The Restoration Theory Of Sleep

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The Restoration Theory Of Sleep
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The function of sleep is to allow the body to be
repaired/ restored
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Hartmann (1973) said that REM sleep is a time for
making neurotransmitters to compensate for the
amount used during the day.

• Stern and Morgane (1974) also thought that that
  REM sleep allows the brain to restore levels of
  neurotransmitters to 'factory settings'.
• Oswald (1980) claimed that NREM sleep restored
  the body and REM sleep restored the brain,
  through protein synthesis and that Slow Wave
  Sleep (SWS) helped the body restore itself.
• Horne (1988) distinguished between core (SWS
  REM) sleep and optional (stages 1 to 3) sleep

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• The main predictions of Restoration Theory are
• Deficits in functioning when sleep deprived
• 'Rebound' effects following sleep deprivation
• Increase in REM sleep during brain growth,
  reorganiation and repair
• Increase in SWS during times of illness or injury

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• Peter Tripp 201 hours
• Randy Gardner, a 17 year old student, stayed
  awake for 11 days (260)

• Deficits when sleep deprived?

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Rebound effects?

• Dement (1960)
• PPs deprived of REM sleep seemed to have a need
  to catch up Attempts to enter REM sleep doubled
  from an average of 12 to 26 times by the seventh
  night. When allowed to sleep normally the
  participants spent much longer than normal in REM
  sleep, as did Randy Gardner.

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Increase in REM sleep during brain growth and
repair?
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• Total sleep time increases during illness
• REM increases during recovery from brain injury,
  ECT drug withdrawal

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Evaluation

• The FACE VALIDITY of this theory is high it
  makes sense.
• Extrapolating from hamsters, cats and rats to
  humans is always risky.
• The research is not always RELIABLE and so we
  might question its VALIDITY. (cf human sleep
  deprivation studies and animal sleep depriavation
  studies fatal or not fatal?)
• Case Studies- 'Alien Among Us' criticism
• It is easy to obtain quantitative (OBJECTIVE?)
  data on REM, amount of neurotransmitters etc

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The main problem...

• ...is the lack of death among humans who are
  sleep deprived!!