PSYCHOLOGY Ch 7 – Altered States of Consciousness Sleep and Dreams Mr. Lauta Shenandoah Valley

SLEEP AND DREAMS How important is sleep to humans? –Sleep is vital to mental health –Without sleep, most people will have psychological symptoms (ex. Peter Tripp) –Sleep is a state of altered consciousness, characterized by certain patterns of brain activity and inactivity (contrary to common beliefs that sleep is state of unconsciousness with periods of dreaming)

SLEEP AND DREAMS What is consciousness? –Consciousness is a state of awareness Can range from alertness to nonalertness People who are fully aware with their attention focused on something are conscious of that something –Altered consciousness is when people have different levels of awareness A person who is not completely aware is in a different level of consciousness

SLEEP AND DREAMS Sleep illustrates an altered state of consciousness –Had been difficult to study until recently –Development of the electroencephalograph (EEG – a device that records the electrical activity of the brain) aided the study of sleep

Freud’s Levels of Consciousness

Sigmund Freud identified three levels of consciousness. In his approach to consciousness, he claimed that preconsciousness ideas are not in your awareness now, but you are able to recall them with some effort. Unconscious ideas are hidden an unretrievable. One way to know that you are conscious is that you are aware of your own thoughts and surroundings. When would you use information from the preconscious level? a person draws upon information from the precious level while in conversation or while thinking about someone we us information from the preconscious level every day when we use what we already know – our knowledge and memories – to function normally

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why do we sleep? –Scientists are not sure –Sleep is the unresponsiveness to the environment and usually limited physical mobility –Still others believe we sleep to clear our minds of useless information –Some people believe we sleep to dream

SLEEP AND DREAMS There are two main types of sleep: –Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Sleep (also known as quiet sleep) –Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep (also known as active sleep or paradoxical sleep)

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why do we sleep? – Theories of Sleep 1.REPAIR and RESTORATION –To revitalize and restore physiological processes to keep the body and mind healthy and to properly function –Research REM increase after periods of sleep deprivation Body increases cell division and protein synthesis –it allows people to “charge up their batteries”

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why do we sleep? – Theories of Sleep 2. EVOLUTION - Also known as adaptive theory - Periods of activity and inactivity evolved as a means of conserving energy - All species adapted to sleep when wakefulness would have been most dangerous - Research - Animals with few natural predators (bears and lions) sleep hours each day - Other animals sleep 4-5 hours In earlier times, sleep kept humans out of harm’s way at night when humans would have been most vulnerable to animals with better night vision.

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why do we sleep? – Theories of Sleep 3. Information Consolidation - To process information that has been acquired during the day - For the brain to prepare for the day to come - Research - Cement the things we learned into long-term memory - Lack of sleep has a serious impact on the ability to recall and remember information

SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 1 of Sleep –Beginning of the sleep cycle, and is a relatively light stage of sleep. –Can be considered a transition period between wakefulness and sleep. –The brain produces high amplitude theta waves, which are very slow brain waves. –This period of sleep lasts only a brief time (around 5-10 minutes). –If you awaken someone during this stage, they might report that they weren't really asleep.

SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 2 of Sleep –Lasts for approximately 20 minutes –The brain begins to produce bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity known as sleep spindles. –Body temperature starts to decrease and heart rate begins to slow.

SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 3 of Sleep –Deep, slow brain waves known as delta waves begin to emerge during stage 3 sleep. –Stage 3 is a transitional period between light sleep and a very deep sleep.

SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 4 of Sleep –Sometimes referred to as delta sleep because of the slow brain waves known as delta waves that occur during this time. –Stage 4 is a deep sleep that lasts for approximately 30 minutes. –Bed-wetting and sleepwalking are most likely to occur at the end of stage 4 sleep.

SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 5 of Sleep –Most dreaming occurs during the fifth stage of sleep, known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. – REM sleep is characterized by eye movement, increased respiration rate and increased brain activity. –REM sleep is also referred to as paradoxical sleep because while the brain and other body systems become more active, muscles become more relaxed. –Dreaming occurs due because of increased brain activity, but voluntary muscles become paralyzed.

SLEEP AND DREAMS A dream can include any of the images, thoughts and emotions that are experienced during sleep. Dreams can be extraordinarily vivid or very vague; joyous or frightening or somewhere in between.

SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream –Dreams have fascinated throughout history –Five characteristics of dream 1.Feature Intense Emotions 2.Frequently Disorganized and Illogical 3.Strange Content 4.Bizarre Sensations 5.Difficult to Remember

SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream 1.Feature Intense Emotions - Deeply embarrassing - Terrifying events (being chased) - So intense that they interrupt the dream or cause the dreamer to wake abruptly - Most common: anxiety, fear and surprise

SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream 2.Disorganized and Illogicall - Full of discontinuities, ambiguities, and inconsistency - Time, place and person do not apply - Natural laws are disobeyed - Examples: flying, time travel, talking animals, transformations of people and objects, sudden shifts in setting

SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream 3.Strange Content - Odd events and content are typically accepted without question by the dreaming mind - If remembered, the content is seen as odd or even difficult to explain

SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream 4. Bizarre Sensations - Falling, inability to move quickly, unable to control body movements

SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream 5. Difficult to Remember - While memory seems to be intensified within the context of the dream, access to the information contained within the dream diminishes rapidly once the dreamer wakes - About 95% of all dreams are forgotten entirely upon awakening

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why Humans Dream –No single consensus has emerged –Some theories 1.Psychoanalytic 2.Activation-Synthesis Model 3.Interpret External Stimuli 4.“Clean Up” Clutter 5.Psychotherapy 6.Combinations of others

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why Humans Dream 1.Psychoanalytic - a representation of unconscious desires, thoughts, and motivations - while not consciously expressed, they find their way into our awareness via dreams - “disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes” according to Freud

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why Humans Dream 2. Activation-Synthesis Model –suggests that the physiological processes of the brain cause dreams –circuits in the brain stem are activated during REM sleep –the brain synthesizes and interprets this internal activity and attempts create meaning from these signals, which results in dreaming

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why Humans Dream 3. Interpret External Stimuli -Suggests that dreams are the result of our brains trying to interpret external stimuli during sleep -For example, the sound of the radio may be incorporated into the content of a dream

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why Humans Dream 4. “Clean Up” Clutter -dreams serve to 'clean up' clutter from the mind, much like clean-up operations in a computer -refreshing the mind to prepare for the next da

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why Humans Dream 5. Psychotherapy - the dreamer is able to make connections between different thoughts and emotions in a safe environment

SLEEP AND DREAMS Why Humans Dream 6. Combinations of others -combines some elements of various theories -The activation of the brain creates loose connections between thoughts and ideas, which are then guided by the emotions of the dreamer

SLEEP AND DREAMS (Sources)