Neurotransmitters in Sleep

Department of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, General Hospital of the National Center for Cipto Mangunkusumo Jakarta.(Yusri Hapsari utami)

Sleep is an interesting physiological phenomenon of everyday life which is defined as a reversible behavioral state perceived as a release and to release themselves from the responsibility of lingkungan. Sleep is a state organism regular, repetitive, easily restored, which is characterized by a state of relative do not move accompanied by an increase in threshold of response to stimuli eksternal. We spend approximately one third of our lives sleeping. Without enough sleep and sleep deprivation will cause significant physical and mental problems. The average time to sleep we need is a 7.5 jam.3 According to one study, mice that lack of sleep due to hold his sleep die sooner than be detained makan.

Until the 20th century, sleep was still considered a passive phenomenon through observation Von Economo and classical experiments of Moruzzi which states that sleep is not a passive phenomenon. Conversely, due to its active part in ensephalon brain and brain stem that control sleep and arousal. Kleitman then introduce two phases of sleep, namely Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (REM Sleep) and Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (NREM).

Sleep Organization

Sleep is a high-level organization and physiological patterns are structured consisting of two phases, namely not to sleep with rapid eye movement (non-rapid eye movement: NREM) and rapid eye movement sleep (Rapid Eye Movement: REM). NREM sleep phase 75-80% and 15-20% REM sleep phase of Total Sleep Time (TST). Both of these phases are cyclic with a period of REM sleep occurs every 90 minutes. REM-NREM cycle occurs 4-6 times per night and the time required for the more REM sleep meningkat. In NREM sleep, the physiological function clearly decreased. Qualitatively, this is different from REM sleep are usually characterized by the level of brain activity and are very active physiologically similar to the awake state. About 90 minutes after sleep onset, NREM sleep became the first REM episode. REM latency of 90 minutes was consistently found in adults normal.