Course Syllabus

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Cognitive Neuroscience of Sleep

Preliminary Syllabus

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Semester & Location:

Beginning Fall 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:

Elective Course - 3 credits

Major Disciplines:

Neuroscience, Psychology, Pre-Medicine/Health Science

Prerequisite(s):

 One course in neuroscience, physiological psychology, biological psychology, or cognitive psychology at university level.
Faculty Members:

TBA

(current students please use the Canvas Inbox)
Program Contact:

Department email address psy.cns@dis.dk
Time & Place:

Time: TBA

Classroom: TBA

 

Course Description

The aim of this course is to provide an understanding of the fundamentals of sleep and circadian rhythms, including their underlying neurobiological foundations, their development and functions across the lifespan, and their role in physical and mental health. The course will also give students knowledge on objective and subjective measures of sleep, as well as an overview of sleep disorders, symptoms, treatment and prevention. Following completion of the course, students will be able to: describe the neurobiological basis and neurodevelopment of sleep and circadian rhythms, describe contemporary theories of the functions of sleep, describe applied methods in sleep and circadian rhythms research, understand and discuss the interplay between health, sleep, and circadian rhythms, understand and discuss the impact of sleep on cognition, emotion and behavior, explain and discuss the factors that influence sleep and circadian rhythms, describe sleep disorders, their causes, prevalence and diagnostic criteria, pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches to treat sleep disorders, and prevention strategies for sleep disorders.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Describe the neurobiological basis and neurodevelopment of sleep and circadian rhythms.
  • Describe the theories of the functions of sleep.
  • Describe applied methods in sleep and circadian rhythms research.
  • Understand and discuss the interplay between health, sleep and circadian rhythms.
  • Understand and discuss the impact of sleep on cognition, emotion and behavior.
  • Explain and discuss the factors that influence sleep and circadian rhythms.
  • Describe sleep disorders, their cause, prevalence and diagnostic criteria.
  • Describe pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches to treat sleep disorders.
  • Explain and discuss how to prevent sleep disorders in children and adults.

Faculty

TBA

Readings

Required readings will be listed for each individual class, so please check the calendar to identify what you should read before class. All readings will be available on Canvas. Please note that the following list of journal articles is subject to change.

  • Aristotle (350      BC).      “On      Sleep      and      Sleeplessness”. http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/sleep.html
  • Shapiro, C. M., Boquiren, F., Boquiren, V., & Sherman, D. (2009). Sleep in art and literature. Atlas of clinical sleep medicine, 1-9.
  • Borbély, A. A. (1982). A two process model of sleep regulation. Hum neurobiol, 1(3), 195-204.
  • Sollars, P. J., & Pickard, G. E. (2015). The neurobiology of circadian rhythms. Psychiatric Clinics, 38(4), 645-665.
  • Patel, A. K., Reddy, V., & Araujo, J. F. (2022). Physiology, sleep stages. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.
  • Pace-Schott, E. F., & Spencer, R. M. (2011). Age-related changes in the cognitive function of sleep. Progress in brain research, 191, 75- 89.
  • Krueger, J. M., Frank, M. G., Wisor, J. P., & Roy, S. (2016). Sleep function: Toward elucidating an enigma. Sleep medicine reviews, 28, 46-54.
  • Mander, B. A., Winer, J. R., & Walker, M. P. (2017). Sleep and human aging. Neuron, 94(1), 19-36.
  • Sadeh, A. (2015). Iii. Sleep assessment methods. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 80(1), 33-48.
  • Mollayeva, T., Thurairajah, P., Burton, K., Mollayeva, S., Shapiro, C. M., & Colantonio, A. (2016). The Pittsburgh sleep quality index as a screening tool for sleep dysfunction in clinical and non-clinical samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep medicine reviews, 25, 52-73.
  • Kantermann, T., Sung, H., & Burgess, H. J. (2015). Comparing the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire and Munich ChronoType Questionnaire to the dim light melatonin onset. Journal of biological rhythms, 30(5), 449-453.
  • Cappuccio, F. P., D'Elia, L., Strazzullo, P., & Miller, M. A. (2010). Sleep duration and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta- analysis of prospective studies. Sleep, 33(5), 585-592.
  • Wulff, K., Gatti, S., Wettstein, J. G., & Foster, R. G. (2010). Sleep and circadian rhythm disruption in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(8), 589-599.
  • Walker, M. P. (2009). The role of sleep in cognition and emotion. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1156(1), 168-197.
  • Nena, E., Katsaouni, M., Steiropoulos, P., Theodorou, E., Constantinidis, T. C., & Tripsianis, G. (2018). Effect of shift work on sleep, health, and quality of life of health-care workers. Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 22(1), 29.
  • Da Costa, D., Lai, J. K., & Zelkowitz, P. (2021). A prospective study on the course of sleep disturbances in first‐time fathers during the transition to parenthood. Infant Mental Health Journal, 42(2), 222- 232.
  • Drews, H. J., Wallot, S., Weinhold, S. L., Mitkidis, P., Baier, P. C., Roepstorff, A., & Göder, R. (2017). “Are we in sync with each other?” Exploring the effects of cosleeping on heterosexual couples’ sleep using simultaneous polysomnography: A pilot study. Sleep disorders, 2017.
  • Zucconi, M., & Ferri, R. (2014). Assessment of sleep disorders and diagnostic procedures. Eur Sleep Res Soc, 23(95),110. https://esrs.eu/wpcontent/uploads/2018/09/ESRS_Sleep_Medicine_Textbook_Chapter_B1.pdf
  • Zucconi, M., & Ferri, R. (2014). Assessment of sleep disorders and diagnostic procedures. Eur Sleep Res Soc, 23(95),110. https://esrs.eu/wpcontent/ uploads/2018/09/ESRS_Sleep_Medicine_Textbook_Chapter_B1.pdf
  • Thorpy, M. J., & Roth, T. (2013). Toward a classification of medications for sleep and circadian rhythm disorders. Nature and Science of Sleep, 5, 143.
  • Dodson, E. R., & Zee, P. C. (2010). Therapeutics for circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Sleep medicine clinics, 5(4), 701-715.
  • van Straten, A., van der Zweerde, T., Kleiboer, A., Cuijpers, P., Morin, C. M., & Lancee, J. (2018). Cognitive and behavioral therapies in the treatment of insomnia: A metaanalysis. Sleep Med Rev, 38, 3-16. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2017.02.001
  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Tips for better sleep https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/sleep_hygiene.html
  • AASM Sleep Education. Healthy Sleep Habits. https://sleepeducation.org/healthy-sleep/healthy-sleep-habits/ 

Field Studies

Field studies serve to complement your course work by placing you in the professional field to extend and rethink what we read about, discuss in class, and encounter in practicum. Please be ready for each field study by completing all readings and preparing questions in advance.

We may divide the class into smaller groups, each visiting different sites located in the greater Copenhagen area. Specific field study details are yet to be determined.

Guest Lecturers

TBD. At certain points in the course, guest lecturers may be invited to provide their experience and expertise on select topics being covered in class.

Approach to Teaching

The purpose of this course is to facilitate dialogue, debate, and critical thinking about the neuroscience of sleep, drawing upon various theoretical and empirical perspectives. This discussion-based format may be somewhat unfamiliar to students, who are often better acquainted with lecture-style courses. In this course, it is expected that learning will occur primarily through reading, discussion, and the exchange of ideas – consequently, the outcome of the course depends largely on your active participation. If you are concerned about your ability to speak up in class (or worry that you may speak too much) please see me so I can help you work on this – I expect that everyone in the course will offer insightful questions and answers during every class meeting.

Please note that our class meetings will typically not involve much repetition of the assigned readings. Thus, you must do the readings in advance to prepare for our class activities and discussions. 

Expectations of the Students

As this is a predominantly discussion-based course, its success depends on your serious commitment to truly engage with the material. To that end, I expect you to spend at least 6-7 hours every week outside of class preparing for this course. You must come to class prepared, having closely read and evaluated the reading assignments, and your class discussions should reflect this careful reading. While taking notes on the reading assignments, try to identify which portions of the assignments were particularly notable/important and why they caught your attention. Include summaries in your own words, write questions to yourself, agree/disagree with the content, and generally try to delve yourself deeply into a thoughtful evaluation of the reading assignments.

You are expected to behave professionally and participate actively during class and field studies. This includes all of the following:

    • Attend all class meetings, field studies, and related activities.
    • Be punctual and stay for the entire experience.
    • Contribute to shared learning: ask relevant questions, offer critical reflections, and respond respectfully to others’ comments.
    • Put your phone away and turn off notifications on any other electronic devices.

Evaluation

To be eligible for a passing grade in this class you must complete all of the assigned work.

You will be evaluated based on your performance on the course assignments as indicated below. Additional details will be provided in class.

Grading

Assignment

Percent
Class participation and engagement (including online discussion forums)

20%

Research paper

25%

Co-facilitation of class discussion

20%

Mini behavioral experiment (and self-reflection) project

10%

Public health campaign focused on sleep (i.e., policy brief or social media campaign, accompanied by a short reflection explaining the various components and scholarly references)

25%

Course Policies 

Attendance: You are expected to attend all DIS classes when scheduled.  If you miss a class for any reason, please contact the faculty no later than the day of the missed class. If you miss multiple classes the Director of Teaching and Learning, and the Director of Student Affairs will be notified and they will follow-up with you to make sure that all is well.  Absences will jeopardize your grade and your standing at DIS.  Allowances will be made in cases of illness or religious holidays, but in the case of multiple absences you will need to provide a doctor’s note.

Academic Honesty, Plagiarism, and Violating the Rules of an Assignment: DIS expects that students abide by the highest standards of intellectual honesty in all academic work. DIS assumes that all students do their own work and credit all work or thought taken from others.  Academic dishonesty will result in a final course grade of “F” and can result in dismissal. The students’ home universities will be notified. DIS reserves the right to request that written student assignments be turned in electronic form for submission to plagiarism detection software. See the Academic Handbook for more information, or ask your instructor if you have questions.

Policy on Late Papers: Late essays will be accepted for up to 3 days after the deadline, but for each day late, excluding the weekends, a 5% penalty will be applied. 

Extensions: You may request an extension for an assignment, but you must ask more than 1 day before the assignment is due. Extension requests on the due date, without an excusable reason, will not be considered.

Policy for Students Who Arrive Late to Class: Please come to classes on time as it is disturbing for the lecturer and other students. Repeated lateness will result in a referral to the head of the Teaching and Learning department.

Use of Laptops or Phones in Class: Computers and iPhones are allowed in class PURELY for academic purposes (e.g. note taking, literature searching, data handling purposes). In case of other private uses such as Facebook, emails or internet surfing, it will have a very negative impact on your participation grade. The use of cell phones during class is strictly forbidden.

 

Academic Regulations

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org

 

Course Summary:

Date Details Due