Blog Blender

Sleep is a spectrum

We’ve known that sleep has cycles, but more research is showing that how we sleep is more nuanced and may exist as a spectrum.

It’s still largely mysterious how the brain manages to move between these states safely and efficiently. But studies targeting transitions both into and out of sleep are starting to unravel the neurobiological underpinnings of these in-between states, yielding an understanding that could explain how sleep disorders, such as insomnia or sleep paralysis, can result when things go awry.

Sleep has been traditionally thought of as an all-or-nothing phenomenon, Lewis said. You’re either awake or asleep. But the new findings are showing that it’s “much more of a spectrum than it is a category.”

PJH Studios artwork, Portrait of a sun

PJH Studios

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  • Sleep is a spectrum

    We’ve known that sleep has cycles, but more research is showing that how we sleep is more nuanced and may exist as a spectrum. It’s still largely mysterious how the brain manages to move between these states safely and efficiently. But studies targeting transitions both into and out of sleep are starting to unravel the…

  • Being social alone on the rise

    In the UK, there is a rise in people going to social events solo. “If I go to an event with someone else, I can very much spend the night doing their night, as they would want it,” says Anaïs Espinosa, a 26-year-old from London. “When I’m alone, I get to do whatever I want…

  • 80-year-old grandmother becomes oldest woman to finish the Ironman World Championship

    80-year-old grandmother becomes oldest woman to finish the Ironman World Championship Grabow, who lives in Mountain Lakes, N.J., plunged into the ocean water of Kailua Bay on Saturday morning. She swam 2.4 miles and then hopped on her bike to cycle 112 miles on a highway twisting through lava fields and notorious coastal crosswinds. She…

  • David Hockney Xerox prints

    For a period of time, David Hockney created collages using Xerox machines. In 1986 Hockney produced Home Made Prints,a series created entirely with the Xerox copier. As the title of the series would suggest, the Xerox machine allowed Hockney to create his prints in the comfort of his own home, rather than the often constrictive…

  • Chasing auras

    Dennis Lehtonen has dedicated his life to photographing auras. One night in 2018, I was viewing the international space station through a telescope in the observatory of Helsinki. Suddenly, I looked into the opposite direction and there, for the first time ever, I would see the northern lights dancing over the city below. The experience…

  • The Oatmeal on AI art

    The Oatmeal on AI art. Astute and poignant.

  • The craze of 6 7

    most previous Internet meme trends were based in some grounding of logic. 6 7, however, has become a prime example of how brain rot can ascend into pop culture. Now teachers avoid breaking kids into groups of six or seven, or asking them to turn to page 67, or instructing them to take six or…

  • Adopting a coffee name

    There are lots of different reasons to adopt a coffee name, giving a barista a name other than your own.

  • Climate change, creating hybrid species

    One of the consequences of climate change is the creation of hybrid species. Hybrid species are surprisingly common in the plant kingdom, but less so among animals, with around 10 to 15 percent of bird species known to hybridize. But as the ranges of animals shift due to changes in global climate, the likelihood of…

  • Lost albums

    Steve Hyden goes long on lost albums: These are the three kinds of “lost” albums I am interested in: 1. Albums that remain unreleased, either by artist’s choice or record-label maleficence. 2. Albums that were unreleased for a time but then came out after they achieved iconic“lost” status, to the point where even now they…