Every single day, people follow the same pattern: sleep, wake up, sleep, wake up. But why do we sleep everyday? Why do every individuals’ sleeping patterns vary? Why do people form sleeping disorders?
What is Neuroimaging?
The study of sleep is extremely complex and its mechanisms remain relatively unknown to our current world. However in recent years, Neuroimaging - a more modern branch of technology focusing on the brain - has allowed for a more in depth understanding of sleep and its connection to our minds. Positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are certain techniques of neuroimaging that have allowed for the ability to assess the brain, and develop sleep research.
How does it work?
Whether through PET, fMRI, SPECT, etc., neuroimaging techniques have been detrimental to both the advancement of sleep research and society's understanding of the human brain. By working alongside electroencephalography (EEG: the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain), these imaging forms are currently increasing our understanding of sleep physiology, providing valuable knowledge on specific stages of brain activity.
One certain example, fMRI, measures changes that occur from the cerebral blood flow to the blood-oxygen-level dependent contrast. In other words, it is an indirect indicator of neural activity. By measuring the increase of oxygen consumption, fMRI helps to directly measure resulting blood flow - correlating to neuronal activity. Additionally, it is able to study the patterns between brain activity (typically measured through cognitive tasks such as sleep) and functional connectivity (how different parts of the brain communicate to one another).
On the other hand, PET and SPECT are both nuclear imaging techniques. While PET typically involves the injection of a radioactive tracer into the bloodstream (detectable in the brain) to track metabolic activity, SPECT utilizes this tracer to identify areas where there may be reduced blood flow, or some sort of abnormal brain patterns affecting sleep.
In our modern world neuroimaging has been able to provide thousands of further possibilities to research the brain, and how it functions in accordance with sleep. However, brain functional imaging is still a relatively new form of technology, and therefore is not able to reveal all the doors of the unknown on the subject of sleep.
References
Desseilles, Martin, et al. “Functional Neuroimaging in Sleep, Sleep Deprivation, and Sleep Disorders.” Handbook of Clinical Neurology, Elsevier, 4 Nov. 2010, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B978044452006700006X.
Pomares, Florence, et al. “Neuroimaging of Sleep Disorders.” Edited by Antonio Culebras, MedLink Neurology, www.medlink.com/articles/imaging-of-sleep-disorders#:~:text=Important%20advances%20in%20the%20understanding,information%20to%20electroencephalography%20(EEG). Accessed 18 Feb. 2024.
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