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03/27/2026

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep: Good Night's Sleep

Tips for Getting a Good Night's Sleep

Getting enough sleep is important for your health. Here are a few tips to improve your sleep:

Set a schedule—go to bed and wake up at the same time each day.
Exercise for at least 30 minutes most days of the week, but not within a few hours of bedtime.
Avoid caffeine and ni****ne late in the day and alcoholic drinks before bed.
Relax before bed—try a warm bath, reading, or another relaxing routine.
Create a room for sleep—avoid bright lights and loud sounds, keep the room at a comfortable temperature, and don’t watch TV or use a smartphone or computer in your bedroom.
Don’t lie in bed awake. If you can’t get to sleep, do something else, like reading or listening to calming music, until you feel tired.
See a doctor if you have problems sleeping or if you feel unusually tired during the day. Most sleep disorders can be treated effectively.
Hope Through Research
Scientists continue to learn about the function and regulation of sleep. A key focus of research is to understand the risks involved with being chronically sleep deprived and the relationship between sleep and disease. People who are chronically sleep deprived are more likely to be overweight, have strokes and cardiovascular disease, infections, and certain types of cancer than those who get enough sleep. Sleep disturbances are common among people with age-related neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Many mysteries remain about the association between sleep and these health problems. Does the lack of sleep lead to certain disorders, or do certain diseases cause a lack of sleep? These, and many other questions about sleep, represent the frontier of sleep research.

National Institute of Health

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
Tips for Getting a Good Night's Sleep https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep

03/27/2026

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep: Genes and Neurotransmitters

The Role of Genes and Neurotransmitters

Chemical signals to sleep
Clusters of sleep-promoting neurons in many parts of the brain become more active as we get ready for bed. Chemicals called neurotransmitters can “switch off” or dampen the activity of cells that signal wakefulness. GABA is associated with sleep, muscle relaxation, and sedation. Norepinephrine and orexin (also called hypocretin) keep some parts of the brain active while we are awake. Other neurotransmitters that shape sleep and wakefulness include acetylcholine, histamine, adrenaline, cortisol, and serotonin.

Genes and sleep
Genes may play a significant role in how much sleep we need. Scientists have identified several genes involved with sleep and sleep disorders, including genes that control the activity of neurons, and "clock" genes such as Per, tim, and Cry, that influence our circadian rhythms and the timing of sleep. Scientists have found that different genes are linked to sleep disorders, such as sleep disorders as familial advanced sleep-phase disorder, narcolepsy, and restless legs syndrome. Some of the genes expressed in the cerebral cortex and other brain areas change their level of expression between sleep and wake. Several genetic models—including the worm, fruit fly, and zebrafish—are helping scientists to identify molecular mechanisms and genetic variants involved in normal sleep and sleep disorders. Additional research will provide a better understanding of inherited sleep patterns and risks of circadian and sleep disorders.

Dreaming
Everyone dreams. You spend about two hours each night dreaming but may not remember most of your dreams. Its exact purpose isn’t known, but dreaming may help you process your emotions. Events from the day often invade your thoughts during sleep, and people suffering from stress or anxiety are more likely to have frightening dreams. Dreams can be experienced in all stages of sleep but usually are most vivid in REM sleep. Some people dream in color, while others only recall dreams in black and white.

Sleep tracking app graphic showing woman sleeping in bed with dark background and sun, moon, and stars.. Courtesy
Tracking Sleep Through Smart Technology
Millions of people are using smartphone apps, bedside monitors, and wearable items (including bracelets, smart watches, and headbands) to informally collect and analyze data about their sleep. Smart technology can record sounds and movement during sleep, hours slept, and monitor heartbeat and breathing. Using apps, data from some devices can be synced to a smartphone or tablet, or uploaded to a computer. Other apps and devices make white noise, produce light that stimulates melatonin production, and use gentle vibrations to help us sleep and wake.

Genes at work double Helix
Sleep studies
Your healthcare provider may recommend a polysomnogram (sleep study) or other test to diagnose a sleep disorder. A polysomnogram typically involves spending the night at a sleep lab or sleep center. It records your breathing, oxygen levels, eye and limb movements, heart rate, and brain waves throughout the night. Your sleep is also captured on video. The data can help a sleep specialist determine if you are reaching and proceeding properly through the various sleep stages. Results may be used to develop a treatment plan or determine if further tests are needed.

National Institute of Health

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
The Role of Genes and Neurotransmitters https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep

03/27/2026

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep: Dreaming

Dreaming and Sleep Tracking

Dreaming
Everyone dreams. You spend about two hours each night dreaming but may not remember most of your dreams. Its exact purpose isn’t known, but dreaming may help you process your emotions. Events from the day often invade your thoughts during sleep, and people suffering from stress or anxiety are more likely to have frightening dreams. Dreams can be experienced in all stages of sleep but usually are most vivid in REM sleep. Some people dream in color, while others only recall dreams in black and white.

Sleep tracking app graphic showing woman sleeping in bed with dark background and sun, moon, and stars.. Courtesy iStock
Tracking Sleep Through Smart Technology
Millions of people are using smartphone apps, bedside monitors, and wearable items (including bracelets, smart watches, and headbands) to informally collect and analyze data about their sleep. Smart technology can record sounds and movement during sleep, hours slept, and monitor heartbeat and breathing. Using apps, data from some devices can be synced to a smartphone or tablet, or uploaded to a computer. Other apps and devices make white noise, produce light that stimulates melatonin production, and use gentle vibrations to help us sleep and wake.

Me personally I disagree with technology, in the words of the wisest man that has ever lived. "The Creator have made everything perfect and beautiful in his time"... "There is a time and a place for everything"
Solomon, the son of David who was king in Israel.

Prioritize Sleep

National Institute of Health

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
Sleep Stages and Mechanisms https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep

03/27/2026

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep: How Much Sleep

How Much Sleep Do You Need?

Your need for sleep and your sleep patterns change as you age, but this varies significantly across individuals of the same age. There is no magic amount of sleep that works for everybody of the same age. Babies initially sleep as much as 16 to 18 hours per day, which may boost growth and development (especially of the brain). School-age children and teens on average need about 9.5 hours of sleep per night. Most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep a night, even older people. However, older people may have more trouble getting enough sleep and are more likely to take medications that can interfere with sleep.

In general, people are getting less sleep than they need due to longer work hours and the availability of round-the-clock entertainment and other activities.

Many people feel they can "catch up" on missed sleep during the weekend, but depending on how sleep-deprived they are, sleeping longer on the weekends may not be enough to replace the sleep they've missed.

National Institute of Health

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
How Much Sleep Do You Need? https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep

03/27/2026

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep: Sleep Stages

Sleep Stages and Mechanisms

Sleep Stages
There are two basic types of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep. Within non-REM sleep, scientists have identified three different stages. Each is linked to specific brain waves and neuronal activity. You cycle through non-REM and REM sleep several times during a typical night, with increasingly longer, deeper REM periods occurring later in the sleep session.

Sleep stage number 1
Stage 1 non-REM sleep is the changeover from wakefulness to sleep. During this short period of relatively light sleep, your heartbeat, breathing, and eye movements slow, and your muscles relax with occasional twitches. Your brain waves begin to slow from their daytime wakefulness patterns. This stage usually lasts several minutes.

Sleep stage number 2
Stage 2 non-REM sleep is a period of light sleep before you enter deeper sleep. Your heartbeat and breathing slow, and muscles relax even further. Your body temperature drops and eye movements stop. Brain wave activity slows but is marked by brief bursts of electrical activity. You spend more of your repeated sleep cycles in stage 2 sleep than in other sleep stages.

Sleep stage number 3
Stage 3 non-REM sleep is the period of deep sleep that you need to feel refreshed in the morning. It occurs in longer periods during the first half of the night. Your heartbeat and breathing slow to their lowest levels during sleep. Your muscles are relaxed and it may be difficult to awaken you. Brain waves become even slower.

Sleep stage number REM
REM sleep first occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep. Your eyes move rapidly from side to side behind closed eyelids. Mixed frequency brain wave activity becomes closer to that seen in wakefulness. Your breathing becomes faster and irregular, and your heart rate and blood pressure increase to near waking levels. Most of your dreaming occurs during REM sleep, although some can also occur in non-REM sleep. Your arm and leg muscles become temporarily paralyzed, which prevents you from acting out your dreams. As you age, you spend less of your time in REM sleep. Memory consolidation most likely requires both non-REM and REM sleep.

Sleep Mechanisms
Two internal biological mechanisms—circadian rhythm and homeostasis—work together to regulate when you are awake and when you are asleep.

Circadian rhythms direct a wide variety of functions from daily changes in wakefulness to body temperature, metabolism, and the release of hormones. They cause you to be sleepy at night and can help you wake up in the morning without an alarm. Your body’s biological clock, which is based on a 24-hour day, controls most circadian rhythms.

Sleep Circadian Rhythym chart displaying the body's biological clock based on a 24-hour day and controls most circadian rhythms.
Your body's biological clock is based on a 24-hour day and controls most circadian rhythms. These rhythms affect a variety of functions including body temperature (represented as the white line on the chart above). Melatonin—a hormone released by the pineal gland—helps you feel sleepy when it gets dark. The peaks and valleys of melatonin (shown in the gold line above) are important for matching the body's circadian rhythm to the external cycle of light and darkness.
Sleep-wake homeostasis keeps track of your need for sleep. Homeostasis refers to a balance between systems in the body. The homeostatic sleep drive reminds the body to sleep after a certain time and regulates sleep intensity. This sleep drive gets stronger every hour you are awake and causes you to sleep longer and more deeply after a period without sleep.

Factors that influence your sleep-wake needs include medical conditions, medications, stress, sleep environment, age, and what you eat and drink. Perhaps the greatest influence is the exposure to light. Specialized cells in the retinas of your eyes process light and tell the brain whether it is day or night and can advance or delay our sleep-wake cycle. Exposure to light can make it difficult to fall asleep and get back to sleep if you wake up during the night.

Night shift workers often have trouble falling asleep when they go to bed, and also have trouble staying awake at work because their natural circadian rhythm and sleep-wake cycle is disrupted. Jet lag also interferes with a person's circadian rhythms, creating a mismatch between their internal clock and the actual clock.

National Institute of Health

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
Sleep Stages and Mechanisms https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep

03/27/2026

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep: Anatomy of Sleep

Anatomy of Sleep

Several structures within the brain are involved with sleep.

Brain diagram displaying the ten structures within the brain are involved with sleep.
The hypothalamus, a peanut-sized structure deep inside the brain, contains groups of nerve cells that act as control centers affecting sleep and wakefulness. Within the hypothalamus is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)—clusters of thousands of cells that receive information about light exposure directly from the eyes and control your behavioral rhythm. Some people with damage to the SCN sleep erratically throughout the day because they are not able to match their sleep/wake cycle (circadian rhythms) with the light-dark cycle. Most blind people maintain some ability to sense light to help them regulate their sleep/wake cycle.

The brainstem, which is made up of structures called the pons, medulla, and midbrain, controls the transitions between wake and sleep. Sleep-promoting cells within the hypothalamus and the brain stem produce a brain chemical called GABA, reduces activity in the hypothalamus and the brainstem. The brainstem (especially the pons and medulla) also plays a special role in REM sleep. It sends signals to relax muscles essential for body posture and limb movements, so that we don’t act out our dreams.

The thalamus sends and receives information from the senses to the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the covering of the brain that has many functions, including interpreting and processing short- and long-term memory. During most stages of sleep, the thalamus becomes quiet, letting you tune out the external world. But during REM sleep, the thalamus is active, sending the cortex images, sounds, and other sensations that fill our dreams.

The pineal gland, located within the brain’s two hemispheres, receives signals from the SCN and increases production of the hormone melatonin, which helps put you to sleep once the lights go down. Scientists believe that peaks and valleys of melatonin over time are important for matching the body’s circadian rhythm to the external cycle of light and darkness.

The basal forebrain, near the front and bottom of the brain, also promotes sleep and wakefulness, while part of the midbrain acts as a system to help us stay alert during the day. Release of a chemical called adenosine from cells helps make you feel sleepy. Caffeine counteracts sleepiness by blocking the actions of adenosine.

The amygdala, an almond-shaped structure involved in processing emotions, becomes increasingly active during REM sleep.

National Institute of Health

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
Anatomy of Sleep https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep

03/27/2026

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep

Sleep is an important part of your daily routine—you spend about one-third of your time doing it. Quality sleep—and getting enough of it at the right times—is as essential to survival as food and water. Without sleep, you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories. Lack of sleep makes it harder to concentrate and respond quickly.

Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells (neurons) communicate with each other. In fact, your brain and body stay remarkably active while you sleep. Recent findings suggest that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake.

Everyone needs sleep, but its biological purpose remains a mystery. Sleep affects almost every type of tissue and system in the body—from the brain, heart, and lungs to metabolism, immune function, mood, and disease resistance. Research shows that a chronic lack of sleep, or getting poor quality sleep, increases the risk of health problems like high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity.

Sleep is a complex and dynamic process that affects how you function in ways scientists are now beginning to understand. This webpage describes how your need for sleep is regulated and what happens in the brain during sleep.

National Institute of Health

Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep

01/21/2026

5-Minute Brain Lymphatic Drainage (Try for Glymphatic Support!)
By Cancer Rehab PT

Great information

Full video:

5-Minute Brain Lymphatic Drainage (Try for Glymphatic Support!)
https://youtu.be/B3Jd9HE6rCs?si=CCQ-tqBrjPQaZekt

01/19/2026

He Hath Made Every Thing Beautiful In His Time

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

01/19/2026

Test Detects Parkinson's
Blood Markers That Betray The Presence Of Parkinson's Disease

New Test Detects Parkinson's 7 Years Before Most Symptoms Show

Researchers have identified a series of blood markers that betray the presence of Parkinson's disease up to seven years before most symptoms present. If findings from this small study can be replicated in larger populations, a simple blood test could be developed to identify those at risk.

Learn more:

Science Alert

New Test Detects Parkinson's 7 Years Before Most Symptoms Show
https://www.sciencealert.com/new-test-detects-parkinsons-7-years-before-most-symptoms-show

01/19/2026

Parkinson's Link to Gut Bacteria
Changes In Their Microbiome

Previous research found people with Parkinson's disease also experience changes in their microbiome long before other signs appear.

Analyzing f***l samples from 94 patients with Parkinson's disease and 73 relatively healthy controls in Japan, Nishiwaki and colleagues compared their results with data from China, Taiwan, Germany, and the US.

While different groups of bacteria were involved in the different countries examined, they all influenced pathways that synthesize B vitamins in the body.

The team found that the changes in gut bacteria communities were associated with a decrease in riboflavin and biotin in people with Parkinson's disease.

The researchers then showed the lack of B vitamins was linked to a decrease in short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and polyamines: molecules that help create a healthy mucus layer in the intestines.

"Deficiencies in polyamines and SCFAs could lead to thinning of the intestinal mucus layer, increasing intestinal permeability, both of which have been observed in Parkinson's disease," Nishiwaki explained.

The researchers then showed the lack of B vitamins was linked to a decrease in short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and polyamines: molecules that help create a healthy mucus layer in the intestines.

"Deficiencies in polyamines and SCFAs could lead to thinning of the intestinal mucus layer, increasing intestinal permeability, both of which have been observed in Parkinson's disease," Nishiwaki explained.

These include cleaning chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides.

Such toxins lead to the overproduction of α-synuclein fibrils – molecules known to amass in dopamine-producing cells in the substantia nigra part of our brains – and increased nervous system inflammation, eventually leading to the more debilitating motor and dementia symptoms of Parkinson's.

Learn more:

Science Alert

Parkinson's Link to Gut Bacteria Suggests Unexpectedly Simple Treatment
https://www.sciencealert.com/parkinsons-link-to-gut-bacteria-suggests-unexpectedly-simple-treatment

01/19/2026

Parkinson's Link to Gut Bacteria Neurodegenerative Disease

The neurodegenerative disease impacts around 10 million people globally, who at best can hope for therapies that slow and alleviate symptoms.
Symptoms typically begin with constipation and sleep problems, up to 20 years before progressing into dementia and the debilitating loss of muscle control.

Science Alert

Parkinson's Link to Gut Bacteria Suggests Unexpectedly Simple Treatment
https://www.sciencealert.com/parkinsons-link-to-gut-bacteria-suggests-unexpectedly-simple-treatment

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