Wakefulness

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"Awake" and "Wakeful" redirect here. For other uses, see Awake (disambiguation) and Wakeful (disambiguation).
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Wakefulness is a daily recurring brain state and state of consciousness in which an individual is conscious and engages in coherent cognitive and behavioral responses to the external world.

Being awake is the opposite of being

asleep, in which most external inputs to the brain are excluded from neural processing.[1][2][3][4]

Effects upon the brain

The longer the brain has been awake, the greater the synchronous firing rates of cerebral cortex neurons. After sustained periods of sleep, both the speed and synchronicity of the neurons firing are shown to decrease.[5]

Another effect of wakefulness is the reduction of glycogen held in the astrocytes, which supply energy to the neurons. Studies have shown that one of sleep's underlying functions is to replenish this glycogen energy source.[6]

Maintenance by the brain

Main articles:
Ascending reticular activating system and Arousal

Wakefulness is produced by a complex interaction between multiple neurotransmitter systems arising in the

orexins (also known as hypocretins) projecting neurons. These exist in areas adjacent to histamine neurons and like them project widely to most brain areas and associate with arousal.[9] Orexin deficiency has been identified as responsible for narcolepsy.[10]

Research suggests that orexin and histamine neurons play distinct, but complementary roles in controlling wakefulness with orexin being more involved with wakeful behavior and histamine with cognition and activation of cortical

EEG.[11]

It has been suggested the

newborn due to the stress of being born and the associated activation of the locus coeruleus.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Sleep, dreams and wakefulness". univ-lyon1.fr. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  2. ^ "Wakefulness, Alertness, Sleep, and Dreams". www.csun.edu. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  3. ^ "The Consequences of Excessive Wakefulness". Damn Interesting. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  4. ^ Martin, Richard (1 November 2003). "It's Wake-Up Time". Wired. Retrieved 15 April 2019 – via www.wired.com.
  5. PMID 19778514
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  6. S2CID 39737626
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  7. PMID 22811426
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  8. PMID 17021184
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  9. S2CID 8932862
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  10. PMID 10481909
    .
  11. PMID 19923277
    .
  12. PMID 19762170
    .

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Wakefulness.

The dictionary definition of wakefulness at Wiktionary

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