Chapter 5 (p. 191-213)
Sleep & Dreams
Music: “Dream on”
Aerosmith
“Sleepwalker”
Adam Lambert
Lecture #5: Agenda


1. Structure of Consciousness
2. Everyday Changes in Consciousness:






3. Applications:



a) Circadian Rhythms
b) The Sleep Cycle
c) Content of Dreams
d) Theories of Dreams
e) Sleep Deprivation
a) Tips for sleep success
b) Self-Guide to Dream Interpretation
4. Movies:


“Prescription Drug Abuse in Teenagers” (10 min.)
“Curing Insomnia” (6 min.)
1. Structure of Consciousness

a) Tip of the iceberg:
 Conscious awareness of yourself and your environment
a) Conscious:
Controlled, sequential
b) Preconscious:
Easily retrieved
e.g. stored knowledge
c) Subconscious:
Simultaneous, automatic processing
of sights, sounds, sensations
d) Freud’s Unconscious:
Repressed memories, impulses
Difficult to retrieve; accessible in dreams
e) Non-conscious:
Physiological processes not available to awareness
Can be influenced through conscious intent
2. Everyday Changes in
Consciousness

a) Circadian Rhythms

Biological clock governing cycles in bodily functions:
2. Everyday Changes in
Consciousness

a) Circadian Rhythms (cont’d)

Clock adjusted by light


Receptors in the retina send input to hypothalamus
Small structure of the hypothalamus sends signals to pineal
gland
 Leads to the secretion of melatonin which contributes to sleep
regulation

What happens when you make changes in your biological
clock?

Examples:




Flying West/ Daylight Savings Time (Fall):
Easier to add additional time to your day
Flying East/Moving clock forward (Spring):
Harder to subtract time from your day
2. b) The Sleep Cycle

5 Stages:

Stage 1:



Stage 2:



Light sleep 1-7 min. (theta waves)
Hypnic Jerks
10-25 min. (sleep spindles)
May involve some dreaming
Stages 3 & 4:



30 min. slow-wave sleep (delta waves)
Longer in the first part of the night
When sleepwalking and night terrors
occur
 Usually within the first 2 hours of sleep

Stage 5:



REM sleep (beta waves)
Rapid eye movements (REM) & dreaming
Gets progressively longer in later part of
the night
2. b) The Sleep Cycle (p. 209)
2. b) Stage 5: REM Sleep

REM= Rapid Eye Movement



When most dreams occur
About 20% of sleep time
Paradoxical:




Heart rate and arousal increase
Brain activity resembles alert state
Major muscle groups inhibited
See Application section for “lucid dreaming”
2. c) Content of Dreams

Typical Dreams of Canadian University Students (p. 210)















Being chased or pursued, not injured (90%)
Sexual experiences
Falling
School, teachers, studying
Arriving too late
Being on the verge of falling
A person now alive as dead
Trying repeatedly to do something
Flying or soaring through the air
Vividly sensing a presence
Failing an examination
Physically attacked
Being frozen with fright (50%)
Inappropriately dressed
Seeing self as dead
2. d) Theories of Dreams

Freud


“Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious”
Wish Fulfillment Theory:



Dreams express unconscious motives and wishes
Manifest & latent content
Criticisms
2. d) Theories of Dreams

Problem-solving View:


Dreams reflect an attempt to solve problems in waking-life
Activation-Synthesis Model:


Biological view
Dreams are the by-product of random neural firing from
subcortical structures in the brain.
Fig. 5.12, p. 213
2. e) Sleep deprivation

Adults should get 7-9 hours



Children 5-12 years: 9-11 hours
Adolescents 11-17 years: 8.5-9.5 hours
Chronic sleep disturbances:

Associated with a spectrum of medical conditions




E.g. Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure stroke,
cardiovascular disease, depression, excessive drinking
Immunity to disease reduced
Inflammation in body increased
Sleep Deprivation:


Impaired concentration and cognitive performance
Emotional centers of the brain more reactive:


Irritability/mood problems
Misperceptions during monotonous tasks

“Zoning out’ and industrial/medical accidents
2. e) Sleep deprivation

Why we need sleep:

1) To maintain a healthy brain:





Repair damaged cells
Replenish energy stores
Grow new neurons
2) To consolidate memory & learn
3) To maintain psychological health

Help regulating mood/ handling stress/ and making decisions!
3. a) Tips for Sleep Success

1) Develop a consistent bedtime routine


Train your body to know what to expect
To develop a routine:



2) Use principles of conditioning





Wake up at the same time/Go to bed at the same time
Make small incremental changes (e.g. by 15 minutes)
Bed should be associated with sleep (not with alert activities)
Don’t stay awake in bed for more than 20 minutes
3) Expose yourself to bright light early in the day
 Will reset your clock
4) Avoid excessive caffeine after 2 p.m.
5) Schedule “worry time”


Ruminating at night does not solve anything and is useless
Do your worrying and find solutions earlier in the day
3. b) Self-Guide to Dream
Interpretation

For next week:






1) Write your dream in the present tense
2) Underline dream elements
3) Provide more description of the dream elements
4) Associate to dream elements
5) Link to waking life
6) Next week: Interpreting your dream
 Making your dream work for you!
4. Movies

1) “Prescription Drug Abuse in Teenagers”

Teenagers in a substance abuse treatment center talk
about their addictions to prescription drugs


2) “Curing Insomnia”


Pertinent to next week’s lecture
An alternative treatment to drugs for insomnia using
cognitive behaviour therapy
Note: 2 multiple choice questions may be
extracted from these movies for midterm #2
See you next week…