Nighttime Busy bodies

9:00 PM I'm Falling ... Asleep

Snug in your bed, you are about to drift off to sleep, when suddenly you feel like you are falling. Maybe you even dream you are plunging off a cliff. Your body jerks, perhaps you wake up. What's happening? Well, you are falling ... asleep, that is. Your body relaxes, but your brain is still alert, and when your muscles become less tense, your brain senses that you are in danger of falling. To save you, your brain sends a signal: "Hey, muscles, straighten up!" As your muscles obey, your body snaps to attention. You've just experienced a hypnic, or sleep, jerk, a perfectly normal way to "fall" asleep.

9:20 PM Get Comfy

It usually takes about 15 or 20 minutes to fall asleep, but first you have to find the most comfortable position. Some people sleep on their backs and some on their stomachs. Most people curl up in the "fetal" position, which resembles a baby in the womb. Other people assume more bizarre positions, such as on elbows and knees ("The Sphinx"-a favorite among young children who don't want to go to bed) or completely wrapped in the sheets ("The Mummy"). You may move as many as 35 times a night, but normally you will fall asleep in the same position and probably return to it or a version of it quite often.

10:00 PM Did You Hear That?

Soon a loud growling sound shatters the peaceful night. Your uvula shakes and your adenoids quake and your tonsils quiver. What? You are snoring. Some kids snore when nasal passages and glands, such as adenoids and tonsils, get swollen or stuffed up. When this happens, you must breathe through your mouth, and as you suck in air, it makes the soft tissue at the back of your throat vibrate, causing that raspy snoring sound. The bad news is you may snore more as you get older, especially if you are a boy. The good news is that snoring is not usually a serious problem, unless of course you wake up your little brother.

11:00 PM Better Lock the Doors

Some sleepers get really busy during the first few hours of the night, before they even start dreaming. Sleepwalking, sleep talking, and even bedwetting can be caused by a kind of disagreement between your brain and your body. For instance, the brain of a sleepwalker wants to stay awake, while his or her body is in a deep sleep. Sleepwalkers keep their eyes open and appear to be able to see where they are going, but they are sound asleep. Although they sometimes leave the house or wake up in strange places, most sleepwalkers just wander around for a few minutes and then return to bed without ever waking up. These behaviors are common (and normal) among children, whose brains and bodies are still learning to work together.

4:00 AM Dare to Dream

Nightmares or sweet dreams, you've had them both. Your most memorable-or scariest-dreams usually occur in the last hours of sleep. If you awaken in the middle of a dream, you might find it difficult to move for a moment or two. Certain parts of your brain have shut down to paralyze or temporarily disable the body. This sensation sometimes causes nightmares that include a witch or monster sitting on your chest.

Scientists have lots of complicated theories about why we dream, but for most of us, dreams are simply wonderful stories or scary adventures. You might enjoy trying to figure out what your ridiculous dreams mean (hmmm, I wonder why I dreamed about the dog dressed up in a suit and eating my broccoli?), but many people take dreaming quite seriously. Some cultures believe that dreams are actual events that happen to a person's soul during sleep. Others use their dreams to work through the problems of daily life. This isn't as far-fetched as it might seem. Next time you have a problem or worry, try "sleeping on it." The next day, you just might have a solution.

7:00 AN But My Arm Is Still Asleep!

Time to wake up, but wait, your arm, twisted under your body, feels numb. As you begin to move, a strange, prickly feeling floods down from your shoulder. Oh no, pins and needles. When pressure on your arm keeps the nerves from sending any messages to the brain, your arm loses all feeling. As you relieve the pressure and the nerves resume sending signals, "pins and needles" occur. So don't worry if you wake up and your arm is still "asleep." It'll be wide awake in a moment or two.

Copyright Carus Publishing Company Oct 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved