MSS141
Reading Questions
Dement: The Promise of Sleep

Chapters 1 and 2

1.  According to Dement, what are the criteria for sleep?  

2.  Summarize and explain most notable ancient and modern theories about sleep up to the present day.

3.  What are some of the principle ways in which scientists study sleep?

4.  What is REM?  How was it discovered?  What are the characteristics of REM sleep and what is paradoxical about it?

5.  Explain the typical sleep cycle.  What are the different stages?  How does the sleep cycle differ with age?

6.  How did Dement come to study sleep?  What were some of the preconceived notions about sleep in the 1950s when he started his work?

7.  What were some of the theories and results of the dream deprivation (or REM deprivation studies)?

Chapter 3

8.  What is sleep debt?  What are some of the consequences of sleep debt?

9.  What is the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT)?

10.  Why can sleep-deprived people still feel alert during the day?

11.  Describe the interaction between sleep debt and alcohol.

12.  What were the results of the Naval sensory deprivation study?   And the Thomas Wehr study?

13.  Why is a little sleep debt good, according to Dement?