Consciousness, Sleep, & Dreams

When we are awake we are?

In a state of Consciousness

An awareness of ourselves and our surroundings.

When we are awake…

We can still daydream!

Why do we daydream?

• They can help us prepare for future events.

• They can nourish our social development.

• Can substitute for impulsive behavior.

• Someone who imagines and recalls experiences with lifelike vividness and who spends considerable time fantasizing.

RHYTHMS

• Our body experiences certain rhythms during consciousness, subconsciousness, and unconsciousness.

Waking and Sleeping Rhythms

Biological RhythmsBiological Rhythms

Annual Cycles: seasonal variations (bears hibernation, seasonal affective disorder)

24 hour cycle: our circadian rhythm

90 minute cycle: sleep cycles.

Circadian Rhythm

• Our 24 hour biological clock.

• Our body temperature and awareness changes throughout the day.

• It is best to take a test or study during your circadian peaks.

Sleep Cycles

Sleep Stages

• There are 5 identified stages of sleep.

• It takes about 90-100 minutes to pass through the 5 stages.

• The brain’s waves will change according to the sleep stage you are in.

• The first four stages are known as NREM sleep..

• The fifth stage is called REM sleep.

Stage One

• This is experienced as falling to sleep and is a transition stage between wake and sleep.

• It usually lasts between 1 and 5 minutes and occupies approximately 2-5 % of a normal night of sleep.

• eyes begin to roll slightly.

Hallucinations can occur and a feeling of falling.

Stage Two• This follows Stage 1 sleep and is the

"baseline" of sleep.

• This stage is part of the 90 minute cycle and occupies approximately 45-60% of sleep.

Stage Three & Four

• Stages three and four are "Delta" sleep or "slow wave" sleep and may last 15-30 minutes.

• It is called "slow wave" sleep because brain activity slows down dramatically from Stage 2 to a much slower rhythm called "delta"

Stage Three and Four (continued)

• Contrary to popular belief, it is delta sleep that is the "deepest" stage of sleep (not REM) and the most restorative.

• It is delta sleep that a sleep-deprived person's brain craves the first and foremost.

• In children, delta sleep can occupy up to 40% of

all sleep time and this is what makes children unwakeable or "dead asleep" during most of the night.

Stage Five: REM SLEEP

• REM: Rapid Eye Movement

• This is a very active stage of sleep.

• Composes 20-25 % of a normal nights sleep.

• Breathing, heart rate and brain wave activity quicken.

• Vivid Dreams can occur.

• From REM, you go back to Stage 2

How much sleep do we need?

• We all need different amounts of sleep depending on our age and genetics.

• But we ALL sleep- about 25 years on average.

How do you feel when you don’t get enough sleep?

Why do we need sleep?(Two theories)

1. Ecological Niche:

back in the day, darkness meant death, those that slept did not go out, thus did not die. Sleep protects us.

2. Sleep helps us recuperate and restores the breakdown of our body.

From This….

To this!!!

Sleep Disorders

Insomnia

• Recurring problems in falling or staying asleep.• Not your once in a while (I have a big test

tomorrow) having trouble getting to sleep episodes.

• Insomnia is not defined by the number of hours you sleep every night.

Narcolepsy• Characterized by uncontrollable sleep

attacks.•Lapses directly into REM sleep (usually during times of stress or joy).

Sleep Apnea

• A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations (stoping) of breathing during sleep and consequent momentary reawakenings.

Night TerrorsNight Terrors

• A sleep disorder A sleep disorder characterized by high characterized by high arousal and an arousal and an appearance of being appearance of being terrified.terrified.

• Occur in Stage 4, not Occur in Stage 4, not REM, and are not often REM, and are not often remembered.remembered.

Sleepwalking(Somnambulism)

• Sleepwalking is a sleep disorder effecting an estimated 10 percent of all humans at least once in their lives.

• Sleep walking most often occurs during deep non-REM sleep (stage 3 or stage 4 sleep) early in the night.

SleepwalkingSymptoms and Features:• Ambulation (walking or moving about) that occurs during

sleep. The onset typically occurs in pre-pubertal children. • difficulty in arousing the patient during an episode • amnesia following an episode • episodes typically occur in the first third of the sleep episode • polysomnographic monitoring demonstrates the onset of an

episode during stage 3 or 4 sleep • other medical and psychiatric disorders can be present but

do not account for the symptom • the ambulation is not due to other sleep disorders such as

REM sleep behavior disorder or sleep terrors. • Fatigue (which is not the same as drowsiness),  • stress and anxiety 

Sleepwalking• The sleep walking activity may include simply sitting up

and appearing awake while actually asleep, getting up and walking around, or complex activities such as moving furniture, going to the bathroom, dressing and undressing, and similar activities. Some people even drive a car while actually asleep. The episode can be very brief (a few seconds or minutes) or can last for 30 minutes or longer.

• One common misconception is that a sleep walker should not be awakened. It is not dangerous to awaken a sleep walker, although it is common for the person to be confused or disoriented for a short time on awakening. Another misconception is that a person cannot be injured when sleep walking. Actually, injuries caused by such things as tripping and loss of balance are common for sleep walkers.

Dreams

• A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind.

Manifest Content: the remembered storyline of a dream.

Latent Content: the underlying meaning of a dream.

Manifest Content

Latent Content

Dream Interpretation

Why do we Dream?

Three Theories

Freud’s wish-fulfillment Theory

• Dreams are the key to understanding our inner conflicts.

• Ideas and thoughts that are hidden in our unconscious.

• Manifest and latent content

Information-Processing Theory

• Dreams act to sort out and understand the memories that you experience that day.

• REM sleep does increase after stressful events.

Physiological Function Theories

Activation-Synthesis Theory:

• during the night our brainstem releases random neural activity, dreams may be a way to make sense of that activity.

REM Rebound

• The tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation.

• What will happen if you don’t get a good nights sleep for a week, and then sleep for 10 hours?

You will dream a lot.