Journal of Sleep Disorders & Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Sensory Gating Protects Sleep, Sensory Gaining Protects the Sleeper

Anton Coenen*

Sleep is a vulnerable process for two reasons. Firstly, the comfort to sleep onset and maintenance is strenuous for many people, and secondly the diminished ability in sleep to monitor the environment reduces the action to risky and relevant events. The ease to sleep is regulated by a mechanism called ‘sensory gating’, controlling the amount of stimulus input to the brain. The monitoring of the sleep environment for external threats and situations, is done by ‘sensory gaining’, a complex brain mechanism leading to a subconscious representation of the sleep environment, which makes reactions possible. In short, sensory gating protects the sleep, while sensory gaining protects the sleeper. Both the sensory gating and gaining systems are in detail described in this paper.

Published Date: 2024-10-14; Received Date: 2024-09-12