Alex Hansen

Paul Grobstein

Neurobiology and Behavior

May 17, 2007

- The Need for Sleep -

Insomnia

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is defined as “active brain in an inactive body,” and takes place during the fifth stage of sleep. On the other hand, non rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) takes place in the first through fourth stages of sleep and is defined as an “inactive mind in an active body”. (5) Wait a second- our body can be active while sleeping? Indeed it can. In fact, there are a number of sleep disorders that take place during NREM sleep called parasomnia or arousal disorder. They activate the autonomic nervous system and motor systems during sleep and include sleepwalking, sleepeating, sleep-talking, teeth grinding, restless leg syndrome, somniloquy (sleep talking), and sleepsex (3).

In the realm of “Loopy Science” the summary of observations used to make stories constitutes a fundamental aspect of the scientific process.  However, what may be even more important is the “crack” of personal bias and culture through which this process operates.  The same can be said about literature, which is influenced perhaps even more heavily by the “crack.”  Many of the same factors are at work in both fields, influencing their generativity and the theories, discoveries, and stories that are produced.  Nothing can be created in a vacuum, and analysis of the personal and cultural influences on both scientific and literary stories can lead to a creating understanding of the story-making process itself.

Narcolepsy

            As someone who spends a good deal of her time daydreaming, sleeping, and generally just being sleepy, I am fascinated by sleep and sleep disorders. The fact that some people need less sleep than others (e.g., my mom only sleeps five hours a night and is fine the next day) confuses me a little. And the fact that some people (like me) can sleep twelve hours and wake up feeling as though they have just run a marathon. However, what I find the most fascinating is narcolepsy. Why do some people just fall asleep in the middle of an activity? What is it that makes them do that? What do we know about the causes and/or treatments of this? Is it a brain injury? Does this disorder affect the quality of sleep of those suffering from it?

When I was thinking about what kind of book I wanted to review for this assignment, all I knew was that I wanted to learn and think about something new. In the end The Forbidden Experiment by Roger Shattuck grabbed my interest. This 214 page book is extremely interesting and thought provoking, in fact it is one of those books you pick up and don’t want to put down until it is finished. This book retells the story of the Wild Boy of Aveyron and the men who tried to bring him back into society, of whom Itard was the primary teacher of the boy. Shattuck chronicles his life and his progress through documents written by these men, as well as making some conclusions of his own.

As this last paper approached, I was having major difficulties trying to think of a topic to choose. I knew I wanted to do something with a lot of scientific evidence about it, but also something that was still a little bit of a mystery. After searching the internet, I finally came upon a subject that seemed to meet these criteria, Tourette’s syndrome. Tourette’s syndrome was first described in 1885 and since then has only increased in recognition and controversy. (1) Wikipedia defines Tourette’s as, “an inherited neurological disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by the presence of multiple physical (motor) tics and at least on vocal (phonic) tic.” (1) This definition is well and good, but what is the cause of these tics, who do they affect, and what can be done to stop them?

When I was a little girl, about twelve years ago, a brand new sneaker had just hit the market; they were the brand new patent-leather, high-top Reebok classics with a ridged sole. Those shoes were truly amazing, and I remember I just had to have them. My best friend, Heather, had them first and about two weeks later, about half of my neighborhood had those same exact shoes. Of course, with my mother’s salary and my mother’s distaste for the trends of young America, I was one of the last to actually receive these shoes, but when I did get them it was surely a joyful day. What was more amazing to me, besides the fact that my mother finally bended a little and bought me the eighty-dollar pair of shoes, was how fast the trend had gotten around my neighborhood. It went from only one person owning the shoes, to literally hundreds of kids wearing them in a matter of weeks. I would walk down the halls of my elementary school, down the corridors at my brothers’ high school, down the aisles of the grocery stores, and everywhere I turned I saw those same white, shiny patent-leather shoes. Boy, was that fast!

What has a greater effect over our lives: genetics or environment?  Unfortunately, this is a question with no answer.  The nature versus nurture debate has been continuing since the time of Aristotle, and yet, we are no closer to determining the truth.  Each side has valid points that any sane person is unlikely to dismiss.  Therefore, the debate is unlikely to end soon.  For now we will have to accept that our personalities and tendencies are a combination of genetics and environmental influences. 

The wonders of emotions have baffled scientists since the time of Aristotle.  During the scientific revolution, Robert Burton tried to understand why emotions have such a momentous effect on the human life.  Still today, the mystery of emotions plagues Joseph LeDoux in his quest to understand how and why the brain processes emotions.  In his book, The Emotional Brain, LeDoux unearths evolutionary secrets that explain certain emotions, and he ponders the role of genetics in cognition.  As a scientific reader, this book tackles many serious issues and makes them easy to understand for the layman.

Due to my upbringing on an island isolated in the middle of the South Pacific, I never really got into the mainstream trends of the US. When I came to Bryn Mawr for college, I was astounded by the importance of brand names, and how one’s status could be determined simply by the car they drove, the clothes they wore and even where they went to buy groceries. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell provides great insight into how social trends take off and what factors are the most likely to influence the public’s behavior. However, from a broader standpoint, the book is about change and understanding what events trigger social change.