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Chapter 5- CONSCIOUSNESS:
SLEEP, DREAMING, AND
HYPNOSIS
E T T I N G E R , 4 TH E D .
Were You Psychotic Last night?
 http://bit.ly/oCZ4iv
 Matt Walker on Sleep
 Biological rhythms
 Cycles
 Physiological activity
 24-hr physiological cycle in humans: Circadian
Rhythmn
Activity
alterations in
rats with
variations on
a 12-hr
sleep/wake
cycle
Human patterns of Circadian rhythm
 Least active several hours after onset of darkness
 Most active several hours after daylight
 The “switch” in the brain to recognize cycle changes
is located in a the group of nuclei called the SCN or
suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus


Location near the optic chiasm allows transfer of stimulation
info
SCN can trigger systems to speed up or slow down as
appropriate to light levels

What about shift workers who work overnight?
Sleep and Dreaming
 Sleep is…
 Natural, periodically occurring state of rest
 Reduced activity
 Lessened responsiveness to stimuli
 Distinctive patterns of brain activity

Goofy
Measuring Stages of Sleep
Age and sleep patterns
 Newborns sleep ~ 16 hours a day
 20ish adults ~ 8 hours are optimal
 REM
sleep begins to diminsh here and
through middle age until..
 60s and 70s ~ 6hours and only 15%- 1 hr- of
REM sleep with fewer cycles where sleeper
reaches stage 4
Poor sleep as a
factor in Alzheimer’s
and Dementia
http://bit.ly/q1H0EZ
Brain sleep mechanisms
 RAS- reticular activating system (green in previous
diagram)



Controls awakened state
Sensory input activates RAS
Also generates its own activity
 Raphe nucleus (red area in fig 5.6)
 below the RAS, has serotonin producing neurons to inhibit
arousal and promote sleep
Functions of Sleep:
As people
experimented,
unscientifically, with
sleep deprivation, the
theory was postulated
that we could learn to
live without sleep.
Scientists developed
this method of depriving
rats of sleep with
significant
consequences to the
rats:
Sleep deprived rats
lived for as long as 33
days but eventually ALL
died. The control rats all
survived with no ill
effects
Theories of Sleep Function
 Energy Conservation
 Calorie burning, exhaustion, physical reserve of energy or food
resources
 Predator avoidance
 Avoiding animals when humans aren’t physically able to adapt
function
 Restoration
 If awake depletes resources, they may be replenished with
sleep
 Memory
 Sleep aids in memory consolidation no overnight cramming!
Dreaming
 No REM sleep produced:
 Irritability
 Anxiety
 Hostility
 Agression
 Trouble concentrating
 Poor judgement
 Physical errors (clumsiness, minor accidents/injuries
increased)
 REM rebound occurred after deprivation with subjects
having as much as 50% more REM time for 1 to 2 nights
after
Animal dreams and dream content
 http://bit.ly/nI6w79
 Cat with severed neural pathways
 Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams suggests
 Manifest content- disguised version of latent content
 Latent Content- true meaning of dreams that only
psychoanalyst can decipher
Failed because it’s untestable
 Freud thought that our unconscious expressed our true wishes in
‘safe’ or symbolic ways to ensure restorative sleep

Disorders
 Insomnia- inabilitiy to get to sleep or frequent
awakenings




Can be related to stress, health problems, emotional
disturbances, drug use
15 % of adult population in USA in 2008 have chronic
insomnia
35% may have temporary or occasional insomnia
Meds are only helpful short-term and persistent use can lead
to serious problems including overdose and rebound insomnia
Disorders…
 Sleep apnea
 Irregular breathing or periods of cessation
 Oxygen deprivation causes brief awakening and gulp of air
( that person in your life who “snorts” while sleeping!)
 They are unaware, but experience drowiness and decreased
daytime alertness
 Occurs in over 6% of the male pop over 40, and may be evident
in 30% of the elderly
causes may include overweight causing airway blockage
 Can be treated with CPAP
 May influence SIDS

Disorders…..
 Narcolepsy
 Uncontrollable REM sleep attacks
Related paralysis can cause sufferers to fall- can’t drive
 No effective treatment yet

 Nightmares
 Bad dreams during REM

Can be persistent and repetetive
 Night (Sleep) Terrors
 Frightening experiences occurring during NREM sleep
Can’t be awakened
 Don’t recall the experience

Disorders………………
 Sleepwalking, or somnabulism
 Occurs during NREM in stages 3 and 4
 Few minutes to ½ hour
 Okay to wake, but difficult
 May or may not remember and usually occurs in children
 Sleeptalking, or somniloquy
 Children more than adults
 Can occur in all stages
 May be related to dream content, but can’t be used to “get the
scoop”
Jet lag and Shift work
 Jet lag less of a problem traveling east to west
(delaying sleep instead of trying to advance it)

Melatonin supplements may be helpful in West to easy travel
 Changing , inconsistent, shifts can be very
problematic, especially when the changes occur more
frequently than we can adjust to and may not follow
a cycle that matches our sleep needs
Hypnosis
• Deep
relaxation and detachment
with heightened suggestibility to suggestion
• An active experience, not passive control by hypnotist
•Altered level of arousal but NOT sleep
•Associated phenomenon:
•Athletic ability- can be a motivator to act, but within natural ability
• Ailment relief- only helpful with stress related disturbances
•Pain relief- might be an effective way of managing chronic pain
but not enough scientific evidence yet
•Memory enhancement- not effective at helping recall and may
implant false memories!
•Post-hypnotic suggestion- can’t motivate behaviors that a person
wouldn’t ordinarily do, but might alter perceptions of what is
necessary or appropriate (quit smoking, lose weight)
Hypnosis explained
 May relate to dissociation theory:
Behaviors become separated from our awareness
 May also relate to our levels of suggestibility, a
predisposition to attend to suggestion