep, the nightly journey we undertake without a second thought, is more than just a refuge for a tired body. It functions like a silent architect, building, classifying, and sometimes demolishing our memories. Each night, this delicate process filters what deserves to be retained and sets aside the mental clutter. A lack of sleep, however,…