Sleep and Dreams

1. Sleep and Dreams

2. Sleep • Is sleep important? • Yes!!!! • Radio Disk Jockey Peter Tripp found this out • 50 hrs- hallucinations • 100 hrs- delirious • 120 hrs- needed a stimulant • 150 hrs- disoriented • 200 hrs- believed doctor was an undertaker • Sleep is a state of altered consciousness, characterized by certain patterns of brain activity and inactivity.

3. Consciousness • Consciousness is a state of awareness • Can range from alertness to non-altertness • Being fully aware means having your attention focused on something • Being in an altered state of consciousness means not being completely aware • Ex: Sleep

4. Why do we sleep? • We are not really sure…but here are some theories: • Some believe it is when the brain recovers from exhaustion/stress (recharging of batteries) • Primitive hibernation- sleep to conserve energy • Adaptive process- Long ago we slept at night to avoid predators • Clear our minds of useless info. • Dream

5. Stages of sleep • Early Stages • Stage 1 • Pulse continues to slow and your muscles relax • “just drifting”, lasts for up to 10 min • Stage 2 • Your eyes roll slowly from side to side • Lasts for about 30 min before you drift into deeper sleep • Stage 3 • Large amplitude delta waves begin to sweep your brain every second or so • Deep sleep

6. Stage 4 • Deepest sleep of all • Indicated by large, regular delta waves occurring more than 50% of the time • Person awoken would be feel disoriented • Can be characterized by sleep walking, talking, and bed wetting

7. REM Sleep • Characterized by rapid eye movement • Called active sleep because brain activity resembles a person who is awake • Almost all dreaming takes place here • Builds efficient learning/memory processes • Last from 15 min (early at night), to 45 min (late at night), after which you retrace the decent to Stage 4 • Go through cycle every 90 min. • Brain is always active

8. Sleep Disorders • Insomnia • Inability to obtain sleep • Sleep Apnea • Frequent interruptions of breathing during sleep • Snoring • Most common among elderly and obese • Narcolepsy • Permanent feeling of sleepiness • Nightmares/Night Terrors • Nightmares occur during REM sleep, people will wake and have a memory of the dream • Night terrors occur during stage 4, characterized by sweating, screaming and confusion, people wake and have no memory

9. Sleep Walking • Person is partly, but not completely awake during the night • Person will have no memory of doing it • Usually harmless but person could injure themselves • Sleep Talking • No memory but most people talk in their sleep • Harmless

10. Meditation • Meditation is a practice of concentrated focus upon a sound, object, visualization, the breath, movement, or attention itself in order to increase awareness of the present moment, reduce stress, promote relaxation, and enhance personal and spiritual growth.

11. Benefits of meditation … • 1. INCREASED IMMUNITYRelaxation appears to boost immunity in recovering cancer patients. A study at the Ohio State University found that progressive muscular relaxation, when practised daily, reduced the risk of breast cancer recurrence. In another study at Ohio State, a month of relaxation exercises boosted natural killer cells in the elderly, giving them a greater resistance to tumours and to viruses.

12. 2. LOWERS BLOOD PRESSUREA study at Harvard Medical School found that meditation lowered blood pressure by making the body less responsive to stress hormones, in a similar way to blood pressure-lowering medication. Meanwhile a British Medical Journal report found that patients trained how to relax had significantly lower blood pressure.

13. 3. CALMNESSThe simple difference between those who meditate and those who do not, is that for a meditative mind the thought occurs but is witnessed, while for an ordinary mind, the thought occurs and is the boss. So in both minds, an upsetting thought can occur, but for those who meditate it is just another thought, which is seen as such and is allowed to blossom and die, while in the ordinary mind the thought instigates a storm which rages on and on. • How might this way of thinking be helpful?

14. Dreams • Mental activity that occurs during sleep • Dreams become longer and more active during the night • The last dream is likely to be the longest and the one people remember when they wake up

15. Content of Dreams • Everyday activities • Commonplace settings: living rooms, cars, and streets. • Strenuous recreational activities or passive events, like sitting and watching. • Unpleasant or negative emotions: anxiety, anger, sadness • Realistic time scale

16. Nightmares • Frightening enough that we awaken in the middle

17. Dream Interpretation • Freud believed that dreams contain clues to thoughts the dreamer is afraid to acknowledge • Nathaniel Kleitman believed dreams are a by-product of brain function and serve no purpose • Some believe dreams allow people to review some of the problems faced during the day

18. Daydreams • Fantasizing while we are awake • Occurs when we are bored • Useful purposes include: • Prepares us for future events • Improves our creativity • Controls our emotions