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Encyclopedia of Neuroscience pp 3736–3738Cite as

Sleep-Wake Cycle

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Synonyms

Sleep-wake rhythms; Wake-sleep cycle

Definition

The rhythmic alternation between two behavioral states: sleep and wakefulness. The rhythmic regulation of the alternation between these two states usually refers to rhythms with a circadian period.

Characteristics

Sleep and the Sleep-Wake Cycle

The defining behavioral characteristics of sleep that are used to identify sleep in many animals are: (i) a species-specific posture; (ii) reduced responsiveness to external stimuli; (iii) rebound after deprivation see [1].

The assessment of a species-specific posture requires around-the-clock behavioral observations. In most species, sleep will be accompanied by behavioral quiescence. In some species, such as dolphins, sleep verified by electrophysiological recordings has been observed while the animal is behaving.

Variation in responsiveness across putative sleep and wake states can be assessed by quantification of arousal thresholds for standardized tactile, auditory, or other stimuli....

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Surrey Sleep Research Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK

    Derk-Jan Dijk

Authors
  1. Derk-Jan Dijk
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology & Biophysics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Marc D. Binder

  2. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Graduate School of Medicine University of Tokyo Hongo, Bunkyo‐ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Nobutaka Hirokawa

  3. Göttingen, Germany

    Uwe Windhorst

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg

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Dijk, DJ. (2009). Sleep-Wake Cycle. In: Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N., Windhorst, U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_5454

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