Week 7: Getting sleepy?

Getting sleepy?

Recently I have been feeling like I am not resting well enough to be able to be productive at one hundred percent in practically all areas of my life; the feeling of exhaustion led to doubt my sleeping habits and motivated to improve them.Therefore I started exploring the secrets of sleep with all of the factors associated with this issue and I am happy to share my findings on the blog.

What exactly does ‘sleep’ mean?

We have to start with some theory to acquire basic knowledge of exactly what is sleep. The Harvard University definition says: Sleep is a state, characterized by changes in brain wave activity, breathing, heart rate, body temperature, and other physiological functions. Depending on the sleep stage, different physiological functions may be more active and variable, or less active and more stable.

Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky on the right

The breakthrough in research of sleep and its characteristics was made in 1953 by Eugene Aserinsky, a University of Chigaco graduate under dr Nathaniel Kleitman’s supervision, when they discovered a state of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) using a device called electroencephalograph (first used to study human brain activity in 1924).REM is characterized by one’s eyes moving back and forth during sleep while his/her voluntary muscles (e.g. arms or legs) are completely relaxed. However, brain and other body systems increase their activity, and that is when dreaming occurs. Therefore, REM sleep is often referred to paradoxically as sleep.

Stages of sleep

Electroencephalogram in action

REM is only a final phase of sleep, as researchers, obviously, have been digging deep since. Their curiosity led them to characterizing two main (Non-REM and REM) and five sub-stages, which are:

- Stage one: a state of ‘daydreaming’, when we begin to drift off into the dream. It lasts for 5-10 minutes. It is easy to wake up and the person often answers that he/she wasn’t asleep in the moment of waking.
- Stage two: Heart rate and body temperature start to slow down. It lasts for about 20 minutes. This is when we get these funny ‘sleep spindles’ - uncontrolled single burts of movement of our limbs.
- Stage three: slow brain waves (delta waves) start doing their work. This is a transition period between light and deep sleep.
- Stage four: delta waves go all-in. Here is the moment, where people do embarassing things during sleep: sleepwalking and bed wetting. It lasts for about 30 minutes. You can do all sorts of weird things having this much time :)
- Stage five: also called REM, described in the section above. Body temperature is at its lowest of all sleep (we tend to cover ourselves with the blanket to gain some heat), while breathing rate increases, becomes irregular. REM is usually reached after about 90 minutes of sleep and lasts for an hour at most.

All of these stages are a part of a sleep cycle and they do not neccessarily occur in a strict sequence. Sleep starts from stage 1 and progresses into stages 2, 3, and 4 (these are Non-REM stages).After stage 4, stages 2 and 3 repeat several times before evolving into REM. Once REM ends, the sleep returns usually to stage 2. The sleep cycles through above stages about 4-5 times during the night.REM stage increases in duration as cycles progress – the first REM is usually very short but keeps getting longer as cycles continue. That is why we cannot remember all our dreams during the night, have the feeling of confusion or not remembering them at all. We usually do remember the dream most efficiently, when REM lasts for a long time and the dream actually takes as long as it actually seems.

Sleep stages with REM durations

Polyphasic sleep – efficient or crazy?

Have you ever given a thought about your sleeping habits and tried to change them? Every person has individual sleeping patterns, with most being mono- or biphasic sleepers. Those terms seem self-explanatory: sleep once or twice a day – a classic 'good night sleep plus a nap after work'. Some people though, develop unusual sleeping skills, which enable them to sleep more than twice a day – that is called a polyphasic sleep.

Warning! Below is not advisable to full time office workers!

Polyphasic sleep actually comes from an animal habit, especially mammals. Not many humans have natural abilities to adapt such a sleeping schedule, apart from children or people having sleeping disorders which could be caused by head injuries.

This sleeping pattern has been gaining popularity in the recent years. Freelance, creative jobs fueled by a desire to maximize efficiency, require enlarged durability of the organism. It is advertised on the Internet that this sleeping style can save you up to 20 years of sleep.Previous section with stages, REMs etc. goes to a trash bin from now on, when you explore and adapt polyphasic sleeping style. This is where you maximize your daily efficiency at a cost of minimal bedtime.

Simplified sleeping habit types

Even attempting to switch to the polyphasic sleeping, you have to come to terms with several factors, such as a period of adaptation, strict bedtimes and strong motivation. Matthew Armstrong tried the most extreme method, called Uberman, and it worked for him, see below his summary of experiment:



Note that if you develop polyphasic sleeping, you could be placed between Nikola Tesla, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Leonardo da Vinci or Thomas Edison as a fellow polyphasic sleeper. That's a decent company, isn't it?

Polyphasic sleep enhancer

NeurOn sleeping mask

When researching the topic, I came across a very interesting Kickstarter project of Polish team (based in Warsaw). It is called NeurOn and is advertised as a first ever sleep mask for polyphasic sleep. The fundraising began on December 3 and it already has trippled the target goal of $100,000 and stands at about $300,000 with a month of funding left!

The device will consist of a sleeping mask with built -in Bluetooth transmitter, brain activity monitors and eye-tracking module. The eye tracking component is said to be able to recognize a user's sleeping stage based on his/her eye movement.
Another part of the project is a mobile app which will calculate the user's best sleeping pattern, suggesting the one that fits best his/her sleeping habits or sets the desired schedule. It will also be able to wake the user up as soon as the last REM phase finishes. And lots more!

Details below, at NeurOn Kickstarter page:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/intelclinic/neuroon-worlds-first-sleep-mask-for-polyphasic-sle

Questions:
1. What is the average time of your sleep? Are you satisfied with your bedtime?
2. Are you engaged enough to try NeurOn polyphasic sleep enhancer?
3. What possible disadvantages/dangers couldNeurOn possess?
4. Have you used other sleep enhancers?

Week7: Mobile Device Security

According to this year’s Symantec’s Internet Security THREAT REPORT [1] mobile threats are increasing in proportion with a number of devices on the market. Market penetration is expected to reach 4–5 billion by 2017 (about 80% of the global adult population!) [2][4]. Smartphone and tablet use is growing, mobile OS vendors are racing and the number of mobile apps is skyrocketing!

Number of mobile devices is estimated to reach 5 billion in 2017 [4]

It’s no surprise the success of mobile devices. A smartphone integrates several tools into one device one and helps people solve a variety of problems. Unfortunately not all mobile users are aware that there is a price to pay for such convenience and accessibility.

On mobile tools people typically store personal information and contacts. These tools are small but powerful computers with constant access to the internet. People recognize the need for antivirus software and know to stay away from unsafe websites on their PCs. But does they apply the same level of concern when using their phones or tablets …or even their smart TVs?

Research by McAfee leaves us with no illusion. A number of mobile malicious software samples are skyrocketing. It’s because information processed through mobile devices is very valuable.

Number of mobile malicious software samples discovered yearly [6]

Threats caused by the software and use of device vulnerabilities started to become considered a serious issue. High-school hackers have been replaced by skilled professionals and an ever expanding underground market. You can quite easily buy almost anything in there: from credit and debt cards data to packs of logins details, emails, HTTP, FTP, POP, SMTP accounts; Windows passwords or even order a targeted attack.

It's really surprisingly easy to spy on someone’s smartphone or steal their data. For example, if you’re a suspicious husband/wife you can install a small invisible locater app on your partner’s phone. If you lack the technical skills you can simply order a phone with the locater app already pre-installed and give it as a gift. The bonus-gift for you is access to an online portal that provides access to your partner’s messages, pictures, phone calls and locations. However, I must advice against this, as like hacking it’s a crime.

So, what can YOU do with your phone or tablet to prevent all that?

Let's start with the basics! You absolutely must have a pass code on your device …and it shouldn't be "1234”. Recent research and information concerning security breaches shows that people too often use very simple authorization:

Top 10 passwords stolen recently from Facebook, Yahoo,
Google, Tweeter, LinkedIn and more [5]

Top 10 iPhone passcodes (includes “1234”, “0000”, “1111”, etc.) [7]

You should also be very careful when downloading apps from stores other than the legitimated ones. Google Play may not be as safe as Apple Store but it’s still much safer than third-parties stores. I would suggest that your best bet is to use only the authorised stores. 

The apps you download ask for permissions during the installation process. Pay a lot of attention to that – for example why a simple game requires access to SMS privileges? Does it really require them? Be very careful with the permissions granting, especially if they regard SMS! SMS can be used to send costly messages without your knowledge …or even worse to authorize your bank transaction. In fact one of the widely used mobile malware does exactly that – it cooperates with a Windows key-logger and steals transaction codes of your bank.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed an app you should  u p d a t e  both your mobile OS and the apps! There’s a reason why Windows is updated so often and new patches are being delivered to most of our PC software. Give a chance also to the mobile developers to improve your security.       

Whereas Apple iOS based devices are still quite safe (Apple checks each and every application they sell in the store), owners of mobile devices with Android should be probably more worried. Due to the statistics the amount of malware threats designed for Android is 100 times bigger than for the iOS [8]. Thankfully there are a number of good antivirus apps for Android, be sure to get one of them.

Malware threats for different OS [8]

In the business world the issue is called BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and regards all types of private equipment an employee may bring to the office and connect to the company’s network. With mobile devices it has become more serious because it is impossible to prevent your employees from bringing their (smart)phones to work.

On the other hand, there are company devices owned by employees. They may be taken out of the office, but still have access to sensitive company data. What if they are stolen or lost? Can you imagine a competitor having access to your CRM with all contract and client information or law-protected “personally identifiable information” (PPI)… It potentially could lead to serious trouble.

Enterprise Security policy creators are now trying to solve the issues by creating company networks, special guidelines and rules and monitoring them. For example, networks are created for personal devices only. There are special Mobile Device Management (MDM) systems which allow companies to register, control and track a device remotely. Corporate “app stores” are also getting more popular as they contain only apps recognised as safe by an organisation.

But the overall situation doesn’t look bright. Laws and regulations aren’t developing as quickly as the technology is evolving. As in a well managed organization each state or union (e.g. the European Union) should have their own Research & Development department taking care of their citizens security and privacy. R&D would not only keep up with the latest technology but also provide guidelines and feedback to policy makers. However, the reality is completely different: government departments that apply technology effectively use it to spy on people (NSA is a great example) and organisations like GIODO meant to protect our data, writes laws that are years behind the technology. I hate to admit that, but it looks like we’ll have to rely on ourselves for personal data security.

Approach to personal data security 

Some questions for discussion:

1. Do you protect your mobile data? How?

2. Do you have any policies regarding BYOD at work?
If so, are the policies difficult to follow?

3. Have you heard about any interesting facts from the mobile security area?

Sources:

[1] Symantec’s Internet Security THREAT REPORT
[2] The Mobile Economy 2013, GSMA and A.T. Kearney report
[3] http://www.webroot.com/blog/2012/09/24/new-e-shop-selling-stolen-credit-cards-data-spotted-in-the-wild/
[4] http://mashable.com/2013/10/03/mobile-phones-2017/
[5] http://niebezpiecznik.pl/post/2-miliony-hasel-wykradzione/
[6] University of London International Programmes; Malicious Software and its Underground Economy: Two Sides to Every Story
[7] http://danielamitay.com/blog/2011/6/13/most-common-iphone-passcodes
[8] DHS-FBI Bulletin: Threats to Mobile Devices Using the Android Operating System