Introduction to Psychology

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Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be
quietly and safely insane every night of our
lives. Charles Fisher
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Sleep and Dreams
Sleep periodic, natural, reversible loss of
consciousness

• Biological Rhythms
• periodic physiological fluctuations
• Circadian Rhythm
• biological clock
• regular bodily rhythms that
  occur on 24-hour cycle,
  wakefulness
  and body temperature

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Sleep Across the Lifespan
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Sleep and Dreams

• REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep
• 1953 Eugene Aserinsky discovered REM sleep
• recurring sleep stage
• vivid dreams
• paradoxical sleep
• muscles are
  generally relaxed
• other body systems
  are active

atonia
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Brain Waves and Sleep Stages
Beta waves
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Typical Nights Sleep
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Sleep Deprivation

• Effects of Sleep Loss
• fatigue
• impaired concentration
• depressed immune system
• greater vulnerability to accidents

REM Rebound REM sleep increases following REM
sleep deprivation
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Sleep Deprivation
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Sleep Disorders

• Insomnia
• persistent problems in falling or staying asleep
• Narcolepsy
• uncontrollable sleep attacks
• Sleep Apnea
• temporary cessation of breathing
• momentary reawakenings
• Somnambulism
• sleepwalking

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Sleep Disorders

• Insomnia
• Chronic problems in getting good sleep
• Difficulty in falling asleep, staying asleep
• Causes
• Stress, depression, health problems
• Solutions
• Sedatives sometimes ineffective/never long-term
  solution
• Dont take naps during day
• Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and cigarettes within 5
  hrs before bedtime (avoid exercise within 2 hrs)
• Keep schedule going to bed/waking up at same
  time

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Sleep Disorders

• Hypersomnia
• Being sleepy during the day and sleeping too much
  at night
• Narcolepsy
• Parasomnias
• Sleep apnea
• Nightmares
• Night terrors
• Sleepwalking

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Night Terrors and Nightmares

• Night Terrors
• occur within 2 or 3 hours of falling asleep,
  usually during Stage 4
• high arousal-- appearance of being terrified

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Dreams

• sequence of images, emotions,
  and thoughts passing through sleeping
  persons mind
• hallucinatory imagery
• incongruities
• delusional acceptance of content
• difficulties remembering

Lucid dreaming ("light, bright, clear") is the
conscious perception of one's state while
dreaming, resulting in a clearer experience.
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Theories of Dreaming
Dreams as Problem-Solving
Dreams reflect emotional preoccupations of waking
liferelationships, sex, work, health.
Images in dream are sometimes symbols for things
in life.
This agrees with Freud gtdreams contain symbols,
but no latent (unconscious) meaning Meaning
is at surface levelmanifest content
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Dreams Freud

• Sigmund Freud--The Interpretation of Dreams
  (1900)
• wish fulfillment
• discharge otherwise unacceptable feelings
• attempt to satisfy sexual and aggressive impulses
  we cannot satisfy when we are awake
• Manifest Content
• remembered story line
• Latent Content
• underlying meaning

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1976 Hobson McCarly
Activation-Synthesis Theory
Dreams result from random activation of brain
cells responsible for eye movement, muscle
movement, balance, and vision.
Brain then synthesizes (combines) this activity
with existing knowledge and memories as if
signals came from environment
How we interpret the random images and sensations
as dreams meaning
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Information Processing Theory
Eugen Tarnow suggests dreams are ever-present
excitations of long-term memory. Strangeness of
dreams due to format of long-term memory
Mental Housekeeping Theory
During sleep, brain shuts out sensory input so it
can process what was stored in memory during day
Dreams are brief glimpses of brains sorting,
scanning and searching through memories. Dreams
have no meaning.
Supporting this theory is research showing that
REM sleep is important for remembering things
that were learned during preceding day.
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up to 70 of females and 65 of males report
recurrent dreams.
sexual dreams show up no more than 10 of the
time
12 of people dream only in black and white.
men's dreams 70 of characters are other men,
female's dreams contain equal number of men
women.
common themes themes relating to school, being
chased, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too
late, a person now alive being dead, flying,
failing a test.
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Sleep IQ

• 1. During sleep your brain rests.
• False While your body rests, your brain
  doesnt.
• 2. You cannot learn to function normally with one
  or two fewer hours of sleep a night than you
  need.
• True Sleep need is biological. While children
  need more sleep than adults, how much sleep any
  individual needs is genetically determined.
• 3. Boredom makes you feel sleepy, even if you
  have had enough sleep.
• False Boredom only unmasks sleepiness, but
  doesnt cause it.

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Sleep IQ

• 4. Resting in bed with your eyes closed cannot
  satisfy your bodys need for sleep.
• True Sleep is as necessary to health as food
  and water, and rest is no substitute for sleep.
• 5. Snoring is not harmful, as long as it doesnt
  disturb others or wake you up.
• False Snoring may be a signal for sleep apnea
  (which can be fatal if untreated).
• 6. Everyone dreams at night.
• True Every person dreams every night
• its just that some of us cant remember
• much of our dreams.

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Sleep IQ

• 7. The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep
  you need.
• False Although we tend to sleep less, our need
  for sleep doesnt decrease as we age.
• 8. Most people dont know when they are sleepy.
• True We are not very good judges of our
  biological need for sleep.
• 9. Raising the volume of your radio will help you
  stay awake while driving.
• False The only short-term solutions are to pull
  over and take a nap or to have a caffeinated
  drink.

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Sleep IQ
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-zVCYdrw-1o

• 10. Sleep disorders are mainly due to worry or
  psychological problems.
• False Sleep apnea is caused by relaxed muscles
  and narcolepsy appears to be genetic.
• 11. The human body never adjusts to night shift
  work.
• True No matter how long you work a night shift,
  sleeping during the day remains a challenge
  because of our circadian rhythms that operate on
  the light/dark schedule.
• 12. Most sleep disorders go away, even without
  treatment.
• False On average, sleep disorders do not
  disappear without treatment.