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In most animals, slow-wave sleep is characterized by high amplitude, low frequency EEG readings. This is also known as the desynchronized state of the brain, or deep sleep. In USWS, only one hemisphere exhibits the deep sleep EEG while the other hemisphere exhibits an EEG typical of wakefulness with a low amplitude and high frequency.
Like other marine mammals, seals sleep in water with half of their brain awake so that they can detect and escape from predators, as well as surface for air without fully waking. When they are asleep on land, both sides of their brain go into sleep mode.
Slow-wave sleep is necessary for survival. Some animals, such as dolphins and birds, have the ability to sleep with only one hemisphere of the brain, leaving the other hemisphere awake to carry out normal functions and to remain alert. This kind of sleep is called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, and is also partially observable in human beings ...
Despite their findings, the researchers still don't know "...why the brain only maintains an alert state in just one hemisphere – whether it's always the left or in alternation with the right ...
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Unlike most animals, whales are conscious breathers. All mammals sleep, but whales cannot afford to become unconscious for long because they may drown. They are believed to exhibit unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, in which they sleep with half of the brain while the other half remains active. This behaviour was only documented in toothed whales ...
In the wild, mother seals only care for their pups for about four to six weeks before they are left to fend for themselves, but in that time, they learn a lot about seal behavior and especially ...
Sleep can follow a physiological or behavioral definition. In the physiological sense, sleep is a state characterized by reversible unconsciousness, special brainwave patterns, sporadic eye movement, loss of muscle tone (possibly with some exceptions; see below regarding the sleep of birds and of aquatic mammals), and a compensatory increase following deprivation of the state, this last known ...