Christina Athanasouli: Modeling Human Sleep

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | Human sleep patterns change dramatically across the lifespan: infants sleep in many short bouts throughout the day, teenagers tend to fall asleep late and wake up late, and adults usually settle into a more regular daily rhythm.

What mechanisms drive these changes, and how can mathematics help us understand them? In this talk, Athanasouli will introduce mathematical models employed to study the regulation of human sleep. I will present a range of models, from simple phenomenological descriptions, such as the two-process model of sleep regulation, to more physiologically-based models that represent interactions between neuronal populations involved in sleep and wakefulness. Finally, we will explore how these models help researchers investigate developmental changes in sleep patterns, from childhood to adulthood. By examining how gradual changes in underlying biological mechanisms can alter sleep timing and structure, these models provide insight into how the characteristic sleep patterns of different life stages emerge.