1. Ch 7 – Altered States of Consciousness
PSYCHOLOGY
Ch 7 – Altered States of Consciousness
Sleep and Dreams
Mr. Lauta
Shenandoah Valley

2. SLEEP AND DREAMS How important is sleep to humans?
Sleep is vital to mental health
Without sleep, most people will have psychological symptoms (ex. Peter Tripp)
Sleep is a state of altered consciousness, characterized by certain patterns of brain activity and inactivity (contrary to common beliefs that sleep is state of unconsciousness with periods of dreaming)

3. SLEEP AND DREAMS What is consciousness?
Consciousness is a state of awareness
Can range from alertness to nonalertness
People who are fully aware with their attention focused on something are conscious of that something
Altered consciousness is when people have different levels of awareness
A person who is not completely aware is in a different level of consciousness

4. SLEEP AND DREAMS Sleep illustrates an altered state of consciousness
Had been difficult to study until recently
Development of the electroencephalograph (EEG – a device that records the electrical activity of the brain) aided the study of sleep

5. Freud’s Levels of Consciousness
Things we hide from others…

6. When would you use information from the preconscious level?
Freud’s Levels of Consciousness
Sigmund Freud identified three levels of consciousness. In his approach to consciousness, he claimed that preconsciousness ideas are not in your awareness now, but you are able to recall them with some effort. Unconscious ideas are hidden and unretrievable.
One way to know that you are conscious is that you are aware of your own thoughts and surroundings.
When would you use information from the preconscious level?
a person draws upon information from the precious level while in conversation or while thinking about someone
we us information from the preconscious level every day when we use what we already know – our knowledge and memories – to function normally

8. SLEEP AND DREAMS Scientists are not sure
Why do we sleep?
Scientists are not sure
Sleep is the unresponsiveness to the environment and usually limited physical mobility
Still others believe we sleep to clear our minds of useless information
Some people believe we sleep to dream

10. SLEEP AND DREAMS There are two main types of sleep:
Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Sleep (also known as quiet sleep)
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep (also known as active sleep or paradoxical sleep)

11. SLEEP AND DREAMS Why do we sleep? – Theories of Sleep
REPAIR and RESTORATION
To revitalize and restore physiological processes to keep the body and mind healthy and to properly function
Research
REM increase after periods of sleep deprivation
Body increases cell division and protein synthesis
it allows people to “charge up their batteries”

12. SLEEP AND DREAMS
Why do we sleep? – Theories of Sleep 2. EVOLUTION - Also known as adaptive theory - Periods of activity and inactivity evolved as a means of conserving energy - All species adapted to sleep when wakefulness would have been most dangerous - Research - Animals with few natural predators (bears and lions) sleep hours each day - Other animals sleep 4-5 hours
In earlier times, sleep kept humans out of harm’s way at night when humans would have been most vulnerable to animals with better night vision.

13. SLEEP AND DREAMS Why do we sleep? – Theories of Sleep
3. Information Consolidation
- To process information that has been acquired during the day
- For the brain to prepare for the day to come
- Research
- Cement the things we learned into long-term memory
- Lack of sleep has a serious impact on the ability to recall and remember information

14. SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 1 of Sleep
Beginning of the sleep cycle, and is a relatively light stage of sleep.
Can be considered a transition period between wakefulness and sleep.
The brain produces high amplitude theta waves, which are very slow brain waves.
This period of sleep lasts only a brief time (around 5-10 minutes).
If you awaken someone during this stage, they might report that they weren't really asleep.

15. SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 2 of Sleep Lasts for approximately 20 minutes
The brain begins to produce bursts of rapid, rhythmic brain wave activity known as sleep spindles.
Body temperature starts to decrease and heart rate begins to slow.

16. SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 3 of Sleep
Deep, slow brain waves known as delta waves begin to emerge during stage 3 sleep.
Stage 3 is a transitional period between light sleep and a very deep sleep.

17. SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 4 of Sleep
Sometimes referred to as delta sleep because of the slow brain waves known as delta waves that occur during this time.
Stage 4 is a deep sleep that lasts for approximately 30 minutes.
Bed-wetting and sleepwalking are most likely to occur at the end of stage 4 sleep.

18. SLEEP AND DREAMS Stage 5 of Sleep
Most dreaming occurs during the fifth stage of sleep, known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
REM sleep is characterized by eye movement, increased respiration rate and increased brain activity.
REM sleep is also referred to as paradoxical sleep because while the brain and other body systems become more active, muscles become more relaxed.
Dreaming occurs due because of increased brain activity, but voluntary muscles become paralyzed.

20. SLEEP AND DREAMS
A dream can include any of the images, thoughts and emotions that are experienced during sleep. Dreams can be extraordinarily vivid or very vague; joyous or frightening or somewhere in between.

22. TERMS
Insomnia – the failure to get enough sleep at night in order to feel rested the next day
Sleep apnea – a sleep disorder in which a person has trouble breathing while asleep
Narcolepsy - a condition characterized by suddenly falling asleep or feeling very sleepy during the day

23. TERMS Nightmares – unpleasant dreams
Night terrors - sleep disruptions that occur during Stage IV of sleep, involving screaming, panic, or confusion
Sleepwalking – walking or carrying out behaviors while asleep

24. SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream
Dreams have fascinated throughout history
Five characteristics of dream
Feature Intense Emotions
Frequently Disorganized and Illogical
Strange Content
Bizarre Sensations
Difficult to Remember

25. SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream Feature Intense Emotions
- Deeply embarrassing
- Terrifying events (being chased)
- So intense that they interrupt the dream or cause the dreamer to wake abruptly
- Most common: anxiety, fear and surprise

26. SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream Disorganized and Illogicall
- Full of discontinuities, ambiguities, and inconsistency
- Time, place and person do not apply
- Natural laws are disobeyed
- Examples: flying, time travel, talking animals, transformations of people and objects, sudden shifts in setting

27. SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream Strange Content
- Odd events and content are typically accepted without question by the dreaming mind
- If remembered, the content is seen as odd or even difficult to explain

28. SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream 4. Bizarre Sensations
- Falling, inability to move quickly, unable to control body movements

29. SLEEP AND DREAMS Characteristics of Dream 5. Difficult to Remember
- While memory seems to be intensified within the context of the dream, access to the information contained within the dream diminishes rapidly once the dreamer wakes
- About 95% of all dreams are forgotten entirely upon awakening

30. No single consensus has emerged Some theories Psychoanalytic
SLEEP AND DREAMS
Why Humans Dream
No single consensus has emerged
Some theories
Psychoanalytic
Activation-Synthesis Model
Interpret External Stimuli
“Clean Up” Clutter
Psychotherapy
Combinations of others

31. - a representation of unconscious desires, thoughts, and motivations
SLEEP AND DREAMS
Why Humans Dream
Psychoanalytic
- a representation of unconscious desires, thoughts, and motivations
- while not consciously expressed, they find their way into our awareness via dreams
- “disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes” according to Freud

32. 2. Activation-Synthesis Model
SLEEP AND DREAMS
Why Humans Dream
2. Activation-Synthesis Model
suggests that the physiological processes of the brain cause dreams
circuits in the brain stem are activated during REM sleep
the brain synthesizes and interprets this internal activity and attempts create meaning from these signals, which results in dreaming

33. 3. Interpret External Stimuli
SLEEP AND DREAMS
Why Humans Dream
3. Interpret External Stimuli
Suggests that dreams are the result of our brains trying to interpret external stimuli during sleep
For example, the sound of the radio may be incorporated into the content of a dream

34. Why Humans Dream 4. “Clean Up” Clutter SLEEP AND DREAMS
dreams serve to 'clean up' clutter from the mind, much like clean-up operations in a computer
refreshing the mind to prepare for the next day

35. Why Humans Dream 5. Psychotherapy SLEEP AND DREAMS
- the dreamer is able to make connections between different thoughts and emotions in a safe environment

36. 6. Combinations of others
SLEEP AND DREAMS
Why Humans Dream
6. Combinations of others
combines some elements of various theories
The activation of the brain creates loose connections between thoughts and ideas, which are then guided by the emotions of the dreamer

37. SLEEP AND DREAMS (Sources)