Though sayings like, “you can sleep when you’re dead,” abound in American, and especially college, culture, sleep is a crucial activity for maintaining health, conserving energy, and learning. During sleep, the body decreases its temperature by about 1-2 degrees Celsius, rests its muscles, rebuilds proteins, and reorganizes synapses. Increased brain activity occurs in the same areas of the brain that were activated by the learning of a new task during the day and correlates with improved performance on the same task the following day.
Sleep deprivation can result in impaired concentration, hallucinations, irritability, moodiness, weight gain, diabetes, heart problems, and a decreased immune system response. Further, disruptions in circadian rhythms can lead to insomnia or depression and have been shown to be risk factors for major diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Humans spend 1/3 of their lives asleep, with about 1/5 of that time in Rapid-Eye-Movement (REM) sleep. A typical nightly sleep cycle occurs in about 90 minutes with a pattern of stages 1-2-3-4-3-2-REM. Though the exact function of REM sleep remains a mystery, it is known that REM deprivation results in increased time spent in REM when no longer REM-deprived. Dreams, which also remain elusive in terms of function, if not meaning, occur mainly during REM sleep but can also occur during other stages.
Though little is known for certain, the role of dreams in waking life is a common topic of exploration in not only science, but also literature, art, music, film, philosophy, and anthropology. Being a repository for archival and rare volumes in any discipline, the Archives & Rare Books Library has an intriguing collection of books relating to sleep and dreaming that spans multiple genres and disciplines.
BACKGROUND
Through studying percussion and neuroscience at UC, I have learned to appreciate the perspectives of all disciplines and the importance of making connections between them. Because sleep involves rhythmic brain firings and cycles, I find it a fascinating topic in neuroscience that is directly related to my studies in music. Whether through neurobiology class or rhythm & eurhythmics class, it has become clear to me that understanding and nurturing the relationship between the brain/mind/body is the best way to have a successful, productive, yet calm and relaxed, day.
From elementary school through high school, I used to beg to stay home from school so that I could just read what I wanted, instead of what the school delineated for me. While I was never allowed to do this, I have come very close this year. Working at the Archives & Rare Books Library has been a dream come true, literally and figuratively (yes, I do dream about the library sometimes!). Though I am in school, I get to spend so much time around an endless expanse of fascinating books. Frankly, a lifetime spent in this library would not be long enough to explore all that it has to offer.
I hope, though, that this web exhibit will provide a glimpse of the Archives & Rare Books Library’s holdings and how they can be tailored to one’s specific interests. The exhibit will combine my interests in neuroscience, music/art/literature, sleeping/dreaming, and apply them to the library. It will provide useful information for those interested in the library’s holdings and how best to use them, with some scientific anecdotes along the way.
