Download Dreaming of a Good Night’s Sleep

Tricia Hickey
Science Fair Project 2015-2016
Dreaming of a Good Night’s Sleep
The Effect of Using Sleep as Android app on Waking Feeling More Refreshed
Sleeping is an underrated activity. Yet it is vital for physical and emotional
health. The physical effects of sleep deprivation are readily apparent in slowed motor
control and reflexes. However, lack of sleep can also affect our mood, suppress the
immune system, lead to weight gain, and affect the brain. (Peters). Sleep is important.
Society will benefit by understanding the importance of sleep on health and productivity.
I noticed that I often wake feeling sluggish and still very groggy, despite sleeping
seven to nine hours. I wondered if using a phone sleep tracking app could improve the
quality of sleep. I choose the Sleep as Android app to document my sleep patterns. My
hypothesis is, if I use the Sleep as Android app, and the alarm is timed to a period of
light sleep, then I will wake feeling more refreshed. (Review).
The app uses the phone’s gyroscope to track your movement during the night.
The app then tracks your movements and plots them on a graph labeled “deep sleep,”
“light sleep,” and “REM” (rapid eye movement). It includes a five-star rating scale for
you to document how well you felt you slept. It also tracks the duration of your sleep in
hours and minutes as well as what percent of your sleep was a “deep sleep” cycle. The
app also analyzes your data and will suggest an “ideal sleep range.” (Review).
Two thousand years ago, Galen, a prominent medical researcher of the ancient
world, proposed that while we’re awake, our brain’s motive force, its juice, would flow to
other parts of the body, animating them but leaving the brain all dried up. He thought
that when we sleep, all this moisture that filled the rest of the body would come rushing
back, rehydrating the brain and refreshing the mind. (Iliff). Galen was trying to explain
sleep based on what he could observe at the time. Based on our own experience,
when we sleep, it clears our minds, and when we don’t sleep, it leaves our mind murky
and it is hard to think clearly. (Iliff).
Sleep is a unique way for the brain to solve the problem of a continuous supply of
nutrients and oxygen to the cells of the brain. The circulatory system supplies the
nutrients and oxygen, the lymphatic system clears away wastes from the body.
However, the brain does not have a lymphatic system! The brain’s solution to the
problem of waste management is using the cerebrospinal fluid, CSF, surrounding the
brain to help clear away the waste between the cells. However, this “cleaning” only
takes place during sleep. (Iliff). So, it seems that , 2000 years ago, Galen was on the
right track when he wrote about fluid rushing through the brain when sleep came on.
(Iliff).
There are four stages of sleep. Stage 1 is the beginning of the sleep cycle and is
a very light sleep, considered a transition period between wakefulness and sleep.
Stage 2 lasts approximately 20 minutes, body temperature decreases and heart rate
slows. In stage 3, people are less responsive and noises and activity in the
environment may fail to generate a response. Dreaming may occur in stage 4. This is
also known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. (Cherry).
“Sleep does not progress through these stages in sequence. Sleep begins in stage 1
and progresses into stages 2, and 3. After stage 3 sleep, stage 2 sleep is repeated
before entering REM sleep. Once REM sleep is over, the body usually returns to stage
2 sleep. Sleep cycles through these stages approximately four or five times throughout
the night.” (Cherry). Stages 1 and 2 are considered light sleep and stages 3 and 4 are
considered deep sleep.
Based on my research, my hypothesis predicts that I will feel more refreshed if
the Sleep as Android app wakes me during a light sleep, or stage 1 or 2 cycle. I will use
the data gathered by the app to track my sleep patterns over a 4 week period. The fivestar rating system will be used to analyze the data. I will compare my perception of
refreshing sleep using the five-star rating system and compare it to the timing of when I
awake.
There are no safety risks as indicated on the Safety Contract. Although the cell
phone must be placed on the mattress while sleeping, it can be out of the way at the
corner of the mattress.
Bibliography
Peters, M.D. "What Are the Physical Effects of Sleep Deprivation." Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
"Sleep - Scientific American." Scientific American Global RSS. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
"Review: Sleep-As-An-Droid Visualizes Your Sleep | Droid Life." Droid Life. 14 Feb. 2011.
Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
"One More Reason to Get a Good Night's Sleep." Jeff Iliff:. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.
Cherry, Kendra. "The Four Stages of Sleep (NREM and REM Sleep Cycles)." Web. 4 Oct. 2015.