I heard on a medical program some time ago, that over sleeping was bad for the heart.
In people who suffer from migraine headaches, sleeping too much or not enough can bring on a migraine headache. This is called a “trigger”.
I am a migraine sufferer and if I get up too early I am in trouble. It starts with my nose running alot.
Nope! Not true. Not even close to true. Obstructive sleep apnea can be bad for the heart ~ repeated cessation of breathing has the tendency to be tough on your whole system ~ but that’s about it.
Migraines are a nasty condition. I’m not an expert on them, so I won’t be much help here; suffice to say that they are more common due to under-sleeping than over-sleeping.
And thanks for the kind words, folks! If you have questions about this sort of thing - naps, jet lag, and so forth - I might be able to help. In any case, it’s just nice being here. I’ve known CK Dexter Haven for a few years through his son, but I hadn’t dropped by before now.
piratecat, what is a “brainwave”?
I’m guessing it isn’t literally the displacement of some particles in a medium, like a wave thru water, but actually the plotting of some signal over time, a la’ a sine wave.
assuming the latter, what actually is being plotted? perhaps some electrical activity? how is that measured?
Have you never heard of an electroencephalogram? It’s a device that measures the electrical activity of the brain. I think it detects the activity by induction.
As for why we sleep, read this article from How Stuff Works. There are many possible reasons and they may all be true. (People usually prefer one reason, but reality is seldom that simple.)
Yes, I’ve heard of them, even seen one done.
the website at your link offers this:
i’m looking for a more precise description than “electrical activity”. Is it the electrical potential at a given point? Are the electrodes in an EEG simply connected to a voltmeter? (and what’s “ground” in this case?)
i don’t know exactly how this sucker works or what the specific levels of electrical activity are, but i’ve had this procedure done to diagnose my mild sleep apnea. apparently, there are noticeably different electrical levels between different levels of consciousness: awake, light sleep, REM sleep, and all those levels i don’t know the names of. so, when using this to determine sleep disorders, the doctor can note how many times you wake up through the night, and how long and how often you go into the different levels of sleep. and they attach those electrodes with this nasty paste that gets stuck in your hair for days.
Sorry for the delay in responding. As you can imagine, this past week has been distracting.
Audient, a brain wave is something that smart surfers… err… never mind. A brain wave is the measurement of the electrical impulses that sizzle through your brain. In a way, they indicate what sort of state your thought patterns are in, and how active your brain is. In the same way that a doctor will use an electrocardiogram to examine your heart, an electroencephalogram (eeg) lets them examine your brain.
For sleep, they hook electrodes up all over your head, with a few on your face. These wires plug into a little gizmo that looks a bit like a Sony Walkman; however, instead of playing music out, it is rcording the electrical impulses coming from your brain. When later analyzed, the speed and pattern of these impulses can tell a trained technician when you were awake, when you were asleep, and indicate when you most likely suffered microsleeps (those momentary bouts of sleep that make drowsy driving so dangerous.)
I hope that’s something of a help! I’m not a M.D., so my explanation is a laymen’s, I’m afraid.
Dehydration and no calorie consumption during a longer sleep. I leaned that the hard way, after fainting after trying to have a “normal” day after an abnormally long sleep. I was re-hydrated in the emergency room, and was told that my blood sugar level was consistent with “temporary hypoglycemia”.
I was 23 at the time, had slept for around 18 consecutive hours, and attributed my achey muscles to having fallen asleep on a comfy couch. When I woke up, I had a cup of black coffee and some raisins: inadvertently dehydrated myself even worse. Ouch.