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Nicholas Terry
16 April 2012
Psychology
Sleeping, Dreaming, and Sleep Disorders
What is sleep? Why do we sleep? Why do we dream? What are the different
kinds of sleep disorders? These are a few of the questions that are going to be
answered in this paper. Most people don’t think of the word psychology when they hear
the words sleep. But the two subjects go very much hand in hand with each other.
Sleep
Sleep is when the body and mind rest from the world of wakefulness. We usually
sleep at night on our backs or on our sides. When we are at the first part of sleep we
begin to drift into a state beyond wakefulness. We then go to a point of rest where we
have no control, our brain cannot respond adequately, and our body almost doesn’t
move completely. During this part of sleep we enter a stage called predormitum. Soon
after this stage we are falling deeper into sleep. We are now unconscious. Thank
goodness we don’t stay in this stage forever, it’s not like being in a coma or death, we
normally awake after 6-8 hours after rest is completed (Chokroverty).
There are 7 stages of sleep. The 7 stages in order include: awake, drowsy or
relaxed, stages 1-4 sleep, and finally REM sleep. While we are awake, we do our
normal day activities like work, school, eat, exercise, play or what ever your heart
desires. Our brain waves at this point are at a high-frequency activity (during activity)
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called beta waves or they are at a low-frequency activity called alpha waves (during
relaxation) (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner).
The second part of sleep is when you get home from your activities of the day
and you start to hang out and simple relax. Your body is winding down and you are
preparing yourself for sleep. During this stage your brain’s activity is slower and on a
EEG the pattern of waves are called Alpha waves. Stage 1 sleep the brain waves are
still active. The movement is slower and these brain waves are called Theta waves. In
the second stage of sleep it is more difficult to wake the sleeper. The brain waves are
interrupted with short sudden burst of activity known as sleep spindles or K complexes
(Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner).
Stages 3 and 4 are usually measured together. This is at the deepest part of all
the sleep stages and it’s known as slow-wave sleep. The brain waves at this stage on
an EEG are called Delta waves (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner).
During the final sleep stage of sleep is called REM sleep. This stage is
characterized this way because of the rapid eye movement. The brain activity at this
point is at high levels. The level is so high it looks similar to the beta waves which is like
being awake. This tells us that the brain is as active in REM sleep as it is when your
awake. During REM sleep the heart beat quickens, the blood pressure rises, and there
are also signs of sexual arousal. The muscles in the body are almost completely relaxed
and the only movement is under the eyelids where the eyes are moving side-to-side
rapidly (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner).
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While you are sleeping you will reach REM sleep about every 90 minutes. So
depending on how long you sleep will tell you how many times you will have REM sleep.
In an 8 hours sleep time it averages out to be about 3-4 times. Not everyone reaches
REM sleep and that‘s usually caused by sleep deprivation or sleep disorders which will
cover later (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner).
Why do we need sleep? This is something that can be answer through some
studies that have shown that “we may require sleep for energy conservation and for
restoration of the body and brain that allows them to function adequately during the
wakeful period. Some evidence suggests that sleep is needed for consolidation of
memory and for adequate stimulation of various circuits within the brain that ensure its
proper functioning.” (Chokroverty). We all spend about one-third of our lives sleeping. If
you live to the age of 80, you will sleep for a total of twenty-seven years (Caldwell).
Just like food to eat, water to drink, and air to breath, we need sleep to live. It’s a
biologic necessity, a demanding human need that must be met by most of us daily
(Caldwell).
Sleep Disorders:
There are many sleep disorders known to man some of which are: insomnia,
sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, hypersomnia, sleep walking, night
terrors, REM behavior disorder, Rhythmic movement disorder, Bruxism (teeth-grinding)
and bed-wetting (Ross). There are many more but we will touch on a few of the more
common ones.
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Insomnia is a broad term for this sleeping disorder. It means that the sleeper is
unable to fall asleep or to stay asleep through the night. Someone that is an insomniac
usually does not feel rested and is usually irritable, have excessive drowsiness and they
have a hard time functioning throughout the day. There are three types of insomnia and
the categorized by the time of night they affected. Sleep onset insomnia is one of the
three types of insomnia. People with sleep onset insomnia have a hard time getting to
sleep. It usually takes 30 or more minutes to fall asleep but after words they are able to
enjoy a relatively normal night of sleep. Most insomniacs have a problem called
psychophysiological insomnia, which means they are completely aware that they are
awake and they dwell on it. The more the sleeper worries about not sleeping, the harder
and longer it is until they fall asleep (Ross).
The second kind of insomnia is sleep maintenance insomnia. Sleep maintenance
insomnia is when the sleeper wakes up one or more times in the night and it take 30 or
more minutes to fall back asleep. The third and last type of insomnia is Early-morning
awakening insomnia. This type of insomnia is when you wake up way before dawn and
you can’t get back to sleep at all (Ross).
Sleep apnea is another disorder that many people suffer from. Sleep apnea can
be a potentially deadly sleep disorder. When you have sleep apnea, you literally stop
breathing for a time. This time runs for maybe 10-60 seconds. The main cause is when
the air passage becomes blocked. The blockage is due to a number of things. One
could be excess tissue blocking the air way which is cause by being over weight. Too
much swelling and mucus in the nose can also cause sleep apnea (Ross).
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Narcolepsy is another sleep disorder. Narcolepsy is when someone experience
daytime sleepiness so extreme that they fall asleep at inappropriate times. This sleep
episode can last for a few seconds or it can last to 30 minutes. These “sleep attacks”
can happen a number of times in a day even after having a good nights rest. The attack
can happen while doing everyday tasks like talking, playing, walking, eating or working
(Ross).
The last sleep disorder that we’re going to talk about is night terrors. Night terrors
are can be very frightening to sleeper or even their housemate. These terrors will cause
the sleeper to wake suddenly screaming or crying. They could jump up suddenly and
get out of bed and even run out of the house. Sometimes they can even cause harm to
themselves or to others. Although the individual seems like they are awake because
there eyes are wide open they are usually still sleeping. The sleeper sometimes doesn’t
even wake up until the episode is over. Night terrors are not like nightmares. Unlike
nightmares, in a night terror, the sleeper doesn’t recollect their dreams; in fact, episodes
occur during the deep, NREM (non-dream) stages of sleep (Ross).
Dreams:
A sleep researcher once said the following about dreams, “Dreaming permits
each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.”
(Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner). What a funny way of putting it, but it’s so true. The
crazy part about it is the fact that we are the ones that are thinking them up and create
them in out minds. Think of all the weird things that you have dreamed of. Where in the
world did those thought come from?
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There are 5 different characteristics that distinguish the difference of being
awake and dream consciousness. First we have an intense feel of emotion, whether
positive or negative. Second, your dream thought is illogical. Sometimes you’ll be inside
your home then you turn around your on the beach, you could be talking to someone
and then through the conversation the person turns into someone different, even
change sex. So while we dream our thoughts are illogical. Third, your sensation is fully
formed and it means something to you. You may experience sound, touch, and
movement. The fourth characteristic is critical acceptance. You could be talking to an
animal and it would seem completely normal. You would just accept anything out of the
ordinary to be normal. Then the fifth and last would be the difficulty of remembering the
dream after you wake up. (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner).
Why is it that we forget our dreams? When you think about it, most of the time
our dreams don’t even make sense. In our everyday life we are constantly disregarding
sensations and perceptions strait away, because they were too weak for us to retain the
information. It’s the same with some of our dreams. The dreams are forgotten because
they are too weak, while the stronger images are remembered. In some other cases the
sensory of being awake can drown out the menial dreams that would mean nothing in
comparison to reality (Freud).
There are many dream theories and why we have them. One thing that Sigmund
Freud said was that dreams are confusing because the dynamic of our unconscious
creates them to be confusing and obscure. According to Freud’s idea of dreams it that
our dreams are wishes but they are so taboo or unacceptable, that our subconscious
makes them in disguises. Although this might be fine and dandy to believe that one
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dream means something to one person, if someone else was interpret the dream it
would be completely different. There are hundreds of different was to interpret a dream.
Although our dreams may not be our wishes, researchers have found that in dreams
they can in fact be suppressed thoughts. The finding suggests that Freud was right
about dreams have unwanted thoughts (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner).
Another theory of dreaming is the activation-synthesis model. This theory means
“that dreams are produced when the mind attempts to make sense of random neural
activity that occurs in the brain during sleep (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner)”. While we
are awake our consciousness is constantly trying to interpret lots of information that
arrives through the senses. While we are asleep our mind keeps on doing what it’s
supposed to be doing; interpreting information. But because our mind is using different
sensory, it can run wild. That’s why sometimes your “characters” of a dream are or can
constantly change (Schacter, Gilbert and Wegner).
Although all these thought and theories are told, and there might be more
theories out there, we don’t know the true meaning of dreams.
The mind is a powerful thing. The day that we truly understand what the brain is
doing and why, we may never know. But one thing that we can always know for sure is
that sleep is essential to maintain a healthy life and it’s a time for our mind to rest from
reality. Maybe we should also embrace what we know about dreaming; dreaming is the
way to become quietly and safely insane.
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Works Cited
Caldwell, J. Paul. Sleep: Everything you need to know. Willowdale: Firefly Books Ltd., 1997. Book.
Chokroverty, Sudhansu. 100 Questions and Answers about Sleep and Sleep Disorders. Malden: Blackwell
Science, Inc., 2001. Book.
Freud, Sigmund & Crick, Joyce. Sigmund Freud; The Interpretation of Dreams. Trans. Joyce Crick. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1999. Book.
Ross, Herbert & Brenner, Keri. Sleep Disorders: 7 Smart ways to Help You Get a Good Night's Rest.
Berkeley: Celestial Arts, 2007. Book.
Schacter, Daniel L., Daniel T. Gilbert and Daniel M. Wegner. Introducing Psychology. New York: Worth
Publisher, 2011. Book.