Module 24: Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Disorders & Dreams Flashcards
Insomnia
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
Narcolepsy
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
Sleep Apnea
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
Night Terrors
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
Dream
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
Manifest Content
According to Freud, the remembered story line of a dream (as distinct from its latent, or hidden, content)
Latent Content
According to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream (as distinct from its manifest content)
What are the dream theories?
- Freud’s wish fulfillment
- Information Processing
- Physiological Function
- Neural Activation
- Cognitive Development
Freud’s wish fulfillment (dream theory)
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
Criticism for Freud’s wish fulfillment dream theory
Lacks any scientific support
Dreams may be interpreted in many different ways.
Information-processing (dream theory)
Dreams help us sort out the day’s events and consolidate our memories
Criticism of Information Processing theory
But why do we sometimes dream about things we have not experienced?
Physiological Function (dream theory)
Regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways.
Criticism of Physiological Function theory
This does not explain why we experience meaningful dreams.
Neural Activation (dream theory)
REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain waves into stories
Criticism of Neural Activation theory
The individual’s brain is weaving the stories, which still tells us something about the dreamer
Cognitive Development (dream theory)
Dream content reflects dreamers’ cognitive development- their knowledge and understanding
Criticism of Cognitive development theory
Does not address the neuroscience of dreams
Sleep Walking & Sleep Talking
- 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
What are the effects of sleep walking and sleep talking?
- 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
Effects of Narcolepsy
- 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
What are some factors that could influence sleep apnea?
- ethnicity, alcohol, age, weight (over), gender, smoking, and raised blood pressure
Effects of Sleep Apnea
- headaches, difficulties focusing, fluctuation in mood, depleted of energy, depressed mood, and tiredness
Effects of Insomnia
- 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
Effects of Night Terrors
- 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
Sleep Deprivation
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
What do people tend to dream?
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)
