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The Science of Dreams and Sleep
Brought to you by Elaina Hardin Caroline
Vance Ashley Jewett Mallory Meisner
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Sleeping and Learning

• There is a lot of research that has been done
  providing evidence that we learn while we sleep
• Experiments have associated intense periods of
  daytime learning with longer periods of sleep
  that night, and particularly with dreaming.
  People awakened repeatedly from their dreams
  don't retain much of what they learned the day
  before

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Consequences of Lack of Sleep

• No one knows all the purposes of sleeping and
  dreaming, although lack of sleep can be lethal.
  Sleep controls heat regulation and appetite. If
  you're cold and hungry, you won't dream much, if
  at all.
• Sleep rests the body but not the mind. MRI
  pictures show furious activity from the base of
  the brain to its wrinkled covering, the cortex,
  or thinking dome.

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Why do we Sleep?

• Circadian Rhythm When a biological clock, in this
  case the sleep-wake cycle, is set for about
  25-hour period it is referred to as the circadian
  rhythm. Circadian rhythms control the rise and
  fall of physiological responses such as
  temperature, and the start and stop of responses
  like going to sleep and waking up. This rhythm is
  due to some rhythmical activity of the
  hypothalamus.
• Environmental Arousal When our body is in a state
  of high arousal, we cannot sleep or we have
  trouble staying a sleep. Stress, excitement, and
  drugs that increase arousal can interfere with
  the onset of sleep as well as staying a sleep.
• Sleep Deprivation When we are deprived of one
  night's sleep, we go to sleep sooner and stay
  asleep longer, but there are no physical or
  behavioral changes. Sleep deprivation can also
  effect task performance.

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REM

• REM rapid eye movement
• Usually begins around 90 minutes after sleep
  begins.
• During REM the brain waves change and the heart
  rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure all
  increase drastically.
• Tremendous use of oxygen in the brain during REM
• We have 4-6 periods of REM during sleep
• Skeletal muscles also go completely limp to keep
  us from acting out in our dreams
• REM is also associated with the erection of penis
  and engorgement of the clitoris.
• REM increases in its time intervals as we sleep
  making our longest dreams the ones we experience
  right before we wake

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Common Dream Themes

• Snakes
• Teeth falling out
• School and Exams
• Bodies of water
• Pregnancy
• Falling
• Fantasy
• Death
• Being chased
• Symbolic colors
• Crashing and Accidents

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Why we Dream

• Common Theories
• 1. To restore our body and mind.2. To help with
  learning and memory.3. To keep the brain at the
  right level of awareness/rest during sleep.4. To
  allow the mind to handle disturbances in the
  night without waking up.5. To keep our sense of
  self and wholeness through sleep.6. To allow
  ourselves some time to explore new and unusual
  areas of ourselves.7. To resolve conflicts that
  occur during the day.
• Some scientists believe that dreams help
  consolidate the memories and learning that took
  place the previous day. Others see dreams as a
  mechanism for allowing busy brain cells to
  recharge their depleted stocks of transmitter
  chemicals.

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Citation

• http//www.csun.edu/vcpsy00h/students/dreams.htm
• http//www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1996/02.08/Res
  earchLinksSl.html
• http//www.dreamgate.com/dream/library/idx_science
  .htm
• Anatomy and Physiology text book