...Sleeping and Dreaming Rebecca Limon PSY 240 January 14, 2014 April Kindall Sleeping and Dreaming There are four stages of sleep. These stages are known as EEG: stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, and stage 4. When transitioning from alert wakefulness to stage 1, there are alpha waves that punctuate the low voltage, high frequency waves of alert wakefulness. The EEG voltage will increase gradually, while the EEG frequency will decrease gradually, as the individual progresses to stages 2, 3, and 4. According to Ch. 14 of Biopsychology, the stage 2 sleep EEG has a slightly higher amplitude and a lower frequency than the stage 1 EEG; in addition, it is punctuated by two characteristic wave forms: K complexes and sleep spindles. Each K complex is a single large negative wave (upward deflection) followed immediately by a single large positive wave (downward deflection)—see Cash and colleagues (2009). Each sleep spindle is a 1- to 2-second waxing and waning burst of 12- to 14-Hz waves. The stage 3 sleep EEG is defined by the occasional presence of delta waves—the largest and slowest EEG waves, with a frequency of 1 to 2 Hz—whereas the stage 4 sleep EEG is defined by a predominance of delta waves. Once sleepers reach stage 4 EEG sleep, they stay there for a time, and then they retreat back through the stages of sleep to stage 1. There are five common beliefs about dreaming. These beliefs include the following, the first belief is that there are some people who believe that dreams...
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...Theories of Sleeping and Dreaming Sleep is far more important than people may assume. Sleep is the best way to cope with stress, critical thinking and illness. It helps restore energy level and affects the state of physical and metal well being. There are four stages of the sleep cycle. The first stage is considered the eyes being closed and can be woken without difficulty. This stage may last from 5 to 10 minutes and may cause muscle contractions. The second stage is where the body prepares for deep sleep. The muscles relax, heart rate slows and the body temperature will decrease. During stage three, the brain releases waves known as delta waves. This stage is the transitional period between light and deep sleep (http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/sleep-101). Stage four is considered the deepest sleep stage where sleep walking and bed wetting can occur. In this stage, REM sleep occurs which is rapid eye movement and dreaming occurs due to increase of brain activity but voluntary muscles become paralyzed (http://psychology.about.com/od/statesofconsciousness/a/SleepStages.htm). The five common beliefs about dreaming are: people believe that external stimuli can become incorporated into their dreams, some believe that dreams last only an instant, some claim that they do not dream, penile erections are commonly assumed to be indicative of dreams with sexual content and most people believe that sleep walking and sleep talking only occur only...
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...Lucid Dreaming – A Guide to Controlling your Dreams Introduction Going to bed for eight hours a day means we spend a third of our lives sleeping. For the average life expectancy in Ireland, that’s over 25 years in total. How often do you have a dream? Most people couldn’t say. Dreams are forgotten within minutes of waking up unless they make an active effort to remember and even then it’s difficult. Surprisingly, the average person has between three and five per night spending around a quarter of their time sleeping in a dream. This would be around six and a half years spent just dreaming. Why not use it for something better? Dreaming Dreams are described as: “successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur usually involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.” Dreams mainly happen during the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep, where brain...
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...Week Six Sleeping and Dreaming PSY/240 Sleeping and Dreaming Sleep is considered a natural state in which there is reduced consciousness, reduced sensory activity, and inactivity of all muscles. Sleep is needed for the body to recharge, grow, and is essential for health and well-being. There are three standard psychophysiological measures of sleep and they define the stages of sleep. They are the electroencephalogram (EEG), the electrooculogram (EOG), and the neck electromyogram (EMG). There are four different stages of EEG sleep. Stage 1 EEG is a low-voltage, high-frequency signal slower than being awake. When going from stage to stage the EEG voltage increases and the EEG frequency decreases. Once a person goes from stage 1 to stage 4, the cycles of sleep go back and forth throughout the stages while a person is sleeping. Each cycle is about 90 minutes long. REM sleep is associated with stage 1 EEG while NREM sleep is a combination of all other stages. Stages 3 and 4 are considered slow-wave sleep or SWS due to the delta waves. During REM sleep people have rapid eye movements. Dreaming occurs during the REM stage of sleep. Some people believe that external stimuli can affect their dreams. Some people believe dreams are quick and only last a few minutes, while research suggests they last as long as the person is dreaming. Some people say they do not have any dreams, but more than likely they just do not remember their dreams. Penile erections...
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...encountered. It is said that everyone experiences sleeping paralysis at least once in his or her lifetime. With personal experiences with sleeping paralysis, and extended research on the subject, I’m going to tell you what sleeping paralysis is, symptoms, causes, and how it can be treated. Bruce from Night of the Crushers, defines sleep paralysis as the “inability to purposefully move one’s muscles at sleep onset or upon awakening. In sleep paralysis, components of REM sleep occur...
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...lifetime is 229,961 hours. Part of those 229,961 hours sleeping is spent dreaming. What are dreams? This question has fascinated the human race throughout history. From the Ancient Greeks and Romans, to Sigmund Freud in the late 1800’s, till now, people have queried what the mystical stories that play out in the sleeping mind are and why we have them. The Sumerians in Mesopotamia left evidence of dreams dating back to 3100 BC. According to these stories, gods and kings, like the 7th century BC scholar-king Assurbanipal, paid close attention to dreams. In his archive of clay tablets, some accounts of the story of the legendary king Gilgamesh were found (Seligman). The Mesopotamians believed that the soul, or some part of it, moves out from the body of the sleeping person and actually visits the places and people the dreamer sees in their sleep. Sometimes the god of dreams is said to carry the dreamer. Babylonians and Assyrians divided dreams into "good," which were sent by the gods, and "bad," sent by demons. They also believed that their dreams were omens and prophecies. In ancient Egypt, as far back as 2000 BC, the Egyptians wrote down their dreams on papyrus. People with vivid and significant dreams were thought blessed and were considered special. Ancient Egyptians believed that dreams were like oracles, bringing messages from the gods. They thought that the best way to receive divine revelation was through dreaming and so they would induce dreams. Egyptians would...
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...670 students, they found that the ones who slept on their stomachs described their dreams as more intense, vivid, and sexual. There were also ones who slept face down that said they dreamt of being “tied up”, “locked up”, “or unable to move”. Sleeping laterally is found to be the most common sleeping position. Studies show ride-sided sleepers experienced more positive dreams and fewer nightmares than left-sided sleepers. Even though it is said that right-side sleeping is on the more positive side, left-sided sleeping is said to be the best. Many people can tend to get heartburn or gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD). A New York clinical psychologist and sleep expert Michael J. Breus, PhD, said that left-sided sleeping “keeps a person’s stomach below the esophagus and gravity may help with reflux. Sleeping on the right side may cause dreams of swallowing or burning” (Martin). Another sleeping position that can interfere with dreams is sleeping face up or on the back. This way of sleeping can cause snoring, sleep apnea, and interfere with restful sleep. Sleep apnea is proclaimed to intensify dreaming. With that, a person could experience more nightmares. It is also harder to remember dreams when sleeping face up. Having multiple sleeping positions throughout the night also interferes with a person’s dreams. Multiple positions also influence REM. Researcher, Calvin Kai-Ching Yu, PhD, said, “Different sleep positions may create pressure to different parts of the body and the body’s...
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...genders and whether they’ve experienced lucid dream and how long their lucid dream lasted. “Dream – A series of thoughts, visions, or feelings that happen during sleep” in terms of Merriam-Webster. Everyone knows the common types of dreaming, daydreaming, normal dreaming, lucid dreaming, false awakening, and nightmare. Which all could consist of variety of subjects, emotions, and unimaginable situations. Daydreaming is your memories or thoughts taking over while you partially awake. Normal dreaming is counting sheep that’s as basic as it going to get. False awakening, is you think you’re in class and you have to present a topic unprepared then you remember you’re still sleeping. of...
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...the interpretation of dreams are the most widely known and socially accepted theories, but are those theories the most accurate? That is what my research paper will be discussing and examining. This paper will be objective, simply providing the facts about dreams and the different theories regarding dreams and the interpretation of them. I will go in depth with why we dream what we dream, some of the most common dreams that people have, and what the most popular theories are behind the psychology of dreams. My purpose of this paper is to inform my audience of the theories behind dreams and where they come from. I will provide information on the different interpretations of common dreams, the history of dreams, and the basics of the sleeping cycle. My readers are my class peers as well as my instructor. I think that many people know the basics of how we sleep but I think that the general public remains oblivious as to why we dream what we dream, as well as where our dreams come from in our subconscious mind. The main percentage of the population continues through life without even giving their dreams a second thought, if their dreams mean...
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...Sleeping by English painter John Everett Millias and Sweet Dreams Dreaming of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves by Austrian painter Franz Schrotzberg are both paintings of a young girl sleeping in her bed. Sleeping features a nanny and vividly colored tapestries in the background while Sweet Dreams Sleeping of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves includes a dark background with translucent storybook characters all around this child. Although there are substantial similarities, these two paintings could not differ more in their expressive content. Millias highlights how the daughter is overshadowed by all of her family’s material possessions while Schrotzberg emphasizes how the family values the daughter’s...
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...those without the disorder? Kristin Staub Brookfield High School Dreaming is a vital part in sleeping, yet in some individuals it interferes in their waking state. For example, schizophrenics have hallucinatory images while they’re not sleeping causing some psychologists to speculate why this happens. People without the disorder and other people with other disorders have been found to dream while they’re in REM sleep which is a major mental process that allows people to dream. The following articles, “Sleep Fantasy in Normal and Schizophrenic Persons,” “An Extension of Freud and Jung’s Theory of Relation of Dream States to Schizophrenia,” “The Neurochemistry of Waking and Sleeping Mental Activity: The Disinhibition-Dopamine Hypothesis,” “Dream Content of Schizophrenics, Nonschizophrenic Mentally Ill, and community Control Adolescents,” “Sleep Disturbance in Schizophrenia” “Rorschach Responses Subsequent to REM Deprivation in Schizophrenic and Nonschizophrenic Patients,” attempt to explain the problem statement: How do dreams differ in people with schizophrenia to those without the disorder, through REM sleep in normal individuals and schizophrenics. Dream content will also be investigated to answer the problem statement and certain sleep habits. In addition Jung’s and Freud’s theory attempt to explain how dreaming is connected with schizophrenia in their conscious state rather than in their sleeping state through thought processes and verbal patterns. Another article...
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...body uses 2/3 of the energy it uses in the day while you're asleep. You know why? Dreaming. We can't remember more than 9/10 of our dreams, but we spend hours dreaming each night. It serves a number of pursoses, and there is a huge variety of studies detailing each of the theories on the purpose of sleep and dreaming. Dreaming helps us sort through our days experience. It's a filer that puts things in the right categories and makes our mind organised so we can access the data easily to carry on with our lives. Do you recall how confused and slow you can feel when sleep deprived? Sleeping is also a way to work through unconscious conflicts, fears and desires. If your unconscious and your instincts are craving something or you have fear or anxiety or some conflict, your dreaming mind can work through it to make you feel a lot better when you wake up. This explains why we can hardly ever remember our dreams, and trying to do so is like trying to cup water in your hands - they're not supposed to be remembered, it could freak you out! It's for your unconscious to deal with. Some people think that dreaming is used to 'test' the body before waking up, as well. It goes through different areas of the brain and makes sure it is all working and warmed up before we wake. This would explain how we often remember dreaming if we are suddenly woken. No energy drink or food can make up for dreaming, you really do need to get a good amount of sleep to keep your mind ticking. ...
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...Almost every night we have dreams while we’re sleeping. Dreams are a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind while sleeping. Dreams are also a result of the forebrain reacting to random activity that’s going on in the brain. Some dreams are scary, fun, and romantic. Most dreams occur during REM sleep (stage five) but you can also dream in other sleep stages. Most people dream 3-6 times per night, the dreams only last a few minutes. Some people don’t remember most of their dreams once they wake up. Dreaming can help you develop long term memory. The dream experience helps with development of the general mental abilities. Sometimes the things we think about before falling asleep goes into play with our dreams. Alcohol can affect your dream and sleep quality. Most people believe there’s a little meaning behind every dream, especially the death ones. When you think about a kid having a dream you think it’s a fun and adventurous dream but they actually have the same dreams we have. Girls have more disturbing dreams than boys. Dreaming helps the kids adapted to the changes that occur in each stage of growth and development. Some kids experience night terrors, which make the child move, speak, and his or her eyes open but not be fully awake. If your child has night terrors it doesn’t mean anything is wrong with them. Some kids have more nightmares than adults until age 8. The time we spend in our dreams shape how our brain develops and may influence...
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...Hardman 11/8/2012 Psych 111 Dreaming A dream is a succession of images, sounds, ideas and emotions that we experience involuntarily while sleeping. Everyone has dreamed at least once in their life, even if they don’t remember it. As a matter of fact everyone experiences six to eight dreams per night, and out of the eight hours of sleep we’re supposed to get each night, two of them are spent dreaming. People aren’t the only animals that can dream. Actually, every mammal is known to have dreams at night, and even some birds. Dreams usually occur during the “rapid eye movement” stage of our sleep, when brain function is high, almost as high as when we’re awake. We most likely remember the dreams that we have during the REM stage because the brain is functioning at such a high rate, but we also dream during other stages of sleep. Those dreams are just harder to remember because the brain is not functioning at the level that it would be during the REM stage. As we all know, dreams can range from exciting and pleasurable, to scary and terrifying. I know that I personally have woken up terrified from a dream, and didn’t want to go back to sleep because I didn’t want to encounter what I was dreaming about again. Usually, we can’t control what we dream about. However, it is a proven fact that a person can induce lucid dreaming if they work at it. Lucid dreaming is when the person who is dreaming is aware of the fact that they are dreaming, and can therefor control their...
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...sleep we know that our bodies are unable to function the way we want them to. We lose lack of day-time alertness, drowsiness and more susceptible to health problems such as stroke, diabetes, obesity and even depression. In the article ("Good night’s sleep") they discuss about College students sleeping patterns changing for example, not getting enough sleep. I felt that the article didn’t have information about sleeping patterns when there has been research about sleeping patterns. In 2002 Canadian Community health survey found that 18% of people sleep 5 hours or less a day. Sleep is put into two parts one being called non-REM and REM (Rapid Eye Movement). Non-REM consists of four stages of sleep, each deeper than the last. REM is when you are at the most active sleeping you are dreaming and your eyes are moving rapidly. Our sleep patterns consist of stages 1-4. Stage one last about 5 minutes, easily awaken. Stage 2 first stage of sleep about first 25 minutes. Stage 3 you enter deep sleep and stage 4 more intense sleeps your body is restoring physical energy. Throughout the night our sleep patterns fall very predictable, they move back and forth from deep sleep and more alert stages of dreaming such as REM. ("Good health’s rest on a good night’s sleep.") Each cycle continues to repeat until you wake up that is why it is better to wake up on the...
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