MSS141
Reading Questions
Dement: The Promise of Sleep

Chapters 4 and 5

1.  What is the biological clock?   What is the circadian rhythm?  What does Dement mean by "opponent process model"?

2.  Explain jet lag using the notions of the biological clock and the sleep drive.  

3.  What have scientists discovered when they measure the sleep of subjects deprived of all external time cues?

4.  How did Thomas Edison influence modern sleep?

5.  In your sleep and dream journal, start to record the number of hours you sleep a day, including naps.  When do you tend to feel drowsy and when are you especially alert?  Start to pay attention to your circadian rhythm.

6.  When in the life cycle does sleep begin?  Describe the stages of infant sleep.

7.  Describe the sleep of children.  What happens to sleep at the onset of puberty?

8.  What were the results of the University of MN study on school start times?

9.  How does adult sleep change?  What happens to our sleep after age 65-70?

Chapter 10

10.  How does Dement challenge the common notion that we sleep to rest the body and brain?

11.  Does sleep serve a vital purpose?  Do scientists agree?

12.  What did Dement observe about Randy Gardner's wakefulness marathon?  What myths did the marathon expell?  How does Dement interpret Randy's sleep pattern after the marathon?

13.  In what ways does mammalian sleep differ from human sleep?  What is sleep's likely purpose for animals? 

14.  What is Dement's and Roffwarg's theory about the purpose of REM sleep?  What are some ideas Dement has about why REM sleep is maintained until death?

15.  What were the results of the Rechtschaffen rat sleep deprivation study?  Why is Dement hesitant to conclude that sleep deprivation leads to death?

16.  What other functions has the body adapted sleep for?