Ap Psychology Sleep and dreams

Circadian Rythms

biological clock

sleep-wake cycle

Melatonin (evening)

indeed when fading light triggers

body temp decreases

fall asleep

Melatonin (morning)

light trigger decreases

body temp increases

wake up

Jet lag

when a person’s internal circadian clock is out of sync with the time zone they are in

sleep stage 1

pulse slows,muscle relax, breathing is irregular

“just drifting” last about 10 min

EEG: theta waves lower amplitude and frequency

hypnagogic jerk

sleep stage 2

sleep spindles

EEG: theta waves going back and forth in amplitude and frequency

slow side to side eye movement about 30 min

sleep stage 3

deeper sleep

EEG: sweeping delta waves (larger amplitude)

deepest sleep( hard to wake up)

delta waves-50% of the time

somnambulism

bed wetting

crucial to mental health

hypnagogic jerk

twitching

Somnambulsim

sleep talking and sleepwalking in stage 3 sleep

Activation-synthesis theory

suggest that the brain engages in a lot of random neural activity. dreams make sense of this activity.

how we interpret the random images and sensation is the dreams meaning.

Information Processing

dreams help us sort the days events and consolidate our memories

dreams help sift, sort, understand, and fix a day’s experiences in our memories.

Cognitive theory

dreams reflect emotional preoccupations of waking life—relationships,sex work, health.

images in a dream are sometimes symbols for things in everyday life.

Psychodynamic theory

sigmund freud suggested that dreams provide a psychic safety valve to discharge unacceptable feelings

Restoration theory

Body wears out during the day and sleep is necessary to put it back in shape

Adaptive Theory

sleep emerged in evolution to preserve energy and protect during the time of day when there is little value and considerable danger

Memory Consolidation Theory

sleep in order to process information that has been acquired during the day. in addition to processing information from the day prior, this theory also argues that sleep allows the brain to prepare for the day to come.

Insomnia

difficulty falling asleep (+25 min) or remaining asleep

may be related to stress, depression, medication

can also be caused by noise,temperature, or trying to sleep in a new environment

Narcolepsy

suddenly falling asleep without warning during waking hours

may also drop into rem sleep immediately causing hallucination

Sleep Apnea

Person stops breathing momentarily during sleep

causes:enlarged tonsils, infections in throat, obesity,

snores more likely to have it

REM Behavior Disorder

body fails to fall asleep during REM sleep

Sleep paralysis

body fails to undo paralysis briefly upon walking

could explain aliens and demons in your room?