Body Rhythms and Mental States Sleep and Dreaming Sleep Sleep Foundation Questions During sleep your brain rests T You cannot learn to function normally with one or two fewer hours of sleep a night than you need F Boredom makes you feel sleepy even if you have had enough sleep T F Resting in bed with your eyes closed cannot satisfy your body s need for sleep T Snoring is not harmful as long as it doesn t disturb others or wake you up F Everyone dreams every night T The older you get the fewer hours of sleep you need kind of T Most people don t know how sleepy they are T Raising the volume on the radio will help you stay awake while driving F Sleep disorders are mainly due to worry or psychological problems F The human body never adjusts to night shift work T Most sleep disorders go away without treatment F How do we know how people sleep Ask them Use a sleep lab clinic Sleep Stages Stage 1 non REM we ll see alpha waves we gradually drift into sleep at this stage we re not good at telling if we re asleep Stage 2 sleep spindles appear rapid high peaking waves of brain activity Stage 3 at the beginning there are sleep spindles but eventually turn into delta waves very difficult to wake people up Where parasomnias such as talking walking and night terrors occur Delta waves deep rolling waves After stage 3 we go back to stage 2 and then enter REM sleep REM rapid eye movement called paradoxical sleep are slight easier to wake up in a deep sleep but not as deep as 3 the stage where we dream Body has a safety mechanism so we don t act out our dreams Sleep paralysis can occur when we are woken up during REM sleep The graph reading of the waves during sleep show that stage 1 and REM look the same but the experience is different Snoring disrupts the sleep cycles Why do we sleep Sleep deprivation Your degree of impairedness gets worse if you are sleep deprived for more than 3 days you will start to have delusions and become paranoid Sleep as a restorative process Our body works on replenishing resources energy levels that need to be resolved human growth hormones are produced more at night Sleep as a clock driven process every 24 hours Circadian rhythm may be driven by ganglion cells in the eyes rhythm is about setting the circadian clock is called photoetrainment Ganglion cells in the eye that may be responsible contain pigment called Day light night dark reasons why the human body cannot fully adjust to melanopsin the night shift Melatonin is secreted by the pinal gland levels are affected by light levels Rises during sleep in a darkened room Falls in a lighted room upon waking Sleep as an evolutionary relic To have us safely hidden away inactive not moving sleep may also put you at risk but overall being hidden away worked You burn less calories than if your body is inactive Daily sleep times in other animals Giraffes 1 9 hours a day Elephant 3 1 hours a day Pilot Whale 5 3 hours a day Cat 12 5 hours a day Chipmunk 15 8 hours a day Brown Bat 19 9 hours a day Predators sleep more because it is effortful to hunt prey Sleep Disorders Insomnia is the most common most cultures have less insomnia than the us Inadequate sleep you want to sleep but you can t Most people will have a problem with insomnia in their life mostly women but may be because women are more likely to seek help Drugs for insomnia don t seem promising bc the body does not go through the sleep stages and they people are not as rested Narcolepsy Suddenly falling asleep 1 in 2000 people have narcolepsy has been recently connected to autoimmune issues they bypass the first stages and go straight into REM sleep Obstructive Sleep Apnea The soft tissue in the throat collapses and the brain isn t getting enough air brain wakes person up to take a deep breathe stages repeat Our body is designed to tolerate apnea for short amounts of time people may think they have insomnia but its really a different condition More likely to be male in middle age but can be found in anyone associated with obesity and especially with people who gain weight in their torsos Increased risk for heart problems and strokes Parasomnias Sleepwalking speak drive guilty and not guilty Night Terrors Get up and act like they are completely awake may get up and make a meal In the stage of deep sleep but not REM sleep Have been cases where people commit murder people have been found both The person wakes up screaming have had a terrible nightmare but can t remember what happened they report feeling like they were going to die their heart and respiration rate are off the charts Some people have it their whole life once a child has had one they usually have insomnia bc they are afraid it is going to happen again Fatal Familial Insomnia The part of the brain that initiates sleep is damaged and you don t sleep any longer By the time most people are diagnosed they have about 6 9 months to live Consequences of Sleep Deprivation Appetite Cognition Weight gains people that are sleep deprived tend to eat more carbs People are more distracted memories are impaired they are more forgetful problem solving ability is impaired Immune system People get sick more frequently Research Rechtschaffen rats Czeisler studied first year medical students 1 in 12 made mistakes that resulted in the death of a patient bc of sleep deprivation Driving Tips Sleepiness may cause as many accidents as drunk driving Get sleep the night before Avoid alcohol Have a traveling companion help you Frequent stops at rest areas and pull over at the first sign of fatigue When you pull over take a brisk walk Take a nap Drink caffeine Let someone else drive switch off Set reasonable travel objectives What does NOT work Toughing it out Turning the radio up Opening the window Driving faster Driving slower Sleeping tips Keep a consistent schedule Eliminate caffeine completely Turn off all electronics about an hour before you go to sleep and leave them off Why do we dream See chart in textbook Are dreams expressions of unconscious wishes Freud Latent Manifest Do dreams function to solve problems Are dreams a by product of mental housekeeping Are dreams a product of brain activity Activation synthesis theory babies go straight into REM sleep and have much more REM sleep maybe more intense dreams help us learn video clip after being deprived of REM sleep people didn t do as well on the logic portion How does sleep change over development Infant sleep Most fetal sleep is REM sleep Not clear that they need less sleep
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