Sleep & Dreams

Chapter 7- Understanding Psychology

Sleep

• Sleep is an altered state of consciousness

• Consciousness- A state of awareness

Studying Sleep

• Sleep has been extremely difficult to study until recently

• EEG- (electroencephalograph) is a device that records the electrical activity of the brain.

• WHY do we sleep? • Many different

theories; restorative, primitive hibernation, clear our minds.

• 4 stages of sleep

Stage One

• Lightest level of sleep.

• Pulse slows, your breathing becomes uneven, your muscles relax.

• Brain waves are irregular and small

• Floating,falling

• Lasts up to 10 minutes

Stage Two

• Relax more deeply

• Sleep spindles- bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity

• Can be awakened without too much difficulty

• Clearly asleep

Stage Three

• Transitional stage

• Brain begins to emit delta waves

• Delta waves- large slow waves associated with sleep

Stage Four

• Deepest sleep of all, hard to waken someone in stage 4

• Large, regular delta waves occurring more than 50% of the time.

• Sleep-walking, bed-wetting, night terrors

REM Sleep

• Occurs in stage 4, more rapid, active kind of sleep

• Rapid Eye Movement (REM)

• Pulse rate and breathing become irregular, eyes dart around,levels of adrenal and sexual hormones in your blood rise

REM Cont…

• Muscles EXTREMELY relaxed

• Brain shows waves that closely resemble those of a person who is fully awake

• Where Dreams occur!!

Sleep cont.

• On average, a person spends 75% of sleep time in Stages 1-4

• Sleep cycle repeats itself about every 90 minutes

• REM gets longer every time you enter stage 4; lasts about 15 minutes (early at night) and about 45 minutes (late at night)

EEG- Sleep stages and Brain waves

Circadian Rhythm

• Biological clock that is genetically programmed to regulate physiological responses within a time period of 24 or 25 hours.

• Even operate when normal day and night cues are removed.

• Regulated by hormones

Sleep Disorders

• Insomnia- the failure to get enough sleep at night in order to feel rested the next day.– Prolonged and abnormal inability to obtain

adequate sleep– Reasons can be anxiety or depression.

Overuse of alcohol or drugs can also cause insomnia

Sleep Disorders cont.

• Sleep Apnea- a sleep disorder in which a person has trouble breathing while asleep. – One of the most common symptoms is a

specific kind of snoring that may occur hundreds of times during the night.

– A blockage of the airway causes this snoring – Affects 1 in 100 americans

Sleep Disorders cont.

• Narcolepsy- a condition characterized by suddenly falling asleep or feeling very sleepy during the day. – Uncontrollable “sleep attacks”– Victims of narcolepsy may have difficulties

in the are or work, leisure and interpersonal relationships.

– Very Prone to accidents

Sleep Disorders Cont

• Nightmares- unpleasant dreams. Occur during the dream phase of sleep (REM)

• Night Terrors- sleep disruptions that occur during stave 4 of sleep, involving screaming, panic, or confusion.– May last anywhere from 5-20 minutes– Heart rate and breathing rate double

Sleep disorders

• Sleep Walking- A disorder in which the person is partly, but not completely, awake during the night.– May walk or do other things without memory

of doing so– We see sleepwalking more in children than

we do in adults– CAN be dangerous, but most of the times is

harmless

DREAMS

• The mental activity that takes place during sleep.

• Everybody dreams, although most people are able to recall only a few, if any, of their dreams.

• http://www.boredpanda.com/15-interesting-facts-about-dreams-dreaming/

DREAMS Cont…• As the night wears on, dreams become

longer and more vivid and dramatic.

• Your last dream is most liekly to be the longest and the one you remember most when you wake up

• Most dreams i9nvolve either strenuous recreational activities, or passive events such as sitting and watching

Dreams Cont…• A large percentage of emotions experienced

during dreams are negative or unpleasant– Anxiety, anger, sadness, etc.

• Often we incorporate our everyday activities into our dreams

• Researches have found that most dreams take place in such commonplace settings– Living rooms, cars,streets

Dream Interpretations• Dream interpretations have been discovered

dating back to 5000 B.C.

• Sigmund Freud believed that no matter how simple or mundane, dreams may contain clues to thoughts the dreamer is afraid to acknowledge in his or her waking hours.

• Others feel that dreams serve no function what-so-ever. Just stimulated brain cells during sleep

Dream interpretations cont…• Another theory proposes that dreaming

allows people a chance to review and address some of the problems they may have faced during the day.

• Another is that dreams are used as “mental housekeeping”. Dreams are the brains way of removing certain unneeded memories. May be necessary because it is not useful to remember every single detail of your life.

Hypnosis

• Is a form of altered consciousness in which people become highly suggestible to changes in behavior and thought

• Researchers are learning more and more about the “Mind-body” connection.

Hypnosis cont…

• By allowing a hypnotist to guide and direct, people can be made conscious of things they are usually unaware of and unaware of things they usually notice

How it works• At all times, certain sensations and

thoughts are filtered out of our awareness• Does NOT put patient to sleep. A hypnotic

trance is very different• In a Hypnotic trance, participants become

highly receptive and responsive to certain internal and external stimuli.

• Able to focus ones attention on one tiny aspect of reality and ignore all other inputs.

Theories of Hypnosis• Some argue that hypnosis is not a special

state of consciousness but simple the result of suggestibility.– If people are just given instructions and told to

try their hardest, they will be able to do anything that hypnotized ppl can do

• Other believe that there is something special about the hypnotic state. Believes that there are many different aspects to the states of consciousness.

Uses of Hypnosis

• Posthypnotic Suggestion- a suggestion made during hypnosis that influences the participant's behavior afterward.

• Hypnosis is sometimes used to reduce pain

• Therapists may use hypnosis to help clients reveal their problems or gain insight into their lives.

Meditation

• The focusing of attention to clear one’s mind and produce relaxation

• Many people believe that most people can benefit from the sort of systematic relaxation that meditation provides

Drugs and Consciousness

Psychoactive Drugs

• Chemicals that affect the nervous system and result in altered consciousness

• Interact with the nervous system to alter a persons mood, perception, and behavior

• Range from stimulants like caffeine, to depressants like alcohol, to powerful hallucinogens like marijuana and LSD.

How Drugs Work

• Like hormones, drugs are carried by the blood. UNLIKE hormones though, drugs are taken into the body from the outside.

• Once in the blood, the drug acts as a neurotransmitters and hook onto nerve cells (neurons) and send out their OWN chemical messages.

How drugs work cont.

• EXAMPLE: An alcohol molecule may tell a nerve cell not to fire . As more and more cells cease firing, the alcohol user becomes slower and may eventually lose consciousness.

• EXAMPLE: LSD molecules may cause circuits in different areas of the brain to start firing all together instead of separately, causing hallucinations.

Hallucinations• Perceptions that have no direct external cause• Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or feeling

things that do not exist.• Hypnosis, meditation, certain drugs, withdrawal

from a drug, and psychological breakdown may produce hallucinations

• Also, periods of high emotion, concentration, or fatigue may produce false sensations

• After taking a drug, everyone's hallucinations seem to be the same from person to person.

Hallucinogens• Drugs that often produce hallucinations• Usually found in plants• Example- LSD

– Most potent hallucinogen– An average dose produces an experiential state– A person can often experience very intense and rapid

changing any number of perceptions– Impairs thinking– Panic reactions

Opiates

• Also known as “narcotics”• Include opium, morphine, and heroin.• Opiates produce pain reduction• Also produce what is known as euphoria, which is

described as a pleasurable state somewhere between wake and sleep.

• Regular use can lead to addiction, and an overdose of opiates results in a loss of control of breathing- in which the user dies from respiratory faliure

Alcohol• Most widely used and abused mind-

altering substance in the US

• The immediate effect of alcohol is general loosening of inhibitions.

• Despite it’s stimulating effect, alcohol is actually a depressant

• When people drink, they often act without the social restraint or self-control they normally apply to their behavior.

Alcohol Cont…• The effects of alcohol depend on the

amount and frequency of drinking, and the drinker’s body weight.

• As the amount consumed increases within a specific time, the drinkers ability to function diminishes.– Slurred speech, blurred vision, and impaired

judgment and memory.

• Permanent brain and liver damage and a change in personality can result from prolonged heavy use of alcohol

Drug Abuse• People abuse drugs for many reasons

– Boredom, to fit in, gain self confidence, forget about problems, to relax, etc.

• MANY risks associated with drug abuse– Danger or death or injury by overdose or

accident, damage to health, legal consequences, destructive behavior, loss of control.

Treatment

• 1. The drug abuser must admit they have a problem

• 2. The drug abuser must enter a treatment program and/or get therapy

• 3. The drug abuser must remain drug free– Many drug addicts are encouraged to join

support groups.

In your notes…

• Copy the chart on page 198 about psychoactive drugs!

• And remember….HUGS not DRUGS ;)