READING PASSAGE 3

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40, which are based on
Reading Passage 3 on pages 10 and 11.

The science of sleep

Emma Bailey explores the curious world of deep(or NREM) sleep and light (or
REM) sleep

Sleep is not an optional activity and is more essential to our survival than food.
By the time they die, most people will have spent more than 25 years asleep. As
Paul Martin, author of Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of sleep and
Dreams, puts it: When you die, a bigger slice of your existence will have passed
in this state than in raising children, playing games, listening to music, or any
other activity that humanity values highly. Why is it necessary to spend quite so
long in this unconscious state? Unlike breathing or eating, the biological benefits
of sleep are not immediately obvious.

It is a behaviour that can be found remarkably far back down the evolutionary
ladder. In all creatures, sleep generally involves a cessation of physical activity
and reduction of sensory awareness for regular periods. Like us, other animals
are kept awake by stimulants such as caffeine and sleep more as babies.

Sleep is therefore a mainstay of animal existence and has been honed by

millions of years of evolution. Yet until 1952, scientists assumed it was a passive
state in which brain activity ceased. But then an extraordinary discovery was
made. Sleep research pioneer Nathaniel Kleitman, of the University of Chicago
noticed it was marked by periods of rapid eye movement, now known as REM
sleep, and that REM sleep was accompanied by a frenzy of brain activity akin to
that seen during periods of consciousness.

We now know that brain activity is far from uniform while we sleep Over a 60-
minute period it goes through four distinct stages of NON-REM(NREM) sleep,
and one episode of REM sleep. It has been discovered that most dreaming
occurs during REM sleep, and that deep sleep occurs during the NREM stages.
In fact, the two types of sleep are as different as sleeping is from wakefulness.
Interestingly, while all mammals, birds and more recent reptiles have both types
of sleep, primitive reptiles experience just NREM sleep. This Implies that REM
sleep evolved more recently, possibly around the time of the reptilian ancestors
of all mammals, 250 million years ago.
For centuries it was assumed that sleep served simply as a mechanism for
allowing the body to recuperate. Recently, it has been shown that NREM sleep
does indeed increase after vigorous exercise. However, people who lie in bed all
day also enter REM sleep, so it can't only be due to this, Jerome M Siegel of the
University of California believes that NREM sleep provides an opportunity to
repair the body cells damaged during wakefulness. As he explains, 'The
decrease both in metabolic rate and in brain temperature occurring during
NREM sleep seems to provide an opportunity to repair this damage.'

However, Professor Jim Horne of the University of Loughborough disagrees:

There is little evidence that any organ apart from the brain goes through repair
during sleep. All the evidence shows that these other organs recover just as well
during restful wakefulness. The brain, Horne points out, never shuts down
during wakefulness. Even if we are resting, it remains in a state of readiness.
Scans have shown that it is only during NREM sleep that the brain gets any rest.
Recognising that when NREM sleep evolved millions of years ago, animals
didn't have highly developed brains, he concludes, " The functions of NREM
sleep have probably changed with evolution, maybe beginning as an energy
conserver, and culminating, in humans, as a facilitator for the recovery of high-
level brain function.'

While NREM most probably involves rest and recovery, REM sleep and dreams
is at much more contentious area of research. According to Dr Claudio deprived
of REM sleep, memory consolidation is compromised. We need it to reprocess
what has happened during the previous period of wakefulness in order to store
information that is useful.'

Certainly, there are studies that suggest a strong link between REM sleep and
memory. After being taught a new skill, people exhibit a rise in REM sleep. If
they are deprived of REM sleep, they are less able to remember the skill.
Experiments have shown that REM sleep must occur within 24 hours of an
experience if it is to be remembered.

There are other views about the function of REM sleep. The pioneering sleep
researcher Michel Jouvet believes that the intense activity seen in the brain
during REM sleep is essential to neuronal development before birth. There is
little to activate the developing brain during the long, dark months in the uterus,
so Jouvet hypotheses that the brain generates its own stimuli in the form of
REM sleep and dreams to aid its own development.
In short, the function of REM sleep and dreaming is still something of a mystery.
The hope is that, as scanning techniques become more refined, the brain
regions underlying the two types of sleep will be better understood. However,
we're not likely to get a straightforward answer, As Horne says:Already over 100
neurochemicals and brain regions connected with sleep have been found, and
more and more are being discovered, So clearly there's no single sleep centre.'
One thing is certain, we'll never be without sleep. It's highly improbable that any
new drug could enable us to avoid it and remain healthy for any length of time.
Questions 27-32
Look at the following statements (Questions 27-32) and the list of people below.
Match each statement with the correct person, A-F
Write the correct letter, A-F in boxes 27-32 on your answer sheet.

27 All of the body is able to recover during one type of sleep.

28 The brain benefits from one type of sleep during an early stage of life.
29 Humans spend more time asleep than engaged in any other activity.
30 It is likely that the purpose of one type of sleep has altered over time.
31 Brain activity during one type of sleep is similar to that when people are
awake.
32 One type of sleep enables an individual to leam from past experience.

List of People
A Paul Martin
B Nathaniel Kleitman
C Jerome M Siegel
D Jim Horne
E Claudio Stampi
F Michael Jouvet

Questions 33-39
Complete the notes below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
White your answers in boxes 33-39 on your answer sheet.

People
- sleep is vital for human survival
- biological advantages of sleep not clear this makes it different from either
33 ............... or ……………..
Animals

- aspects of sleep that most creatures share:

• lack of physical movement
• reduced sensory awareness
• sleep longer whef they are 34………..

Research
- scientists once believed that 35…………. stopped during
during sleep-now know it takes place but not in unifrom way
Types of sleep-REM and NREM

- primitive reptiles do not experience REM sleep

- now possible to prove that amount of NREM sleep rises with 36 ………….
- the metabolic rate and the 37....................of the brain fall during NREM
sleep

The Future

- mysteries of REM sleep may become clearer as the 38 ………….. improve

- unlikely that a 39...... .......will ever replace the need for sleep

Question 40
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D
Write the correct letter in box 40 on your answer sheet.
The writer's main aim in this passage is to

A compare animal and human brain activity during sleep.

B suggest why some people need more sleep than others
C account for the fact that some dreams are easily forgotten
D describe the differences between two types of sleep.