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The Brain's Secret For Sleeping Like a Log

Posted by Soulskill on from the light-exercise-and-a-fifth-of-rum dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Why can some people sleep through anything? According to this article in Wired Science, some lucky people have an extra helping of a certain kind of brain static that essentially blocks out noise and other stimuli. These 'sleep spindles' can be detected via EEG, and show up as brief bursts of high-frequency brain waves; some people naturally produce more than others. The researchers say these spindles are produced by the thalamus, the brain region that acts as a waystation for sensory information. If the thalamus is busy producing sleep spindles, sensory information can't make it through the thalamus to the cortex, the perceptive part of the brain."

13 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I can sleep through anything and so can my kids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Exactly. That's why I stick my niece with a knife ever so often to make sure she's impervious to sharp metal objects when she grew up.

  2. Oblig Beavis & Butt-head by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dude, I totally agree. After a good nights rest,
    I always wake up with a "sleep spindle".

    (He-he... he-he... he said "sleep spindle".)

  3. Re:Sleep by Gerzel · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sorry, I'll try to be quieter.

  4. Re:I used to have trouble falling asleep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Good sleep comes from having a balanced body, and hands-on therapies are one way to restore balance.

    Yeah, I find masturbation can help me sleep sometimes too.

  5. Can't sleep by PPH · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clown will eat me.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  6. Re:Not so awesome as you might think by Emonair · · Score: 5, Funny

    Two words for your wife... cattle prod

  7. Re:Throwback? by hedwards · · Score: 2, Funny

    Deep sleep is regenerative sleep. AFAIK it isn't related to memory at all, REM sleep is. I'm not sure scientifically, but it does seem that the less REM you get the better in terms of memory. My memory was definitely a lot better before I started with all the damned dreaming.

  8. Re:I used to have trouble falling asleep by daveime · · Score: 4, Funny

    And after carefully reading the instructions, and inflating to the correct PSI, they lived happily ever after. The End.

  9. Re:Long, movie-ish dreams? by danhm · · Score: 2, Funny

    Inception.

  10. Try not by laron · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do. Or do not. There is no try.

    --
    "Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
  11. Re:I used to have trouble falling asleep by YourExperiment · · Score: 3, Funny

    tl;fa

  12. Oh... God help me by RulerOf · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do. Or do not. There is no try.

    On behalf of everyone here at Slashdot, I would like to personally thank you for putting Yoda and masturbation into one line of text.

    This awful image in my head.. MAKE IT STOP! :-(

    --
    Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
  13. Re:Sleep by smurphmeister · · Score: 2, Funny

    Buckminster Fuller devised a system (called Dymaxion sleep) where he slept a half-hour every 6 hours, sleeping 2 hours in a day. That gives an amazing 22 hours a day to do stuff

    This is all well and good until you end up in a bag in the Hudson River http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheFriarsClub.html