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SLEEP RESEARCH the study of sleep states has led to an increased knowledge about daily behavioural rhythms involving perception, emotion and thoughts. sleep is not an inactive state, but has its own unique electrical and neurochemical activity and physiology depending on the sleep state from which these measures are taken. THEORIES OF SLEEP Some theories of sleep are based on the knowledge that vigilance levels drop the longer one stays awake. sleep rebound effects (increases …

…young children engage in much larger quantities of sleep than adults. as such it has been suggested that sleep may play an important role in learning or adjusting to new environments. some researchers have proposed that much of this learning could take place during REM sleep. for example, visual and basic motor systems may develop in this way prenatally. in REM there is substantial brainstem activity which could provide a stimulus to developing cerebral circuits.