Sleep and Dreaming Flashcards
REM Sleep
Rapid Eye Movement
NREM Sleep
Non-Rapid Eye Movement
Melatonin
Sleep hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles and is released by the pineal gland
Exogenous Zeitgebers (Time giver)
Features of the environment (physical or social) that helps to manage bodily rhythms e.g. light
Endogenous Pacemaker (Time Keeper)
Internal biological clocks that manage bodily rhythms
Sleep Onset Insomnia
Problems Falling Asleep
Sleep Maintenance Insomnia
Problems Staying Asleep
Repression
The process of pushing unpleasant thoughts and experiences into the unconscious mind
Dream Analysis
Method used by Freud to help uncover unconscious thoughts by analysing dream and uncovering symbols
Manifest Content
The actual content of your dream
Latent Content
The symbolic meaning of the dream - what it really represents
Activation Synthesis Theory
An explanation of dreams that focuses on the random activation of neurons and the brains effort to make sense of this through synthesis
Pons
Part of the brain that operates as a message station
Brainstem
The central trunk of the brain that continues down to the spinal cord
Synthesis
Make sense of and give meaning to dreams
Unconscious Mind
The part of the mind that people are not aware of but holds thoughts and memories
ID
drives our instincts and selfish need (devil on one shoulder)
Ego
Part of the brain that keeps us in touch with reality (realistic referee)
Super Ego
Our morals (angel on our shoulder)
Physical Repaid - Function of Sleep
-slow brain activity
-hormones balanced
-immune system activity increases, killing bacteria and viruses
-deep sleep, releases growth hormones, boosts muscle mass, repairs tissues
Physical Repair - Issues if we don’t get enough sleep
- Cells won’t rejuvenate and could become damaged
- Bad intereception
- More sickly, weaker immune system
- Stunted growth, lack of muscle mass
Healthy Brain - Function of Sleep
- REM resets the brain
- Consolidate memories
- Protecting memories
Healthy Brain - Issues if we don’t get enough sleep
- Brain becomes tired and won’t remember important things
- Forgetfulness
Emotional Stability - Function of Sleep
- Stay alert and re-energised
- Produces less of the stress hormone cortisol, feel calmer and more relaxed
Emotional Stability - Issues if we don’t get enough sleep
- Mental Health will become worse and fail to function completely
- More stressed and agitated
Stage 1 of the Sleep Cycle
- Very light sleep, easily woken
- Muscles are not very active, slow eye movement, may twitch
- Experience muscle spasm and sensation of falling
- Two brain waves; alpha (restful) and Theta (period between awake and sleep)
10% of time in this stage
Stage 2 of Sleep Cycle
- Brain waves are slower
- Eye Movements stop
- Brain bursts with activity
- Body temperatures start to drop
- Heart rate starts to slow down
- Longest cycle - 50%
Stage 3 of Sleep Cycle
- Brain slows down dramatically. producing data and faster waves
- 10%
Stage 4 of Sleep Cycle
- Very difficult to wake someone, deep sleep
- No eye movement or muscle activity
- More growth hormones are released, physical repair
- 10%
REM Stage of Sleep Cycle
- breathing is quicker and less regular
- eyes move rapidly and limb muscles are temporarily paralyzed
- brain waves reflect an awake persons, dreaming occurs, active mind
- usually remember dreams when woken
- the longer the night, the longer this stage
- 20%
Role of melatonin in sleep onset
Melatonin is the ‘sleep hormone’ and its primary function is to regulate our sleep-wake cycles. It is released by the pineal gland. During the day the pineal gland is inactive but as night falls the pineal gland is ‘switched on’ and produces melatonin. As melatonin increases, we become drowsy and eventually sleep. Melatonin is high for about 12 hours until, until the start of the day
How do exogenous zeitgebers and endogenous pacemakers regulate our sleep cycle?
When exposed to light, the retina sends a signal to the hypothalamus. This part of the brain contains a collected of cells called the SCN (Suprachiasmatic Nucleus). This sense a message to other brain areas, including the pineal gland, which controls hormones (such as melatonin) and body temperature - all of which help us to feel sleepy
What can cause Sleep Onset Insomnia?
- Physical Pain that keeps you awake
- Ongoing anxiety - releases stress hormones
- Playing computer games close to bedtime
- Too much caffeine or nicotine before bed
- Eating a heavy meal before bed
What can cause Sleep Maintenance Insomnia?
- Depression - struggling to contain negative thoughts
- Sharing a bed or room with someone who snores
- Restless leg syndrome
- Menopause for women - night sweats
- Drinking alcohol - wake up feeling ill or with a racing heart
Freudian Theory of Dreaming
- Freud believed the majority of the human mind is made up of the unconscious mind. Although we may not be consciously aware of this part of the mind it is a key drive in many of our dreams
- The unconscious mind can be divided into the following 3 part:
1) ID - dreams are repressed urges - dries our instincts and our selfish needs
2) Superego - our morals (angel on our shoulder)
3) Ego - part of the brain that keeps us in touch with reality - realistic referee - Freud believed one way to access our unconscious mind is through out dreams and there we can understand what is going on in their unconscious mind by analysing their symbols
Wish fulfilment
In dreams the unconscious desire can be acted out
Evaluation of Freud’s theory of dreams - The theory is considered too subjective
Dream interpretation is very open to opinion. A number of people can hear the same description of a dream but have very different ways of explaining what it meant
Evaluation of Freud’s theory of dreams - Freud’s theory of dreams is difficult to test
This is partly because its concepts are not objective enough and partly due to the fact that dreams cannot easily be verified
Evaluation of Freud’s theory of dreams - The theory is based on unreliable research
The evidence is mainly from case studies and so making generalisations about the meaning of dreams for everyone may not be fair
Who was the Wolfman - 1918
Sergei Pankefeff was a Russian aristocrat born in 1866 in Odessa. Freud gave him the pseudonym ‘Wolfman’ to protect his identity
Wolfman Study - Aim
Freud wanted to try to explain and treat Wolfman’s psychological problems through dream analysis
Wolfman Study - Research Method/Design
- Longitudinal Study
- From 1910 - 1914`
Wolfman Study - Freud reported that
- Sergei’s initial relationship with his father was excellent and that he aspired to be a ‘gentleman’ like him
- In 1906, his sister poisoned herself and he began experiencing symptoms of depression
- In 1907, his father overdosed
- Soon after the wolfman began seeking treatment for his own depression and, in 1910, his physician took him to Vienna to have treatment with Freud
Wolfman Study - Freud found that
- The wolfman’s early hears had been dominated by a serious neurotic disorder which began shortly before his fourth birthday as anxiety hysteria (Amma phobia) and then turned into an obsessive compulsive neurosis, religious in content, the effects of which persisted into his tenth year
- Much of Freud’s analysis of the wolfman’s infantile years centered around a dream he had as a young child shortly before his fourth birthday
Sergei’s dream - What does a wolf symbolise?
- the dream was a result of him witnessing his parents having sex, wolf = his father
- unconscious desire to be seduced by his father
- he feared his father’s power and had castration anxiety
- wolves having big tails symbolises large penises
Sergei’s dream - Link to Christmas?
- a Christmas tree as the dream occurred at Christmas time, where there would have been presents there were wolves
Freud’s Conclusions from the Wolfman Study
- the unconscious mind an have significant influences human behaviour
- traumatic events can be repressed into the unconscious mind and these repressed memories can be projected to the conscious mind
- phobias may be caused by childhood experiences which have been repressed into the unconscious
Evaluation of Freud’s Study - The sample is size is too small to make generalisations
- Not reliable to base a theory off of dreams, which is supposed to apply to all, on the case of one person
