1. THE NATURE OF DREAMS AND SLEEP
REM
NREM
Rapid Eye Movement
Non-Rapid Eye Movement
Increases in length as night’s sleep progresses
Decreases in length as night’s sleep progresses
Vivid Dreams
Vague, partial images and stories
Nightmares
Night Terrors
Paralyzed Body
Sleepwalking and talking in sleep
Essential part of sleep
Less essential part of sleep

2. NIGHTMARES VS NIGHT TERRORS
Occur during REM, usually during the second half of the night.
Occur during NREM, usually during the first hour of sleep.
Mild physiological changes
Drastic bodily changes: breathing and heart rate rise dramatically
Associated with vivid images
Associated with panic
Most likely to occur during a
REM rebound
Most likely to occur in children
Remembered
Usually not remembered, personal difficult to wake

3. Practical Issues of Sleep
A person’s patterns of sleep change as the year’s progress. Infants spend a good 75% of the time in REM sleep. The brain has so much building to do that chemicals are used up very quickly and need to be constantly restored.
By adolescence, the brain is fully developed, but major physical and psychological changes are still going on. As a result, regular sleep is important – at least in theory. Adolescents usually have so many “social obligations” that their sleep schedule is chaotic.
Finally, toward old age, people require much less deep sleep, probably because of changed in the brain cells that control sleep.
Teenagers need a little more sleep than adults do, between eight and nine hours a night. However, teenagers these days get an average of two hours less sleep a night than they did a decade ago.

4. Sleep Disorders
Insomnia: Sleep disorder characterized by difficultly falling asleep or remaining asleep throughout the night.
Sleep Apnea: Sleep disorder that affects 10 to 12 million Americans, characterized by breathing difficultly during the night and feelings of exhaustion during the day.
Narcolepsy: Hereditary sleep disorder characterized by sudden nodding off during the day and sudden loss of muscle tone following moments of emotional excitement

5. Video on Lucid Dreaming
Sleepwalking: Sleep disorder that occurs when a person walks or does another activity while they are still asleep.
Sleep Talking: Also known as “Somniloquy." It occurs when you talk out-loud during sleep. A listener may or may not be able to understand what you are saying.
Overview of sleep disorders -
Question #1: Which sleep disorder listed about do you believe to be the most problematic? Explain.
Question #2: Do you believe prescription medicines are the best way to treat occasional insomnia? Explain.
Video on Lucid Dreaming