Sleep IQ True or False 1. During sleep, your brain rests. 2. Snoring is not harmful. 3. Everyone dreams nightly. 4. The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep you need. 5. When people dream of performing some activity, their limbs often move in concert with the dream.

Are you a night owl or a morning lark? Circadian Rhythm Are you a night owl or a morning lark? There are actually three types of body rhythms: Circadian rhythms are those that occur once each day. Our circadian rhythm spans 24 hours and is responsible for our varying levels of arousal throughout the course of a day. Ultradian rhythms are those that occur more than once each day and include the cycles of appetite and hormonal relase. Infradian rhythms are those that occur once per month or season and include the menstrual cycle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMHus-0wFSo

Sleep Cycle Awake, relaxed= alpha waves Beta Waves- when we are wide awake. These are high frequency, low amplitude waves. EEG (electroencephalogram)- captures the electrical activity given off by the neurons as they fire action potentials. The speed with which the action potentials occur creates the brain wave patterns seen during wakefulness and sleep. Hypnagogic Sensations are the hallucinations people experience when they are in the early stages of sleep Awake, relaxed= alpha waves

Stage 1 Theta Waves Only lasts a few minutes, and you usually only experience it once a night. Hypnagogic sensations Theta waves characterize the transition from stage 1 to stage 2. Theta waves are slower, so they have higher amplitude and lower frequency than alpha waves, the type of waves that are present as we move from relaxation to deeper sleep. The waves people exhibit when they are awake and active are called beta waves.

Stage 2 More Theta Waves About 20 minutes Begin to show sleep spindles…short bursts of rapid brain waves. Sleep talking Another type of wave found in sleep stage 2 is the K-complex. In stage 2 there is a sharp upturn followed by a rapid downturn of the wave, looking similar to a heartbeat pattern on an EKG. This wave is the precursor to the large delta waves that characterize stages 3 and 4 sleep.

Stages 3 and 4 Slow wave sleep= Delta waves If awoken you will be very groggy Sleep walking, bed-wetting Vital for restoring body’s growth hormones and good overall health

From stage 4, your brain begins to speed up and you go back to stage 3, then 2… REM AND THEN… Rapid Eye Movement Paradoxical sleep Dreams REM Rebound

Dreams do not usually occur in NREM sleep, but they can and do happen Dreams do not usually occur in NREM sleep, but they can and do happen. Have you ever just fallen asleep and started “dreaming” about something mundane- like walking down the sidewalk or talking with a friend- only to jerk awake when you dream you trip or fall? This experience can be explained as an NREM dream. Normally in REM sleep, the body is completely relaxed, so people do not react physically to their dreams. But, if we dream during NREM, then our bodies may interpret our dreams as reality and react to them, causing us to jump or startle at our apparent fall. REM is also known as “emergent stage 1” sleep- As we go through the sleep cycle each night, the body will start with the twilight sleep of stage 1 and move into deeper, slow-wave sleep patterns. When the body cycles back up to stage 1, it experiences brain waves like stage 1 again, only this time it is in REM, the most restful sleep. So while it appears that the body is coming out of sleep every 90 minutes, it is actually cycling into emergent stage 1 or REM sleep.

What causes you to feel sleepy? How much sleep do you need? Are you sleep deprived? Can you catch up on lost sleep?

Sleep Disorders

Insomnia Persistent problems falling asleep and staying asleep Tips for treating insomnia Sleep restriction Naps, week vs. weekend, don’t stay in bed Stimulus control TV, homework, caffeinated drinks Exercise Sleep restriction- Do not spend more than seven hours in bed. Avoid naps, and arise at the same time every morning, including weekends. Stimulus control- Go to bed only when sleepy, and use the bed only for sleep or relaxing activities. If you cannot fall asleep within 20 minutes, stop trying and do something relaxing. Relaxation response training- Use soothing visual imagery, rhythmic breathing, and muscle relaxation to calm yourself Not just an inability to fall asleep, but it is also an inability to stay asleep.

Narcolepsy Uncontrollable sleep attacks Lapse directly into REM sleep A brain disease: absence of hypocretin, an alerting neurotransmitter Often treated using amphetamines) to keep the patient’s brain from going into the REM patterns Often treated using powerful stimulants, called amphetamines, to keep the patient’s brain from going into the REM patterns that are most restful.

Sleep Apnea A person stops breathing during their sleep, wakes up momentarily, gasps for air, then falls back asleep Goes undetected Common in overweight men Fatal- linked to SIDS \

Night Terrors Not a nightmare Appear terrified Seldom wake up Occurs during 4th stage, not REM

Sleepwalking Occurs during stage 4 (delta waves) If you have had night terrors, you are more likely to sleep walk when older Runs in family https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpIKX8VIaT8

Dreams

Information-Processing Theory To file away memories They help sift, sort, and fix our problems We tend to dream more when we are more stressed Critiques?

Freud’s Wish-Fulfillment Theory To satisfy our own wishes Manifest Content Latent Content The key to understanding our inner conflicts Critique? The hidden content of dreams was supposed to reflect our unconscious thoughts and desires, which Freud theorized were often too difficult to deal with while we were awake. Freud believed that dreams were the “royal road” to the unconscious, shedding light on these forbidden thoughts and feelings w kept hidden from ourselves and the world.

Activation-Synthesis Theory To make sense of neural static REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories which our sleeping brain weaves into stories Critique? Helps explain why dreams tend to be random and bizarre. Without external stimulation and information to help organize the signals fired from neurons, the brain does its best to make sense of the signals. The brain puts the signals together into a story. Often, the stories it puts together don’t make much sense to the waking mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYSX51xBkos