Module 14- Sleep and dream

Module 14- Sleep and dream 

Definitions 

Consciousness: the awareness of the sensations, thoughts and feelings being experienced at a given moment

Step 1 Sleep: the state of transition between wakefulness and sleep, characterized by relatively rapid, low-amplitude brian waves 

Step 2 Sleep: a sleep deeper than that of stage1, characterized by a slower, more regular wave pattern, along with momentary interruptions of “sleep spindles”, 

Step 3 Sleep: the deepest stage of sleep, characterized by slow brain waves, with greater peaks and valleys in the wave pattern than in stage 2 sleep. 

REM: [rapid eye movement sleep] the period of sleep characterized by quick, back-and-forth eye movements; increased heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate; erections; and the experience of dreaming 

Unconscious wish fulfillment theory : Sigmund Freud’s theory that dreams represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled.

Dreams-for-survival-theory: The theory suggesting that dreams permit information that is critical for our daily survival to be reconsidered and reprocessed during sleep.

Activation-synthesis theory: Hobson’s theory that the brain produces random electrical energy during REM sleep that stimulates memories stored in the brain. (Module 14)

Circadian rhythms: Biological processes that occur regularly on approximately a 24-hour cycle. (Module 14)

Daydreams: Fantasies that people construct while awake. (Module 14)

________________________________________________________________________

Distinct stages of sleep: stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, and REM sleep, moving through the stages in cycles lasting about 90 minutes

Consciousness is not a unitary construct; awake, daydreaming, asleep, subliminal 

Awake→ different levels of awareness 

Example: learning to drive vs driving now 

Altered states of consciousness: sleep, dreaming, drugs 

SLEEP Circadian Rhythms 

1. Fluctuations in alertness, energy, and mood over the course of the day 

Biological clock→ about a 24 hour period 

2. These shifts are related to underlying bodily process 

Daily cycle occur in 

• Hormone production 

• Body temperature 

• Blood pressure 

3. Changes as age 

4. We seem to function better (Both cognitively/physically) in our peak time 

5. Our circadian cycles run a little bit long (25 hours). We see evidence of this in 

   1. Jet leg 

   2. Monday morning blues 

Stages of Sleep 

(90-100 minute cycles) 

• Different patterns of brain activity

Awake- beta waves 

Drowsy- Alpha waves 

Stage 1

• Relatively rapid, low-amplitude brain waves [ALPHA/THETA WAVES]

• Stage of transition between wakefulness and sleep 

• Only lasts a few minutes 

-hallucinations

-jerking 

Easy to awaken; reasonably coherent 

Stage 2

•  Makes up about half of the total sleep of those in their early 20s 

• Slower, more regular wave patterns 

• There are momentary interruptions of sharply pointed, spikey waves, sleep spindles 

• Difficult to awaken a person from this sleep 

Stage 3

• The deepest stage

• Brain waves become slower, with higher peaks and lower valleys in the wave pattern 

• People are least responsive to outside stimulation 

Rem (30-45) 

• quick , back-and-forth eye movements 

• Heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing increase during REM

• Major muscles of the body appear to be paralyzed 

• Usually accompanied by dream

Important characteristics of REM sleep:

Four reasons why sleep is a requirement for life 

1. Slepe conserves energy for essential daytime activities

2. Sleep restores and replenishes 

3. Sleep helps forgetting 

4. Sleep promotes physical growth and development 

• The more sleep someone geats, the greater their sense of well-being 

• Women: typically fall asleep more quickly, they sleep for longer periods and more deeply than men do , they get up fewer times in the night 

• MEN: typically have fewer concerns about the amount of sleep they get, they get less sleep 

• For some people, the stress of work disruptions, home-schooling of children, and changes in living arrangements meant they got less sleep 

INEQUITIES IN SLEEP DURATION AND DEPTH

• Many people are unable to get that much sleep because of work and family responsibilities, housing issues, and other environmental factors 

• People of color take more time to fall asleep, they wake up more frequently during the night, and they spend less time in deep sleep stages 

DREAMS

3 theories of dreams 

Psychoanaltic explanations

Using Psychoanalytic theory, Sigmund Freud had a theory called unconscious wish fulfillment theory

• Proposed that dreams represent unconscious wishes that dreamers desire to see fulfilled 

• The manifest content of dreams is what we remember and report about the dream–its story line 

Manifest content: disguise the latent content, which includes the actual underlying wishes that the dream represents. 

• Psychologists reject Freud’s view that dreams typically represent unconscious wishes and that particular object, and events in a dream are symbolic 

  • Rather they believed that the direct, overt action of adream is the focal points of its meaning 

EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS

According to the dreams-for-survival theory, which is based in the evolutionary perspective, dreams permit us to reconsider and process during sleep information that is critical for our daily survival

• Dreams provided a mechanism that permitted the processing of information 24 hours a day

In this theory, dreams represents concerns about our daily lives, illustrating our uncertainties, indecisions, ideas, and desires

• They represent key concerns growing out of our daily experiences

-research supports this theory suggesting that certain dreams permit people to focus on and to consolidate memories, particularly dreams that pertain to “how-to-do-it” memories related to motor skills 

NEUROSCIENCE EXPLANATIONS OF DREAMS

Using the neuroscience perspective, psychiatrist J.Allan Hobson has proposed the activation-synthesis hypothesis theory of dreams 

The activation-synthesis theory focuses on the random electrical energy that the brain produces during REM sleep, possibly as a result of changes in the production of particular neurotransmitters

Activation-synthesis theory has been refined by the activation information modulation theory. AIM believes that dreams are initiated in the bran’s pons, which sends random signals to the cortex.