Sleep Patterns- McKenna Ellsworth

Recently, I read the article, “Brain Circuit that drives sleep-wake states, sleep preparation is identified,” on the Biology News Net website.  In this article, Stanford University School of Medicine scientists studied the patterns of a brain-circuit that has great effects on the sleep-wake cycle.  This circuit that was studied is the same one having to do with the “reward system” part of our brain. This reward system helps promote behavior in both humans and animals that have to do with surviving and reproducing.

Have you ever had a really exciting day planned, and found it was more difficult for you to sleep the night before? Well, this correlates to the reward system and our sleep cycle. If we have anything that drives or motivates us, it can disrupt our sleep-wake cycle in this way. With the discovery of this brain circuit, much is now opened up for scientists to further study concerning these topics. Before this study and new findings, scientists did not know the precise location of this brain circuit. This means, when trying to treat insomnia, medicines were created to shut down the entire brain. Though this may be working to a certain extent, with this new discovery medicines and therapies could be created to treat those with Insomnia and induce a much better and sound sleep for those who are treated. 

According to the article, Dopamine has a great affect in this as well.  Many medicines have the effect of causing the body to produce more dopamine, which usually assists in keeping people awake.  Since adding more dopamine can do this, scientists think that there must be a correlation between dopamine and the sleep-wake cycle, and they might be able to use it to help others fall asleep and stay asleep.  Scientists studied this fact by doing an experiment on mice while watching their behaviors and their dopamine-secreting nerve cells.  The researchers found that the dopamine-secreting nerve cells from the mice’s VTA were high functioning when the mice were awake, and slowed down when asleep.  Usually when mice are moved to a new area, they are very energetic and explore.  When the VTA was suppressed in the mice, the mice still were energetic, but used their time awake to build nests, and once built, the mice went straight asleep.  This is a big part of sleep preparation for the mice, and when it was disrupted by increasing the VTA or in any other way, the mice had a much harder time sleeping.  This is the same for humans, when we disrupt our routine, for example by using technology before bed, we can disrupt our sleep patterns. 

In the end, the conclusion the scientists came up with is that if they can create a dopamine-suppressing drug, then they can help patients with narcolepsy and maybe even more.  This article was interesting to me because it is something that can apply to everyone.  Everyone has to sleep, and when we do, we all want to sleep well.  Previous to this article, I had heard how artificial lights (such as from our phones) could harm our patterns of sleep, but I didn’t know why.  Now I know it can disrupt our sleep preparation, and therefore cause more dopamine being produced and keeping us awake.  I believe this to be true, as I have seen it evident in my own life if I use my phone or computer right before trying to go to sleep.  I think the light does stimulate our brain, and more specifically, the brain circuit that controls our sleep-wake cycle.  This is why discoveries like this are so important, so that society can continually progress to a more peaceful, and restful life.