To Sleep, Perchance to Forget

sea-maid submitted, created time 5 months 1 week (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

A new study has found that older rats seem to replay previous events less and, as a result, have more trouble remembering than younger animals.

Could those memory problems be due to a decline in the brain's replay during sleep? How can these results be extrapolated to humans?

1 comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: sleep research sleep memories memory sleep patterns human brain activity brains rats

Forty Winks in the Wild

sea-maid submitted, created time 5 months 2 weeks (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

Researchers have spent decades trying to understand the confusing array of sleep patterns found in mammals. A donkey typically snoozes for just three hours a day, for instance, and armadillos and bats can be dead to the world for twenty hours a day. To explain the differences, scientists have offered a slew of theories, ranging from the idea that smaller animals need more sleep to conserve energy and maintain body temperature to the need to avoid predators.

2 comments | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: animal behavior ecosystems predators circadian rhythms neuroscience mammals sleep sleep patterns