Sleep and Dreams

Circadian Rhythm

Physical, Mental, and Behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour schedule
- responds to light and dark
affects most living things (animals, plants, microbes, etc.)

Indirect (as you get older, don't need as much sleep)

What is the correlation between a person's age and the # of hours they need to sleep?

Diabetes, Obesity, Heart Disease, and Depression

What are some symptoms of sleep deprivation?

NREM 1

- stage between being awake and asleep
- sleep is light and easily interrupted
- slow-down in brain/muscle activity
- some people experience falling sensation with sudden muscle jerks

NREM 2

- first stage of true sleep, but still light
- slow-down in heart rate/breathing
- More slow-down in brain wave activity
- Unaware of surroundings
- sudden, rapid bursts of brain activity called "Sleep Spindles" (muscles become relaxed)

NREM 3/4

- IMPORTANT: Stage of tissue regeneration and release of Growth Hormones
- Deep Sleep
- Slow brain waves "Delta Waves" interspersed w/smaller, faster waves
- More slow-down of heart rate/breathing
- Decrease in blood pressure
- Muscles relax
- If awakened, groggy/disoriented

REM Sleep

- IMPORTANT: Stage of Dreaming and Memory Consolidation (processing and integrating new info)
- Limbs paralyzed, eyes move back and forth behind eyelids
- Increase in blood pressure
- Speed-up of heart rate/breathing
- INTENSE brain activity (fast and irregular)

Paradoxical Sleep

REM is called ______ because it involves seemingly contradictory states of an ACTIVE mind and a ~sleeping~ body.

REM Rebound

a phenomenon in which a person temporarily receives longer and more intense REM sleep than usual. Often triggered by sleep deprivation.

Restorative/Neural Housekeeping Theory

A theory to explain sleep:
"NREM = physiological restoration
REM = mental restoration"

Evidence:
- REM duration increase after sleep deprivation and physical activity
- Rate of cell division and protein synthesis increases during sleep
- brain flushes out waste toxins through glymphatic system during sleep

Evolutionary Theory
Circadian Rhythm Theory

A theory to explain sleep:
"Periods of activity/inactivity evolved as a means of conserving energy and sleeping during dangerous times"

Evidence:
- animals w/few predators sleep 12-15 hrs
- animals w/many predators sleep 4-5 hrs

Memory Consolidation Theory
Facilitation of Learning Theory

A theory to explain sleep:
"people sleep in order to process info that has been acquired during day and to prep for next day"

Evidence:
- sleep helps cement new info into long-term memory
- sleep deprivation = decreased ability to recall/remember info

Wish Fulfillment Theory

A theory to explain dreams:
"dreams provide safety valve to discharge unconscious wants and desires"

Manifest Content

In the Wish Fulfillment Theory:

___ = the storyline you actually remember

Latent Content

In the Wish Fulfillment Theory:

___ = the underlying meaning of the dream

Information Processing Theory

A theory to explain dreams:
"Dreams may help sift, sort and fix the day's experiences in our memories"

Physiological Function Theory

A theory to explain dreams:
"Dreams provide sleeping brain with periodic stimulation to develop and preserve neural pathways"

Activation-Synthesis Theory

A theory to explain dreams:
"Brain engages in a lot of RANDOM neural activity. Dreams make sense of this random activity"
(AKA dreams are the brain's interpretations of its own random activity)

Cognitive Development Theory

A theory to explain dreams:
"Dreams are a part of brain maturation and cognitive development"

Evidence:
- when deprived of REM, REM rebound occurs when finally get to sleep

One sleep cycle:

NREM 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM

Insomnia

difficulty falling/staying asleep
- slow energy
- difficulty concentrating
- fatigue
- could stem from depression, anxiety, stress, or pain

Narcolepsy

irregular sleep-wake cycles
- sleepiness
- cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle control when awake and fully conscious. triggered by strong emotions like joy, anger ==> knees buckling, jaw drops, falling, twitching)
- Sleep Attacks
- insomnia

Sleep Apnea

breathing starts and stops

3 types:
1) obstructive
- throat muscles relax --> airway closes and breathing cut off temporarily
2) central
- brain doesn't send proper signals to breathing muscles during sleep
3) complex
- combination of both 1 and 2 types

Somnambulism

sleep walking
(eating, dressing, or urinating while asleep)
- occurs during NREM 4

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

moving or acting out dreams
- people with this disorder should, but don't, have their limbs paralyzed during REM
- that's why they are able to kick, punch, fight while dreaming (REM)
- treatment: sedatives, melatonin

Night Terrors

screaming, fear, flailing while in deep sleep
- unable to recall upon waking
- able to flail around and show terror (occurs during NREM 3 so limbs aren't paralyzed)

Sleep Deprivation

Symptoms: fatigue, mood changes, difficulty concentrating, memory problems, paranoia, hallucinations
__ = when someone doesn't get enough sleep

Sleep Debt

the difference between the amount of sleep one needs (owes their body) and the amount one gets
as debt builds, brain/body function deteriorates

Microsleep

unintentional sleeping during the day
- person is UNAWARE of it
- dangerous because can happen anytime (when driving, or operating machinery)
- cause: drowsiness symptoms resulting from other disorders like apnea and narcolepsy

Hypnosis

= a state of relaxation

* focused attention
* increased imagination

Dissociative Theory of Hypnosis

“hypnosis is a result of __divided consciousness"__“

* separation of the subject’s experience from their awareness
* ex. holding hand in ice bucket, they’re aware of the pain, but just no experiencing it in this state of hypnosis

Post-Hypnotic Suggestion

suggestion during hypnosis → person does it after hypnotic trance

* ease pain, stress, anxiety
* improve healing process (placebo effect)

What can Hypnosis DO?

Post-hypnotic Amnesia

= when subjects are made to forget the hypnotic session afterwards

* cure a disease
* unlock repressed memories

What can Hypnosis NOT DO?