Findings have shown that missing a night of sleep burns roughly 135 calories, the equivalent of two slices of bread or a 225 ml glass of semi-skimmed milk. In terms of physical exertion, this amounts to walking just under two miles. On the flip side, eight hours of sleep saved the same approximate amount of energy.
Professor Kenneth Wright, lead author of the study and Director of Colorado University's Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory, said that 'While the amount of energy saved during sleep may seem small, it was actually more than we expected,' 'If one considers the amount of positive energy storage needed to explain the obesity epidemic is 50 calories a day, the energy savings represented by sleep is physiologically meaningful."
The findings showed that compared to a typical night of sleep, the amount of energy expended by the subjects during 24 hours of sleep deprivation increased about seven per cent. In contrast, energy expenditure decreased to five per cent during the recovery episode, which included 16 hours of wakefulness .
The study proves there is a direct correlation between the sleep–wake cycle and how the body uses energy. It also demonstrates that sleep deprivation is metabolically costly.
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/01/12/sleepmode_the_energy_cost_of_sleep_deprivation.html
Tony Tao
ReplyDeleteSleep Deprivation Comment
Sleep deprivation causes calories to be expended. In a recent study, conducted, it was measured that 24 hours of sleep deprivation caused 135 calories to be expended. This is about the calorie intake of a glass of milk or two slices of bread. With this amount of energy one could walk about two miles. The experiment was done on seven carefully monitored adults. These adults were monitored for three days. On the first day, the participants were allowed to sleep for 8 hours after their usual 16 hours of wakefulness. The next two days, the participants were deprived of sleep for 40 hours followed by a short sleep period of 8 hours. The conclusion was that the body uses energy differently while awake and while asleep. Sleep depravation was proven to be metabolically costly. Scientists believe that the experiment has provided a small step in the road to understanding the enigma of sleep. Sleep has often been the topic of many scientists and still many still only have a superficial understanding of the subject. A question raised throughout the article was how come we don’t conserve energy in out sleep? During sleep, the body performs numerous activities. These activities include the consolation of memory and production of hormones. Sleep is essential to chemical, mental and psychological stability. On a humorous note, the article ends with a note of caution. In hindsight, the author warns that sleep deprivation should not be used as a form of weight loss. Despite initial calorie losses, long term sleep deprivation leads to weight gain and cognitive deterioration. This is to be expected from lack of sleep.
The article has global effects. The research of sleep is an essential topic in unlocking the secrets of the human condition. Sleep research is essential as it is interconnected with other fields of human science. It is related to psychology, physiology, intelligence, cognition, perception, computer science and memory. Sleep has always been the dark matter of human behavior. For the hours of wakefulness that occur, there exists the many hours of sleep. In relation to sleep there is also the subject of dreams. Dreaming during sleep is worldwide topic. Almost everyone dreams. Few exceptions to this would be traumatized individuals and people who suffer from sleep disorders. The steps in sleep research would help answer the question why do we dream?
The author wrote the article very well. His ability to summarize information and compact is very apparent in his writing. His ideas were coherent and concrete. One could tell that most of his words were carefully and meticulously chosen. The style the response wrote in was also appropriate. The style was informative and objective. These characteristics are essential in conveying meaning well. There was also very accurate recollection of fact. The author harnessed and collected the facts within the article and coalesced them in the response. Facts were told appropriately and accurately. Their relevance was also stated along with context that made information meaningful. The author could have written the response better if there was more attention paid to feeling and morals. An emotional response to a scientific work would be interesting to read. Writing with an emotional aspect would help give a tone and perspective for the reader to follow.