Sleeping and Dreaming Outline
Introduction –
Good morning everyone. Sleeping and dreaming are great parts of our life. Probably the best
parts of our life at times. Ever hear people say that, “wow I slept good last night!” or “ooooh I CAN”T
SLEEP!” or “oooh you woke me up in my REM cycle”. Or that their dreams talk to them or show them
the possibilities of the future? Well today is the day that we’ll be able to fully understand these sleeping
and dreaming parts of our life. We’ll first start by exploring the sleep cycle, then why you need sleep,
sleep deprivation, and sleep disorders, and then finally we’ll wrap it up with dream consciousness.
Main Point I – Sleep Cycle (A sequence of events that occurs during a night of sleep.)
Circadian Rhythm – A naturally occurring 24-hour cycle of sleep and waking. Comes from the Latin
words circa, “about” and dies or diem “day”.
Subpoint A –
1. EEG Recording –
- Helps reveal regular pattern throughout the circadian cycle. During waking, these changes involve
alternation between higher frequency, beta waves, and lower frequency, alpha waves during relaxation.
Most of the changes in your brain waves occur during sleep. An EEG measures the brain waves during
different stages of wake and sleep.
2. Page 142 Waves and Stages –
- Awake – Beta waves
- Drowsy/Relaxed – Alpha waves
- Stage 1 - Theta Waves (even lower frequency than alpha waves)
- Stage 2 – Sleep Spindles, K Complexes (patterns are interrupted by bursts of activity. May be more
difficult to awaken during this time)
- Stage 3/Stage 4 – Delta waves (Deepest stages of sleep, known as slow wave sleep)
- REM Sleep – Fast, Random (characterized by Rapid Eye Movement. Sawtooth waves, similar to beta
waves, when the brain is most active) Sleepers wakened during this cycle report having dreams much
more often than those wakened during non-REM periods. Dreams during this cycle are often reported as
being wilder.
Subpoint B –
1. REM and EEG together
- Putting REM and EEG together produces a picture of a typical night’s progression through the sleep
cycle.
2. Page 143 Typical Night’s Sleep
- When you first fall asleep, you progress into the deepest stages (Delta Waves) usually within the first
hour, but halfway through the night, stages 3 and 4 disappear. You then return to light stages of sleep, and
eventually REM and dreamland. Over the course of the night, you fall into REM sleep about every 90
minutes, each time lasting longer than the previous time.
Transition –
We just explored the sleep cycle. EEG recordings and the waves and stages of sleep. We also
talked about REM and EEG together and then a typical night’s sleep. Next we’ll head into why you need
sleep, the effects of sleep deprivation and they many sleep disorders.
Main Point II – Sleep Needs, Deprivation, and Disorders
Sub-point A-:
1. There are many reasons we all need sleep, but one main reason is that eventually the bodily systems
will just shut down. Your body has trouble regulating its temperature causing you to lose an unhealthy
amount of weight. Sleep helps us with memory consolidation because memories will somewhat
deteriorate without a sufficient amount of sleep. That is why we were told to sleep well after studying and
before your test. Some other reasons are that it reduces mental activity and reaction time, increase the risk
of injury or accident, and increase irritability and depression. Our age determines how much sleep we
usually need. Newborns usually sleep 6 to 8 times in a day totaling more than 16 hours, typical 6 year
olds need 11 to 12 hours, and adults need about 7-7 ½ hours. With aging you can get by with a little less.
Sub-point B:
1. The most common sleep disorder is insomnia which is difficulty in falling asleep and staying asleep.
The causes are usually anxiety and stress in one’s life. There are sleeping pills that will help, but only
short term because eventually the body develops a tolerance to that pill. They can get very addictive. The
other problem with sedatives is that they interfere with the normal sleep cycle causing them not to enter
their deepest sleep stages. The quality of sleep isn’t great leading to grogginess throughout the day. I
personally know what it is like to have a bad case of insomnia, and I don’t find sleeping medicines to help
because they get me to sleep, but don’t keep me asleep and I end up feeling tired all day, but I am unable
to nap.
2. Sleep Apnea is a disorder in which the person stops breathing for brief periods while asleep. They
usually snore due to an involuntary obstruction of the breathing passage. This occurs most often in
middle-aged, overweight men. There are therapies involving weight loss, drugs, or external breathing aids
that can usually solve the problem.
3. When a person arises and walks around while asleep it is a disorder known as somnambulism or also
sleep walking. It is most common in children ages 11 to 12 years. It happens during the slow-wave sleep,
and they usually won’t remember the episode in the morning. It is a myth that you can’t wake a
sleepwalker because you can wake them or you can just lead them back to bed.
4. Narcolepsy is a disorder in which sudden sleep attacks occur in the middle of waking activities. Some
people will be walking and just fall asleep or they can be playing a game and just fall right asleep. The
sleep attacks usually only last 30 seconds to 30 minutes. It is genetic and can be treated with medicine.
5. Sleep Paralysis is waking up unable to move your body. This only lasts a few moments and you may
feel pressure on your chest.
6. Night terrors are abrupt awakenings with panic and intense emotional arousal. So pretty much that
means extremely terrible dreams. This usually occurs in boy’s ages 3 to 7 during the NREM sleep stage
and they usually can’t remember the dream the next morning.
Transition –
We just learned about why you need sleep, the effects of sleep, and sleep disorders. Finally we’ll
head into the dream world. We’ll wrap it up with the dream consciousness, dream theories, and dreaming
brain.
Main Point III – Dreams
Sub-point A – Dream Consciousness
1. 5 Major Characteristics of Dream Consciousness (Hobson 1988)
We intensely feel emotions
Dream thought is illogical
Sensation is fully formed and meaningful
Dreaming occurs with uncritical acceptance
We have difficulty remembering the dream after it is over
2. Dreams from Day’s Events and Nightmares:
Day’s Events
We often dream about mundane experiences that reflect prior waking experience or “day residue.”
The contents of a dream take snapshots of the day rather than retelling stories of what you’ve done or
seen.
Nightmares:
Some of the most memorable dreams are nightmares, and these frightening dreams can often wake up the
dreamer.
Children tend to have more nightmares than adults
People who live through traumatic events are inclined to have nightmares that relive those events
Subpoint B – Dream Theories
1. Freud’s Theory:
The first Psychological theory of Dreams – proposed that dreams are confusing and obscure because the
dynamics of the unconsciousness create them to be confusing and obscure.
Dreams represent wishes, and some of these wishes are so unacceptable, taboo, and anxiety producing
that the mind can only express them in disguised form.
Infinite number of interpretations of dreams
Evidence showing dreams feature the return of suppressed thoughts
2. Activation-Synthesis Model:
Dreams are produced when the mind attempts to make sense of random neural activity that occurs in the
brain during sleep.
During dreams the mind doesn’t have access to external sensations, but it keeps interpreting information
freely
This might be why a person in a dream can change into someone else
Freud’s Theory: dreams begin with meaning whereas in the activation-synthesis theory, dreams begin
randomly – but meaning can be added as the mind lends interpretations in the process of dreaming.
Subpoint C –
Dreaming Brain - Studies show certain brain areas show changes in brain activation during REM.
Active and Inactive Dreaming
In REM cycle, 4 active parts of your brain.
1. Motor cortex
2. Visual association (occipital lobe)
3. Amygdala (in charge of emotion, responses to stressful/threatening events and emotional
memories)
4. Brain stem
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Visual perception area of brain is not activated.
Prefrontal cortex is less active.
Involves planning and executing actions
Dream themes – falling or running away, or worrying
Fear and emotion work overtime
Verified by imaging scans (fMRI) taken of the amygdala
Prefrontal Cortex and Motor Cortex
During REM, motor cortex is active but spinal neurons connecting to the brain inhibit the dreamer to
act out their motor actions.
Conclusion –
First we explored the sleep cycle with the EEG recordings, waves and stages and a typical night’s
sleep. Then we spoke about why we need sleep the effects of sleep deprivation and sleep disorders.
Finally we wrapped it up by talking about the dream world which included dream consciousness, dream
theories and the dreaming brain. We hoped we have taught you a little something today from our
information today and if you have any questions please let us know!