Module 24: Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Disorders & Dreams

Question 1

Insomnia

Answer 1

Recurring problems in falling or staying asleep
- occurs after a series of restless nights brought on by either physical issues such as gastrointestinal problems, experiencing anxiety, linked to going to sleep ; the body is stuck responding to stress and continues to release hormones need for the flight, fight, or freeze response

Question 2

Narcolepsy

Answer 2

A sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times

• person will feel sleepy all day every day regardless of the quantity of sleep night before
• hard time staying asleep/ waken numerous times for no reason
• their brain’s amount of hypocretin-producing neurons decreases

Question 3

Sleep Apnea

Answer 3

A sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakening
- muscles in the respiratory system relax excessively resulting in a stop in breathing in intervals of 10 seconds

Question 4

Night Terrors

Answer 4

A sleep disorders characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified

• occur during NREM-3 stage within 2-3 hrs of falling asleep
• tend not to remember
• last a couple a seconds to a few minutes long
• mostly in children
• symptoms: sitting posture, blank stare, screaming
• caused by lack of sleep, anxiousness, and stress
• triggers: prescriptions, alcohol, restless leg syndrome, and sleep apnea

Question 5

Dream

Answer 5

A sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind.
- hallucinatory imagery, discontinuities, and incongruities, and for the dreamer’s delusional acceptance of the content and later difficulties remembering it

Question 6

Manifest Content

Answer 6

According to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream (as distinct from its latent, or hidden, content)

Question 7

Latent Content

Answer 7

According to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream (as distinct from its manifest content)

Question 8

What are the dream theories?

Answer 8

• Freud’s wish fulfillment
• Information Processing
• Physiological Function
• Neural Activation
• Cognitive Development

Question 9

Freud’s wish fulfillment (dream theory)

Answer 9

Dreams provide a “psychic safety valve” - expressing other wise unacceptable feelings; contain manifest (remembered) content and a deeper layer of latent content - a hidden meaning

Question 10

Criticism for Freud’s wish fulfillment dream theory

Answer 10

Lacks any scientific support

Dreams may be interpreted in many different ways.

Question 11

Information-processing (dream theory)

Answer 11

Dreams help us sort out the day’s events and consolidate our memories

Question 12

Criticism of Information Processing theory

Answer 12

But why do we sometimes dream about things we have not experienced?

Question 13

Physiological Function (dream theory)

Answer 13

Regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways.

Question 14

Criticism of Physiological Function theory

Answer 14

This does not explain why we experience meaningful dreams.

Question 15

Neural Activation (dream theory)

Answer 15

REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain waves into stories

Question 16

Criticism of Neural Activation theory

Answer 16

The individual’s brain is weaving the stories, which still tells us something about the dreamer

Question 17

Cognitive Development (dream theory)

Answer 17

Dream content reflects dreamers’ cognitive development- their knowledge and understanding

Question 18

Criticism of Cognitive development theory

Answer 18

Does not address the neuroscience of dreams

Question 19

Sleep Walking & Sleep Talking

Answer 19

• Type of parasomnia
• somnambulism = sleep walking
• performing actions while sleeping
• occurs during NREM; explains why it is hard to wake sleep walkers because they are not in stage 1

Question 20

What are the effects of sleep walking and sleep talking?

Answer 20

• could potentially act out in dangerous ways (such as driving a car)
• could result in injury to self of others
• In some cases there is a connection between sleep walkers and those with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and seizures

Question 21

Effects of Narcolepsy

Answer 21

• real like illusive hallucinations
• sleep paralysis: inability to move their body after waking up
• cataplexy: sparked by strong emotions and occurs during the middle of the day
• difficulties in social aspects of life
• overall decrease in body functions

Question 22

What are some factors that could influence sleep apnea?

Answer 22

• ethnicity, alcohol, age, weight (over), gender, smoking, and raised blood pressure

Question 23

Effects of Sleep Apnea

Answer 23

• headaches, difficulties focusing, fluctuation in mood, depleted of energy, depressed mood, and tiredness

Question 24

Effects of Insomnia

Answer 24

• the brain becomes paranoid and obsesses over the smallest of stimuli
• even after falling asleep insomniacs do not experience good quality sleep because their brain is still using all of the glucose necessary to function durning the day
• the person will wake up still feeling tired, possibly confused and stressed trapping a person in a perpetual loop

Question 25

Effects of Night Terrors

Answer 25

• anxiety, irritability, difficulty focusing
• durning night terrors: excessive perspiration, increase in heart rate, shortness of breath
• having depression, anxiety, and sleep increases a person’s chances of having sleep terrors during their adult life

Question 26

Sleep Deprivation

Answer 26

Not acquiring an adequate amount of sleep
- leads to issues focusing, increase in appetite, and confusion

• disorientation occurs after extreme amount of sleep deprivation (50 hrs)
• hardest in the morning to stay awake when sleep deprived
• chronic sleep deprivation: only getting roughly 5 hours of sleep every night
• can cause health issues such as obesity, heart disease, kidney disease ,high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and overall lowers the body’s immune system

Question 27

What do people tend to dream?

Answer 27

People tend to dream:

• terrifying things, embarrassing occurrences, seeing yourself or a loved one dead, failing, falling, suffocation
• some have crazy random dreams
• daily life (school or work)
• determination (a loop of completing a task)