How Did You Sleep Last Night?

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In this STEAM class called Disease, we have been looking into different mental diseases and the struggles others have to experience. During this second unit, we read the book, The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida. This book is about a young boy who has autism. In this book, the author answered some questions people have about autism and the way he deals with his autism. In class, we also learned how to create a piecewise function by using a graph and the different brain waves people produce at any time of the day. For this action project, we had to choose a disorder to focus on and research. I chose to research insomnia. When doing this, we had to conduct a simulation for our class and demonstrate how it is to have that specific disorder. We also had to record the brainwaves of our classmates during the whole session.

Definitions of insomnia

 According to MedicineNet, insomnia is, “The perception or complaint of inadequate or poor-quality sleep due to a number of factors, such as difficulty falling asleep, waking up frequently during the night with difficulty returning to sleep, waking up too early in the morning, or unrefreshing sleep.” In other words, insomnia is a disorder where you have difficulty sleeping or falling asleep. Insomnia is able to affect your life in many ways. It can harm your concentration, memorization, energy, motivation, etc.

According to the DSM-V (The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), some consequences that are carried with having insomnia is “Interpersonal, social, and occupational problems may develop as a result of insomnia”. Another thing that the DSM-V included was the “...increased daytime irritability, and poor concentration”. An additional fact that was included in the DSM-V is “[t]hese acute or short-term insomnia symptoms may also produce significant distress and interfere with social, personal, and occupational functioning. When such symptoms are frequent enough and meet all other criteria except for the 3-month duration, a diagnosis of other specified insomnia disorder or unspecified insomnia disorder is made.” These are just a few things that the DSM-V explains about insomnia and the symptoms/causes that this sleeping disorder has.

External Investigation

For this action project, I chose to interview someone who does suffer from insomnia. When interviewing this individual they spoke about the struggles, and symptoms they started to produce when having insomnia. “Before I go to bed I feel like I’m super worried and anxious. Even though my body to sleep I just can’t, and when I do fall asleep it’s probably for about five to fifteen minutes, then I would wake up. I would try to adjust myself to fall asleep, but I would just have to get up. When I fall asleep it’s only for a few hours. I would wake up two to five time a night. Then in the morning, I would notice myself becoming forgetful, weak, and it would be hard for me to concentrate.” One of the main causes of insomnia for this individual is stress and anxiety. Which is common with those who are diagnosed or self-diagnosed with insomnia.

The Effects on the Brain

A recent study shows that those who are suffering or have been diagnosed with insomnia used MRI imagining to analyze the effects of insomnia on the brain. It showed that patients actually have a feeble (a lack of strength or power) connection with their thalamus. The thalamus is a part of the brain that focuses and controls your impulses and sensory. Brainwaves that are affected by insomnia are your alpha and beta waves. Your alpha waves are your conscious state where you are observant of your surroundings. The way that insomnia affects this brainwave is that it causes low energy and drowsiness, which then causes you to not produce much of your alpha brainwaves. It becomes harder for you to actually concentrate, and be in the right state of mind. Your beta brainwaves are when you are critical thinking and are fully focused on one thing. The way that insomnia affects this brain wave is that when those with insomnia are finally asleep their brain isn’t quite relaxed at all. Their brain has increased beta brainwaves when they insomnia.

SR.Brain.2019
SR.InsomniaFlier.2019
Lesson Plan

 During this activity, I chose to create a simulation of what it is like having insomnia. When conducting this simulation I made a lesson plan for myself and planned out each point we would be going over. While conducting this simulation I had my classmates listen to how it is to have insomnia and feel the struggles that others go through. Besides that, we had a little discussion about what they felt during the time period, and what exactly is insomnia.

Minutes into Activity
What the Student is Doing
Materials Needed
Dominant Brainwave
0
Putting in headphones connected to their phone or computer.
Headphones, computer, or phone.
Beta
1
Relaxed, calm, positioned comfortably with headphones in.
Headphones/any device for video
Alpha
2
Relaxed, calm, positioned comfortably with headphones in.
Headphones/any device for video
Theta
3
Still positioned comfortably with headphones in, but are now distracted.
Headphones/any device for video
Theta
4
Still positioned comfortably with headphones in, but are now distracted.
Headphones/any device for video
Alpha
5
A quick explanation/discussion of what insomnia, and the different symptoms that a person has. Also, ask questions.

Alpha
Graph + Piecewise Function
While performing this activity in class I analyzed the different brainwaves that were produced by the class. In total there is five types of brainwaves Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Below, you see a chart where I documented each brainwave during the simulation.

Conclusion
SR.Graph.2019

SR.PiecewiseFunction.2019

For this action project, I chose to interview someone who does suffer from insomnia. When interviewing this individual they spoke about the struggles, and symptoms they started to produce when having insomnia. “Before I go to bed I feel like I’m super worried and anxious. Even though my body to sleep I just can’t, and when I do fall asleep it’s probably for about five to fifteen minutes, then I would wake up. I would try to adjust myself to fall asleep, but I would just have to get up. When I fall asleep it’s only for a few hours. I would wake up two to five time a night. Then in the morning, I would notice myself becoming forgetful, weak, and it would be hard for me to concentrate.” One of the main causes of insomnia for this individual is stress and anxiety. Which is common with those who are diagnosed or self-diagnosed with insomnia.

Citations
1) Insomnia isn't just a nighttime problem. Your Guide to Better Sleep. May 05, 2016. Website

2) MedicineNet. Definition of Insomnia. 2019. Website

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