Neurotransmitters In Psychology

Sleep is a state of immobility of our body, while our brain is active. In your brain there are nerve signaling chemicals called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters have a very vital part to the process of sleep. Neurotransmitters control many different kinds of neurons in the brain. Neurons in the brainstem, that are attached the spinal cord, release chemicals that allow some parts of our brain to stay awake while we are sleep. A chemical is released into the blood called Adenosine, into our blood that while we are awake that creates drowsiness. When we fall asleep the adenosine in our blood slowly breaks down while we sleep but is reformed within the course of the day. Neurons in the base of the brain signal to turn off signals that keep us awake. Once you

When we enter stage 2 of sleep our eye movement completely stops. Our brain waves become even slower and we begin to start producing sleep spindles which are patterns of small electrical outbursts in the brain starting in the frontal region of the brain. Stage 2 of sleep takes up to 45% to 50% of our sleep. Stage three is categorized as when delta waves begin to appear in the brain. Delta waves are a cycle of electroencephalographic (a test that detects electrical activity in your brain) activity has a frequency of under four hertz. Stage 3 typically only takes up 4% to 6% of sleep time, but is thought of as the most important stage. Stage 4 is very similar to stage 3 and even sometimes the two stages are combined because of their extreme similarity. It is the deepest part of sleep and is the point where night terrors or sleepwalking may occur. It takes up about 12% to 15% of total sleep time. Finally there is REM sleep. In REM sleep the majority of your muscles become flaccid making your arms and legs paralyzed. There are occasionally bursts of movement in REM but only for a very short time.The only muscles in your body with any movement are the eye muscles, auditory muscles, and the diaphragm for