sleep and dreaming 😴💤

sleep is a _______________ behaviour, meaning that everyone does it. It is also ________________: we cannot stop ourselves from sleeping. This suggests that is is an _______________ behaviour that aids survival

sleep is a universal behaviour, meaning that everyone does it. It is also instinctive: we cannot stop ourselves from sleeping. This suggests that is is an evolved behaviour that aids survival

Functions of sleep

• Physical repair - especially during slow wave sleep

  • keeps our hormones balanced

  • immune system activity increases (killing more pathogens)

  • triggers the release of growth hormones (increasing muscle mass and repairing tissues)

• Healthy brain - REM sleep resets the brain

  • Consolidates and protects memories

• Emotional stability

  • good nights sleep makes us more alert and energised

  • body produces less of stress hormone cortisol

Issues if you don’t get enough sleep

• Hormones become unbalanced → increased hunger and blood sugar levels

• Immune system weakens → more susceptible to diseases

• Growth may be stunted → less release of growth hormones

• Reduce concentration

• Slower reaction time

• More stressed → more cortisol released

what are the stages of the sleep cycle? How long does one complete sleep cycle take on average?

• stages 1,2,3, 4 & 5

• 90 minutes

stage 1 (brain activity, % of cycle and features)

• brain waves (alpha waves) are more synchronised + slower than when we are awake

• alpha waves get slower and become theta waves

• 10% of cycle

• light, drowsy sleep

• people drift in and out of sleep + can be stirred quite easily

• eyes move slowly + muscle activity slows down

stage 2 (brain activity, % of cycle and features)

• theta waves become slower with occasional burts of rapid brain waves

• 50%

• eye movement stops

• lose conscious awareness of the outside world

stages 3&4 (brain activity, % of cycle and features)

• stage 3: extremely slow delta waves (brain waves) alternate with shorter, faster waves

• stage 4: only delta waves produced

• 10%(3), 10%(4)

• stages of deep sleep - difficult to wake up

• no eye movement or muscle activity

• more growth hormones are released into body (helps with physical repair)

REM stage (brain activity, % of cycle and features)

• brain waves are fast (similar to when awake)

• 20%

• breathing is faster + less regular

• rapid eye movement

• limb muscles are temporarily paralysed

• heart rate increases + blood pressure rises + body temperature goes up/down

• dreams occur - if someone is woken during REM sleep they can usually remember their dreams

• REM periods last longer later in the night, when more sleep cycles are carried out

Our sleep pattern (being awake during day and asleep at night) is thought to be governed by ________________ _________________ and __________________ ___________________

Our sleep pattern (being awake during day and asleep at night) is thought to be governed by endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers

endogenous pacemakers

internal biological clocks (cues) that manage bodily rhythms

exogenous zeitgebers

features of the environment (external cues) that help to manage bodily rhythms , either physical or social

e.g. light

both endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers have a role in maintaining and controlling the 24-hr sleep-waking cycle. A key factor in how we sleep is exposure to ___________ or _____________

light or darkness

what occurs in the brain when we are exposed to light?

• it stimulates a neural pathway From the retina to the hypothalamus

• located here is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which sends signals to other parts of brain that control hormones, body temp and other processes that contribute to us feeling sleepy or wide awake

• the SCN is an endogenous pacemaker which obtains info about light via optic nerve

• SCN delays the release of melatonin until it's dark

hypothalamus

a part of the brain that controls a number of key bodily functions

suprachiasmatic nucleus

a cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus of the brain that regulates circadian (24hr) rhythms

the role of melatonin

• a hormone that induces sleep, made by the pineal gland

• during the day, the gland is inactive however as night falls it gets activated by the SCN and starts to produce melatonin, which is released into blood

• when melatonin levels ↑ we begin to feel less alert and drowsier, and have the urge to sleep

sleep disorders

behaviours which affect normal patterns of sleep

what is sleep onset insomnia?

problems falling asleep

causes of sleep onset insomnia

• on-going anxiety (which releases stress hormones)

• too much caffeine/nicotine before going to bed

• eating a heavy meal close to bedtime

• playing computer games close to bedtime

• physical pan that keeps the sufferer awake

what is sleep maintenance insomnia?

disturbed pattern of sleep where a person wakes up regularly

causes of sleep maintenance insomnia

• depression

• alcohol consumption

• restless legs syndrome

• sharing a bed or room with someone who snores

• menopause (women)

1. Freud’s theory of dreams mainly focuses on the ________ _____.

2. he believed that actions do not happen _____________.

1. unconscious mind - part of mind we're not consciously aware of, but it's the key drive behind many of our behaviours

2. randomly - they are motivated by unconscious urges and desires

Freud wanted to investigate the _____________ ________ , but this is the part of the self into which people have no insight. However, he believed that dreams were a ___________ of the unconscious mind

Freud wanted to investigate the unconscious mind , but this is the part of the self into which people have no insight. However, he believed that dreams were a product of the unconscious mind

what is the 'id' in Freud's theory (in relation to repression, ego)

• a large part of unconscious mind is a division of the personality called the id

• it's primeval and presents all our instinctive urges, especially ones related aggression + sex

• many of these urges are repressed into unconscious mind to 'keep them in check'

• however, defence mechanism of repression only works to an extent, and these urges eventually need to be released, potentially through dreams

• dreams challenge the ego (a part of personality that keeps us in touch with reality) and are more likely to occur when ego's defences are weakened

repression

the process of pushing unprleasant thoughts and experiences into the unconscious mind

Freud believed that dreams act as ______ ____________. What is this?

wish fulfilment

• people often cannot ffulfill their deepest desires and so they are dreamt about instead

• this becomes a way of releasing some of the anxiety around these urges

give an example of wish fulfilment

e.g. - an individual may be angry at their boss and so wants to verbally attack them

• however, they don't want to be seen to lose control (or lose there job) and so this urge is repressed

• instead, they may have a dream about arguing with their boss

• this partly fulfils their wish, meaning they have a way of dealing with a potentially difficult situation

what is the manifest content and latent content? give examples about these that Freud suggested

manifest content = actual content of a dream

latent content = the underlying meaning of the dream (what it really represents)

e.g. he proposed that objects like poles, swords and guns may make up the manifest content, but they are actually phallic objects. So a woman dreaming about these objects may be experiencing penis envy e.g. he said that dreams about dancing/riding horses were actually dreams about sex

critiscisms of Freud's theory

• too subjective (dream interpretation is open to opinion. different people will have different explanations of a dream)

• difficult to test (its concepts aren't objective enough due to the fact that dreams can't be easily verified + theory relies on unconscious mind which can't be observed/asked about)

• based on unreliable research (evidence is mainly from case studies, so making generalisations about meaning of dreams may be unfair

• accused of cultural + historical bias (his interpretations may have reflected culture at the time, more liberal attitudes in modern day)

• has a narrow interpretation of dreams. Only relates them to wish fulfilment, and then it's mainly about sex and aggression (doesn't account for dreams that represent many aspects of our lives, e.g. ones that directly reflect what we have done that day)

Freud Research Study (1918) - AIM

to explain and treat the Wolfman's depression through dream analysis.

Freud Research Study (1918) - BACKGROUND

• Freud's work was original (not based on previous research) as he was writing at a time when psychology was new

• Study of the Wolfman (pseudonym for one of his patients) was an extensive piece of research

• Wolfman approached Freud in 1910 to seek help with his depression

• his type of therapy was called psychoanalysis

• he used dream analysis to try to explain + treat Wolfman's psychological problems

psychoanalysis

a type of therapy that attempts to resolve psychological problems by accessing unconscious and unresolved conflicts (used by Freud)

Freud Research Study (1918) - DESIGN (method)

• case study method to investigate Wolfman's mental illness

• carried out interviews from 1910-1914, which he analysed 15 years later, so a longitudinal study

Freud Research Study (1918) - SAMPLE (method)

• Wolfman = Segei Pankejeff, a man in his 20s from a wealthy Russian family

• due to depression, sister committed suicide (1906) and father did the same (1907), which led to Pankejeff's own depression

• his problems included inability to empty bowels without assistance of an enema + he felt like there was a veil cutting him off from the world

Freud Research Study (1918) - PROCEDURE (method)

• treatment was centred on a dream Pankejeff had as a young child involving big white wolves outside his window

Freud Research Study (1918) - RESULTS

• Pankejeff had witnessed his parents having sex (primal scene) at a young age, so had unconscious desires to be seduced by his father

• large tails = large penises

• wolves were in the place of presents on the tree (occurred at Christmas time) and were wearing white, representing bedlinen and his parents' underclothes

• afraid of father's power over mother's pleasure, he developed castration anxiety.

• repressed unconscious fear of his father, but displaced it onto wolves, which manifested itself in his dreams

Freud Research Study (1918) - CONCLUSION

• unconscious mind can have a significant effect on behaviour

• also illustrates the processs of repression, where traumatic events are pushed into unconscious mind as a safety mechanism

• however also shows that these repressed memories can find their way back into conscious mindthrough dreams that people have and then recall

Freud Research Study (1918) - CRITICISMS

• sample size is too small to make generalisations (not reliable to base a theory of dreams on the case of 1 person, other people may not use dreams as a way of symbolising traumatic experiences)

• Wolfman may only represent people with mental health issues (everybody dreams but not everyone has mental health problems/traumatic life histories)

• study has a strong focus on unconscious, but this is an abstract concept that can't be observed/reported on by the person (dreams are quite abstract and don't prove hard evidence)

• no way of knowing accuracy of dream recall (relied on Wolfman to remember dream as accurately as possible)

• study is too subjective (only one person's view on the dream so it's biased, psychologist with a different theory could interpret it differently)

AST - Hobson & McCarley (1977) - what is it?

activation synthesis theory = an explanation of dreams that focuses on the random activation of neurons + the brain's effort to make sense of this through synthesis

Hobson & McCarley took the view that dreams occur when the mind tries to make sense () of the brain activity happening during sleep (__). In contrast to ___________ , they believe that dreams have no real meaning

Hobson & McCarley took the view that dreams occur when the mind tries to make sense (synthesis) of the brain activity happening during sleep (activation). In contrast to Freud , they believe that dreams have no real meaning

Activation Synthesis Theory (1977) - explain what happens

1. brain activity changes significantly prior to REM sleep and after it; at this stage of sleep cycle, electrical signals pass through brain as waves (bran scans depict these as sudden spikes)

2. signals from pons in brainstem and neurons from eyes rise up + activate limbic system and whole cerebral cortex

3. after activation, cerebral cortex attempts to synthesise these signals using stored memories; the effort to give meaning to signals causes dreams to happen 4.. as multiple areas of brain are activated simultaneously by the spikes, content of dream can seem strange/meaningless

pons

a part of the brain that operates as a message station

brainstem

the central trunk of the brain that continues down the spinal cord

synthesise

to make sense of and give meaning to dreams

give an example of AST

e.g. randomly produced spikes might be like those produced when running

• a sleeping person could then synthesise those signals in their mind and dream of running

• if, in addition, they'd had an argument with their neighbour that day, then brain might pick up on that memory and produce a dream of running away from the neighbour

• as pons continue to fire random signals at higher parts of brain, they have to try to make sense of them

what was the definition of fantasy in AST study? what does it mean in simple terms?

"apparently spontaneous mentation of a narrative and/or perpetual nature without clear links to external stimuli or conscious intention"

i.e. fantasies are something that 'pop' into people's minds and have no obvious connection with what's happening around them at the time

Williams et al (1992): Aim

To see if bizarreness of dreams is different to the bizarreness of daytime fantasies

Williams et al (1992): Sample

• 12 bio psychology students

• Harvard university

• Aged 23-45

Williams et al (1992): Method

• Natural experiment

• Self-report journal entries

Williams et al (1992): Procedure

1. Pps kept a journal for a term recording any dreams they could recall and any fantasies they experienced

2. Researchers selected 60 dreams and 60 fantasies

   • an excess of 5 lines

   • presence of descriptions of formed visual perceptions

3. 3 different judges scored for bizarreness using the Hobson et al bizarreness coding scale (inter-rater reliability)

Williams et al (1992): Conclusions

• Supports the activation-synthesis hypothesis which predicts a difference between REM sleep dreams and waking fantasies (due to the difference in the neural activity of the brain between the two states)

• Dreams contain more bizarreness as well as other ‘dreamy’ features such as remoteness of time and place than fantasies

• Dreams differ from fantasies in relation to the number of people involved/the remoteness of time/the remoteness of the place

Williams et al (1992): Results

• Dreams were found to be a lot more than twice as bizarre than fantasies

• Good levels of inter-rater reliability between the judges (88.7% similar scores)

• Dreams scored higher than fantasies for:

  • plot discontinuity

  • plot incongruity

  • uncertainty

  • thought incongruity

• Bizarreness in dreams usually came from nearly all participants whereas bizarreness in fantasies came from only a few participants

• Bizarreness density score for dreams = 0.223

• Bizarreness density score for fantasies = 0.089

Williams et al (1992): Criticisms

• Not generalisable - sample too small, gender biased (10 females)

• Social desirability bias - self-report so pps may have lied about/changed their dreams and fantasies

impact of neurological damage to the hypothalamus

• can happen after surgery or due to disease/tumour, a trauma, old age etc

• because the SCN is part of hypothalamus, damage can result in insomnia

• patients can be given a melatonin substitute at nighttime, however drugs don't provide a long-term option

• instead patients can have relaxation techniques and sleep hygiene education

what are relaxation techniques?

strategies for making people feel more relaxed both physically and psychologically

types of relaxation techniques

• clearing the mind (set aside time each day to write down their worries to stop them worrying at any other time of the day. Before sleeping, write down the worries and set them aside. When in bed, they should close their eyes and imagine worries floating away )

• deep breathing (do before getting into bed, involves inhaling and exhaling slowly)

• relieving tension in body (involves relaxing separate groups of muscles, contract and flex them for a few seconds and then release)

relaxation techniques are particularly useful for people whose insomnia is mainly caused by anxiety. This is because they are an effort to rebalance the _________ system. Explain...

Nervous system

• stress and anxiety cause the sympathetic nervous system to respond, but this is balanced by actions of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS)

• however, if stress is extreme + prolonged, it's more difficult for PNS to do its job and so relaxation techniques are an attempt to take some conscious control of this

sympathetic nervous system

a division of the nervous system that controls the fight or flight response (whether someone escapes/faces danger) when faced with stress

parasympathetic nervous system

a division of the nervous system that regulates organ and gland functions during rest, and counters response of the sympathetic nervous system

sleep hygiene education - what steps can be taken?

relates to what we know about sleep disorders

• reduce alcohol, caffeine and nicotine intake

• avoid eating large meals just before bed

• avoid taking naps

• do regular exercise

• expose yourself to sufficient natural daylight

sleep hygiene and the physical environment - what should be done externally to improve sleep?

• keep bedrooms dark and quiet at night, and neither too warm/too cold (no music or light)

• comfortable bed and bedding

• bedrooms should be decluttered + anything that's a reminder of the working day should be away (e.g. computers, phones etc.)

• if you have a clock, face it away from you (acts as a reminder that time is passing as you lay awake)