Template:Did you know nominations/Sleep cycle


 * The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as |this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Cwmhiraeth (talk) 05:20, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

Sleep cycle

 * ... that as you progress through your ninety-minute sleep cycle (example pictured) your brainwaves change and your body secretes different hormones?
 * ALT1: ... that your ninety-minute sleep cycle (pictured) may be part of an ultradian rhythm that continues throughout the day?
 * ALT2: ... that the sleep cycle lasts ten times longer in elephants than in rats?
 * Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Rhode Island banking crisis
 * Comment: I'd like to add more on neurobiology (activation-synthesis hypothesis etc.) and the importance or not of how awakening is timed but I think the article is adequate for DYK as is. The sleeping elephant picture might have been good to use, but presents some difficulty since the sleep cycle in captive Asian elephants might not actually be two hours, according to one study in 1992. Anyway this diagram actually better illustrates the concept in question. I was surprised to find (a while back) that we had no article on this topic since it seems to attract a good deal of attention in some circles.

Created by Groupuscule (talk). Self-nominated at 10:23, 10 July 2017 (UTC).


 * Symbol possible vote.svg Length checks out (5X expansion) as of date of submission. I would go with main hook or ALT2. I have concerns about the hypnogram -- it would be good to have a citation for the underlying data to ensure this isn't just original research. Also, the picture of the elephant is cute, but please give it a more encyclopaedic caption. -Kieran (talk) 18:16, 23 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Hi, thanks for reviewing. I made some small changes to improve the elephant situation. It turns out that there is some confusion about elephant sleep cycles in general so I tried to reflect the available information in the image caption and in the article text. Regarding the diagram; it looks to me like a prototypical first cycle of the night but I understand the issue you're raising. I asked the user who created the diagram about the source for the data. Maybe communicating on de.wikipedia would be more effective. In either case, however, the person doesn't seem to be recently active. If they don't respond would the ideal thing be to create a new diagram based on a diagram published in an article? I think the diagram will inevitably be a schematic rather than a direct recording since (in my understanding) the division into stages must be created through interpretation of the raw data. groupuscule (talk) 20:07, 26 July 2017 (UTC)
 * No worries, and thanks for your edits! The caption is much better for the elephant. And yes, I think the ideal would be a diagram from a journal. That said, I think it would be OK to talk about this is just an example of a sleep cycle. I'm not an expert, but I get the impression from the article that there is some variance from person to person in both the duration and the exact number of stages and their transitions. The wording right now implies that everyone goes through exactly that hypnogram in every sleep cycle. If you could either soften that wording, and/or alter the lede to not reference the figure, then I think we'd be good to go for DYK. -Kieran (talk) 22:44, 27 July 2017 (UTC)
 * How do these changes look? Feel free to adjust more if you have an idea of how to improve. I think you are right on point that if the hook is going to describe your sleep cycle then we cannot purport to have an exact diagram. (Yes there is individual variation.) I changed the caption of the image in the article as well. Cheers, groupuscule (talk) 14:18, 28 July 2017 (UTC)


 * Symbol confirmed.svg Looks good! I made a tiny tweak to the hook so that brainwaves points directly to Neural oscillation, and I think it's ready! -Kieran (talk) 22:02, 28 July 2017 (UTC)