The
basketball players at Duke are definitely outrageous in both their athletic talent and their social standing; they are always
on the move, both on and off the court. Between going to practice, lifting
weights, traveling for games, or just out with friends, it would seem as though they cannot possibly get enough sleep. How do they do it? To answer this pressing
issue, I turned to fellow Alspaugh residents, Lee Melchionni and Sheldon Williams. But
before we answer this question, let’s learn a thing or two about sleep.
Sleep
remains a mystery, especially to physiologists because many of its mechanisms that restore alertness in subsequent periods
of consciousness remain relatively unexplained. However, total sleep duration
is a parameter whose recuperative effects have been shown to be positively correlated to alertness (Kleitman 1963). The standard way of measuring alertness is by conducting a latency test or the more common multiple latency
test. The multiple sleep latency test is performed the day following the experimental
night. Small metal electrode discs are attached to the scalp, around the eyes,
under the chin, and on the shoulders. These electrodes record and graph your
brain waves, heart rate, eye movements and muscle activity for later interpretation.
Before testing begins the experimenter asks the subject to do a few movements, such as swallowing and moving the eyes
that will serve as a key for graph interpretation. The multiple latency test
is a seven hour ordeal: the subject is monitored for 20 minutes every two hours, but is allowed to do leisurely activities
between sleep times.
Sleep has
four distinct stages that are characterized by differing brain waves, states of consciousness, and bodily movements, as well
as another discrete period in which dreams often occur, visibly noted by quick darting motions in the eyes, and called Rapid
Eye Movement (REM) sleep. Typically, as one sleeps, they progress and cycle through
the stages of increasingly deeper levels of sleep.
There
had been a number of studies (Kleitman and Badia et al. 1985) that concluded there is indeed a positive correlation between
total sleep duration and alertness, but Dr. Wesensten’s study (1999) is unique because it not only calculates total
sleep time, TST, it also calculation total sleep time minus stage 1 sleep TST-stg1.
This decision on Wesensten’s part was rather intuitive because prior findings have lead researchers to believe
that stage 1 sleep has little or no recuperative effect. Badia et al. noted this
when subjects whose sleep was fragmented, people who were given external stimuli- causing arousal and “resetting”
sleep to stage 1 sleep, showed alertness results that varied only slightly from their test group of subjects who had been
completely sleep deprived. Such fragmented sleep is termed “discontinuous”
because the natural progression through the stages is not allowed to take place, and as a result of the arousal, a disproportionate
amount of stage 1 sleep is accumulated by the subject. As Wesensten suspected the correlation between sleep duration and alertness was even stronger when using
TST-stg1, supporting the notion that as the total duration of stage 1 sleep increases alertness the following day decreases. So what is stage 1 sleep good for? Wesensten
describes stage 1 sleep as an “operationally and somewhat arbitrarily defined construct, it undoubtedly reflects a unique
underlying brain state – a state of transition between wakefulness and the deeper sleep stages.” Therefore, it is important to sleep as continuously as possible to avoid stage 1 sleep and stay in the
deeper, recuperative levels of sleep.
Now
back to our all-stars, Lee and Sheldon. Are they getting enough quality sleep? Sheldon reported that the coaching staff suggests they should try and get a good night
sleep every night, especially before a game; a “good night of sleep” is generally defined as eight or more hours
of sleep. This is sound advice from Coach K. and staff, but does the team actually
follow it? Both Sheldon and Lee candidly report to average 8.0 hours per night,
so, yes, the team actually does follow Coach K.’s advice. All students,
athletes and non-athletes, should be sure to follow the model set forth by Coach K. for the players. Indeed we are not worked as physically as the basketball players, but we, students at a school with rigorous
academics and considering the innumerable hours we spend camping out for the games, are at high risk of losing sleep.
“Typically when I dream I’m going to score 30, I score 30.”
Freshman sensation Lee Melchionni on the eerie prophetic power of dreams.
Reference:
Badia, P, Harsh, J, Balkin, T, O'rourke, D, Burton, S. Behavioral control of respiration
in sleep and sleepiness due to signal-induced sleep fragmentation. Psychopysiology , 1985, 22 (5): 517-524.
Kleitman, N. Sleep and Wakefulness . University Press, Chicago, 1963: -.
Wesensten, N. (1999) Does sleep fragmentation impact recuperation? A review and reanalysis.
[Electronic Version]. Journal of Sleep Research, 237-245. Accessed: January 24, 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0360-3199(02)00074-5
