The Sleeping Brain:

It's night. Turn out the lights, lie down and shut your eyes. Fall asleep. Become more still. Your breathing slows and is even. You become far less responsive to everyday stimuli. When you wake in the morning, you are unlikely to remember much of the preceding 6-8 hours. Your bodies become much less active but that is not true of your brain.

We need sleep, a lot of it. We spend a third of our lives sleeping. Try going without any for a while and you'll feel exhausted, unfocussed and irritable. Carry on a bit longer and you'll start hallucinating and your memory will become erratic. Go completely without it for months and you'll die. The evidence seems to suggest that our brains suffer far more than the rest of our body from lack of sleep. So, what is sleep and what does the sleeping brain do? Why do we need sleep, what happens in the brain during sleep or during sleep deprivation? Are dreams the origin of our imagination and can we control them?

There are five recognisable types of sleep that occur in a recurring cycle lasting 90-110 minutes, and we get through about 5 or 6 cycles each night. Each of these different types of sleep is characterised by different brain activity and different brain chemistry.

Sleeping is closely linked to our 24 hr body clock. Not only does the clock control the timing of our sleep and awakening, it also makes sure that different things happen in our bodies. This allows us to make the most of sleep and wakefulness, adapting us to the world outside as it moves from day to night and back to day again. Where is the clock located? How does this clock work? When we travel from one time-zone to another, or work (or play) night-shift, we are fighting against the clock. What consequences does this have?

This arts/science project should explore the science of the sleeping brain, how the sleeping brain is associated with human creativity, how the artist's creativity might be used to depict the science of states of sleep and dreaming, and how our perception of time links sleep to our lives?

We are happy to provide more information on the scientific understanding of sleep, 24-hour body clocks and their disorders. If a class visit from a scientist would be helpful or if you need further information please contact ITB@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk

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