...definition of terms. Background of the Study Sleep is an integrated part of human health and life and is crucial for learning, performance, and physical and mental health. Sleep deprivation is a serious problem facing individuals in many critical societal roles. It is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the effects of acute total sleep deprivation and chronic partial sleep restriction. Complete absence of sleep over long periods is impossible for humans to achieve (unless they suffer from fatal familial insomnia); brief micro sleeps cannot be avoided. A National Sleep Foundation survey found that college/university-aged students get an average of 6.7 hours of sleep each night. Sleep deprivation is common in first year college students as they adjust to the stress and social activities of college life. A study performed by the Department of Psychology at the National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan concluded that freshmen received the shortest amount of sleep during the week. In 1997 the University of Minnesota did research that compared students who went to school at 7:15 am and those who went to school at 8:40 am. They found that students who went to school at 8:40 got higher grades and more sleep on weekday nights. One in four U.S. high school...
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...Sleeping and Dreaming CheckPoint PSY 240 The Brain, The Body, and The Mind January 18, 2012 Windy Baker Kuntz There are two main types of sleep; first you have Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep or NREM (also known as quiet sleep and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep or REM (also known as active sleep or paradoxical sleep. This is broken down into five stages. The first stage is the beginning of the sleep cycle. It is considered to be a light stage of sleep. It is a transition period between wakefulness and sleep. Stage one lasts only a brief time (around 5-10 minutes). The second stage is when the brain begins to produce bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity known as sleep spindles. This only lasts for about 20 minutes and your body tempiture begins to decrease and the heart rate begins to slow down. The third stage is a transition between light and deep sleep. Your brain develops slow deep brain waves known as delta waves. The fourth stage is a very deep sleep that lasts for about 30 minutes, this is where delta sleep occurs and bed wetting as well as sleep walking is most likely to occur. Stage five is where most of our dreaming occurs. This is where we have our REM sleep. Respiration increases and so does brain activity. REM sleep is also referred to as paradoxical sleep because while the brain and other body systems become more active, muscles become more relaxed. Dreaming occurs due because of increased brain activity, but voluntary muscles become paralyzed. Our text...
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...It is routinely theorised that one of our most imperative automatic functions, sleep, has two prime purposes: restoring our bodies and minds, allowing us to rest and absorb the information that we have processed throughout our day, and aiding us in our continued survival, allowing us to be awake, alert, and able to avoid and survive potential threats. The first of these subcategories, Restoration theories, deals with such topics as reprogramming, problem solving, and wish fulfilment, and how they pertain to the refreshment of our mental and physical faculties. The first of these concepts, aptly named Restoration Theory, postulated by Oswald (1966), states that sleep is used primarily for bodily repair and the repletion of our energy reserves,...
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...of a function of sleep The restorative theory is suggested to be a purpose of sleep that serves the function of restoring the body in several ways; firstly Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) is said to be the stage of sleep that releases the growth hormone. This hormone is functional for renewing proteins and involved in protein synthesis, and also involved in the immune system in restoring antibodies. This idea is supported by Sassin et al who looked at individuals who "reversed" their sleep cycle, so they were asleep during the day and awake at night, and the growth hormone was still released during sleep, supporting the role of the SWS and release of neurotransmitter, and showing the importance of sleep as a restorative function. Another aspect of the restorative theory as an explanation of sleep, is the idea that brain development takes place during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage, which is why babies have longer REM sleep, as they are processing information such as memories, as well as secreting growth hormone etc. This view is a biological view, and contrasts with the evolutionary theory of sleep which suggests babies have longer REM sleep as an adaptive response for parents to be able to work, hunt etc. However, it has been found that length of REM sleep is directly proportional to the immaturity of the species, for example dolphins have no REM sleep and can swim from birth, compared to the platypus, which is immature at birth and has 8 hours REM sleep. Another restorative...
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...mysterious content of a dream, or perhaps you’ve wondered why you dream at all. First, let’s start by answering a basic question – What is a dream? A dream can include any of the images, thoughts and emotions that are experienced during sleep. Dreams can be extraordinarily vivid or very vague; filled with joyful emotions or frightening imagery; focused and understandable or unclear and confusing. Ads Do You Have Sleep Apnea? sleepapnea.com It's a very common sleep disorder. Are you at risk? Answer 9 questions "Shocking" 2014 Horoscope astrologyanswers.com/Zodiac Enter Your Zodiac Sign to Find Out Your Future. So accurate it’s Scary! Silva Mind Control www.silvalifesystem.com Learn How To Control Your Mind Get The Famous Silva Guide... Free * Psychology Psychotherapy * Sleep Disorders * Sleep Apnea Sleep Study * Sleep Center * Study Psychology So why do we dream? What purpose do dreams serve? While many theories have been proposed, no single consensus has emerged. Considering the enormous amount of time we spend in a dreaming state, the fact that researchers do not yet understand the purpose of dreams may seem baffling. However, it is important to consider that science is still unraveling the exact purpose and function of sleep itself. Some researchers suggest that dreams serve no real purpose, while others believe that dreaming is essential to mental, emotional and...
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...Thesis Statement: Understanding how dreams occur, how they affect our lives and what they mean help us grasp what dreams actually are. Intro: I. (Attention Getter) Have you ever dreamt that you were walking along the side of a road or along a cliff and suddenly you trip? You’re falling for what seems like forever, but before hitting the ground, you wake up? This is considered to be a falling dream, and ironically, falling dreams occur when you are falling asleep. They are usually accompanied by muscle spasms and twitches of the entire body. Although these dreams occur while we are falling asleep, they interpret a completely different meaning. Falling can mean you are insecure, you are losing grip, or you simply have fears that need to be faced. Patricia Garfield, the author of Creative Dreaming states: “there is some problem that is making you feel helpless like you have no support, so next time when you wake up startled from a falling dream, ask yourself what upcoming events do I fear I will fail?” II. (Introduce Topic) Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to understand the different functions of the human body, how we move, talk, and even act. Many of these physiological behaviors have been explained to some extent. However, one area of the human body that has baffled researchers, is that of the mind. Many things that go on inside the mind that don’t make sense, and serves no real explanation as to why or how things happen. One of the most fascinating...
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...Chapter Overview 5.1 Overview: Consciousness, Brain Activity, Levels of Awareness CONCEPT LEARNING CHECK 5.2 Stages of Sleep CONCEPT LEARNING CHECK 5.1 Consciousness and Psychology 5.3 Dreams Theories of Dreams Dreams as a Reflection of Unconscious Wishes 5.2 Sleep Biological Rhythms and Stages of Sleep Sleep Theories Effects of Sleep Deprivation Sleep Disorders Insomnia Sleep Apnea Narcolepsy Parasomnias CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION Dreams as Interpreted Brain Activity Dream Contents CONCEPT LEARNING CHECK 5.3 Theories of Dreams 5 Learning Objectives States of Consciousness 5.1 5.2 Define consciousness. Describe how consciousness relates to psychology. Describe the changes in brain wave activity that occur during the different stages of sleep. Understand why sleep deprivation is harmful. Understand why deep sleep is important. Understand why REM sleep is important. Describe some common sleep disorders. 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Describe the two main theories of dreams. Explain the two theories of hypnosis. Discuss the effects and benefits of meditation. List and describe the four categories of psychoactive drugs. Describe the effects of psychoactive drugs on the nervous system. 5.4 Hypnosis Critical Thinking About Hypnosis Theories of Hypnosis Altered State of Consciousness Role Playing Divided Consciousness 5.6 Drug Use Mechanism of Action of Psychoactive Drugs Depressants Alcohol Narcotics/Opiates Summary of...
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...to light on the retina, triggering alterations in the level of sleep-inducing melatonin. | What are the sleep stages? | Another biological rhythm is the sleep stages. | What are the five steps of the sleep stages? | we descend into transitional Stage 1 sleep, often with the sensation of falling or floating. Stage 2 sleep (in which we spend the most time) follows about 20 minutes later, with its characteristic sleep spindles. Then follow Stages 3 and 4, together lasting about 30 minutes, with large, slow delta waves. All these stages are referred to as NREM sleep. Reversing course, we retrace our path, but with one difference: About an hour after falling asleep,we begin periods of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. | Where does dreaming most prominently occur? | Most dreaming occurs in this fifth stage (also known as paradoxical sleep) of internal arousal but outward paralysis. | Which stage shortens REM sleep length? | During a normal night’s sleep, periods of Stages 3 and 4 sleep shorten and REM sleep lengthens. | What are the harmful effects of sleep deprivation? | Sleep deprivation causes fatigue and impairs concentration, creativity, and communication. | What are the additional effects of sleep loss? | It also can lead to obesity, hypertension, a suppressed immune system, irritability, and slowed performance (with greater vulnerability to accidents). | What are the benefits of sleep? | Sleep may have played a protective role in human evolution by keeping...
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...thrives in developing the new dream theory on extensive base of brain science, Allan J. Hobson comes to public attention with his Activation-Synthesis hypothesis. He claims to take up what Sigmund Freud, historically the best known dream investigator, has left off in the brain side of dreaming and, further, to revise this far-reaching dream speculation of Freud’s into a more scientifically valid way. However, as the psychological approach to dreams has been preoccupied with Freud’s dream theory in such an extent that the marching on neurophysiological hypothesis has inevitably brought up an uncomfortable disturbance among psychoanalysts. Dating back to twentieth century, Freud reached to the field of mental functioning based on his clinical observations of dream cases. As his censorship-disguise notion becomes outmoded along with the advancement in brain science, the contemporary Freudian psychologist, Mark Solms comes to the rescue. He tries to validate the theoretical inference that Freud has sketched with the newly released experimental data, drawing mainly from brain imaging and lesion study. In spite of the ongoing attempt to bring psychoanalysis back to its prominent role in dream study, Hobson stresses the fact that no amount of tinkering is going to improve the erroneous Freudian psychoanalysis. Formative Approach in Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis Intended to build up a universally applicable dream theory, Hobson has made a radical change in emphasis, from content analysis...
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...2013 by Gary Matter you spend about 6 years of your life dreaming. That’s more then 2100 days spent in a different realm. So today, lets look at how dreams really do occur, the part of your sleep cycle that dreams occur in and lastly different types of dreams. Transition: So where do dreams really start? Body I. REM Sleep A. Rapid eye movement sleep, the part of your sleep cycle charactized by rapid and random eye movement B. Occurs in the cycle for about 90-120 minutes throughout the night 1. REM sleep dominates the latter half of the sleep cycle 2. Five minutes after you wake up half of your dream is forgotten and 10 minutes 90% of it is gone. C. The eye movements may relate to internal visual images of the dreams that occurs during this stage of sleep 3. Associated with the brain wave spikes in the regions of the brain that is involved with vision 4. Studies have shown that your brain waves are more active when you are dreaming than when we are awake. D. Majority of dreams happen in the REM Sleep 5. the most memorable and vivid dreams 6. muscular atonia that accompanies the protection of us from self-damage which could occur while physically acting out these vivid dreams E. Stage 5 - REM - breathing becomes rapider,...
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...usually aware of * Preconscious level -information about yourself or your environment that you are not currently thinking about * Subconscious level -information that we are not currently aware of but we know must exist due to behavior * Unconscious level -Psychoanalytic psychologists believe some events and feelings are unacceptable to our conscious mind and are repressed into the unconscious mind STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS A. SLEEP - a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles -To psychologists, asleep as being unconscious is incorrect * SLEEP CYCLE -typical pattern of sleep Circadian Rhythm -a roughly 24-hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings EEG - Electroencephalogram -used to record how active brains are during sleep and describe the different stages of sleep we progress through each night Sleep onset - period wherein we are falling asleep -stage between wakefulness...
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...Nursing Management of Sleep Disorders March 2013 INTRODUCTION Sleep is the state of natural rest observed throughout the animal kingdom, in all mammals and birds, and in many reptiles, amphibians, and fish. In humans, other mammals, and many other animals that have been studied - such as fish, birds, ants, and fruit-flies - regular sleep is necessary for survival. The capability for arousal from sleep is a protective mechanism and also necessary for health and survival. DEFINITION Sleep can e defined as a normal state of altered consciousness during which the body rests; it is characterized by decreased responsiveness to the environment, and a person can be aroused from it by external stimuli. INCIDENCE & CHARACTERISTICS: Sleep is generally characterized by a reduction in voluntary body movement, temporary blindness, decreased reaction to external stimuli, loss of consciousness, a reduction in audio receptivity, an increased rate of anabolism (the synthesis of cell structures), and a decreased rate of catabolism (the breakdown of cell structures. Almost a third of the general population has some problems with sleep during any given year. More than half of the 9000 participants in a study of sleep in elderly persons (65 years or older) reported the following as sleep pattern disturbance that they experience most of the time: • Trouble falling asleep • Frequent awakening • Waking too early • Needing to nap • Not feeling rested These disturbances may be secondary...
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...Dreams: What are dreams and what do they mean? Shanice Monteith The University of West Florida Abstract Dreams that take place while we sleep are one of the most fascinating aspects of human consciousness and are common among all of us. We all ask the same question, what is a dream? A researcher by the name of Sigmund Freud’s theory of dreams gives us a good insight about dreams. His theory is one of the best-known models of dream interpretation. There are also other types of theories that suggest to us what a dream is. Some say that dreams are simply random firing of memory neurons. Others say differently. I will try to show both sides of this controversy. This paper will examine what a dream is and what people interpret a dream to mean. It should also give you a broader perspective of dreams, go into detail of different theories regarding dreams and give you more insight of such a fascinating but complicated topic. There is also the case of nightmares which will be discussed briefly and why they occur when we dream. What are dreams and what do they mean There have numerous studies on what is a dream. A lot of controversy has happened because of this. Some people say it could be just simply random firing of memory neurons as stated earlier but not everyone thinks the same way. Others say there is a lot of detail that could go into finding out more about this topic so they begin to do more research to come up with different ideas about such a debating issue...
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... The Theories of Dreaming Throughout time, multiple theories of dreaming have been created as time has gone on. Some have been created by less known psychologists and one was created by Sigmund Freud. The five theories of dreaming are: wish fulfillment, information processing, physiological function, activation synthesis, and cognitive development. Information Processing and Physiological Function The information processing and physiological function theories are not commonly used when describing why we dream. Information processing is the idea that our dreams help us sort out the day's events and consolidate our memories. In addition, this is a cognitive form of dreaming. Information processing may occur when after a stressful day and these dreams could include some kind of anxiety(Psychology in Action, 180). An example of this type of dream would be getting lost on your way to class as this is common amongst college students. Another theory of dreaming is physiological function. This theory sates that regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways. This shows that the brain is always active, even in REM sleep. Lastly, these dreams usually have no meaning such as latent content(Damiano, lecture notes). Wish Fulfillment...
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...that are experienced during sleep. Dreams can be filled with joyful emotions or frightening imagery, focused and understandable or unclear and confusing. Why do we dream? What purpose do dreams serve? While many theories have been proposed, no single consensus has emerged. Ernest Hoffman, suggests that, a possible (though certainly not proven) function of a dream to be weaving new material into the memory system in a way that both reduces emotional arousal and is adaptive in helping us cope with further trauma or stressful events. Psychoanalytic theory of dreams: Sigmund Freud’s theory of dreams suggested that dreams were representation of unconscious desires, thoughts and motivations. Dreams allows us to be what we cannot be, and say what we cannot say in our daily life. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic view of personality, people are driven by aggressive and sexual instincts that are repressed from conscious awareness. While these thoughts are not consciously expressed. He suggests that they find their way into our awareness via dreams. In his famous book ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’ Freud wrote that dreams are disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes. He also describes two different components of dreams: Manifest content and latent content. Manifest is made up of actual image, thoughts and content contained within the dream, while the latent content represent the hidden psychological meaning of the dream. Activation- Synthesis Model of dreaming: According...
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