Negative Effects of Sleep Deprivation

1. Negative Effects of Sleep Deprivation • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKXKBI8IZ24

2. Sleep Deprivation because of studying or homework: • http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/08/22/159435167/high-school-daze-the-perils-of-sacrificing-sleep-for-late-night-studying

3. Sleep - Review Nova – time stamp 2:39 - 15:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL9IfCh8LJs

4. Why do we dream?? • There are three major hypotheses about why we dream. • Evidence supports all of them, so no one theory is better than the other

5. The first theory • Dreams are used to get the brain reorganized after a day’s work of thinking and dealing with problems. • This makes sense because we know that brain chemicals are used up during the day. • Noticehow hard it is to study on nights when you have done a lot of mental work during the day. • To restore the chemicals, we have to cut off the outside world in order to keep new problems – which would require more work – from getting in. • The brain however, cannot remain inactive. • So dreams keep the brain busy with old material while it is being recharged.

6. The second theory • Dreams are designed to help work out unsolved problems left over from the day. • You can find evidence for this in something that has happened to almost everyone. You go to bed with a problem of some sort that you haven’t been able to solve – maybe in math or history, or maybe a personal problem. • When you awake in the morning, there’s the solution, as obvious as can be. • Further support comes from the fact that when we are under stress or depressed, we sleep longer, and the amount of time spent in REM increases. • This fact strongly suggests that we are working on things that are worrying us while we dream.

7. The third explanation • Inspired from today’s emphasis on the computer • It is possible that we get too much unnecessary material in our “files” from the day’s tasks. • Thus, dreams result from all the electrical realignments, revising, and updating going on in the brain. • As various electrical circuits are being fired, different memory circuits are being triggered, and we have a dream. • In other words, the brain is trying to make sense of the bits and pieces of information that are appearing while we are cleaning out the material, so it makes up a “story” to fit them. • This would account for why we so often put odd things together in a dream.

8. Lucid Dreams on Discovery Channel • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASf55cov5F8

9. What actually causes dreams? • First, remember that all our memories, thoughts and actions are controlled by electrical impulses in the brain. • Electrical bursts occur in cycles throughout the night. These bursts come from deep within the brain at regular intervals (90-minute cycles) and have special brain cells that turn them on and off. • The electrical impulses move upward, hitting various portions of the upper brain, thus firing different memory circuits. • The result is what we call dreams. These bursts also cause eye movements. We are not “watching” our dreams. • Even people without sight from birth have rapid eye movements, but the content of their dreams center on sound and touch.

10. Psychology of Dreams • Throughout history, dreams have been considered mystical and, in some cases, able to predict the future. • But there is no scientific evidence to support such claims. • Since we know that dreams are made by electrical impulses causing the firing of our own memory circuits, it is obvious that the material is coming directly from us. • If coming from us, then we should be able to tell the future just as much when we’re awake as during a dream – if the future can be known. • It also seems unlikely that dreams tell us much more about ourselves than we already know. • A dream can trigger a memory that we have forgotten or deal with something that we hadn’t paid much attention to, but this is far different from receiving a special secret message.

11. Dream Content • Most dreams, most of the time, are about very ordinary events. • Things from a normal day, family, friends, and school • Dreams also contain a lot of material about worries, fears, or feeling inferior because these are concerns we all have. • Often dreams involve an argument. • Good part = we most always turn out to be right in our dreams (we agree with ourselves in our dreams) • While 70% of our dreams are about people, we actually know, there are also other unexpected common images in dreams. • For example, 40% of females dream about the sea or bodies of water, while only 27% of males do. • Falling or being chased in a dream is very common and occurs about equally for males and females. • Romance is likewise typical. • And the following themes occur with some frequency among completely normal males and females: violence, talking to dead friends or relatives, shoplifting, finding yourself naked in public, and discovering the “secrete of the universe” – which unfortunately we forget by the time we wake up.

12. Trying to understand your dreams The concept that dreams are symbolic or represent deep, hidden impulses, needs or desires has been around forever. • Even world leaders have been known to guide their movements by dreams. • The story goes that Abraham Lincoln had dream warnings that it was dangerous for him to go to Ford’s Theatre, where he was later assassinated. • Most, but not all researchers today believe that dream content of this sort is just a reflection of daytime, waking concerns that appear at night, rather than the result of some special message from another world or from our own unconscious world.

13. Finally, something that isn’t understood at all: • about 50% of our dreams are in color • 50% are in black and white • Despite numerous experiments, it isn’t known why.

14. Weird Dreams • Usually the core of the dream is reasonable, but the story winds up happening in a strange place or with people you don’t expect. • Example: ugly Uncle Harry is seen starring as the handsome leading man in a romantic movie. • It’s probable that these strange combinations occur from the random nature of the electrical firing, putting together things we would not normally allow if we were awake and in control. • Strange dreams do not mean something is wrong with you. • The only time you should be concerned is if the same dream occurs over and over and really is bothersome. Then it’s time to sit down with a friend and try to figure out what it means. It will probably then disappear as long as you don’t let it worry you.  

15. Nightmares There are two frightening experiences that can occur during sleep. • The first happens during REM and is called the nightmare. - Fortunately, nightmares are infrequent, only about 5% of the population has them as often as once a week.- The odds that all of us will have a nightmare on occasion are very high since we all carry around bad memories that can be triggered. • More likely when: • people have missed REM periods for a day • from drinking too much alcohol • not getting enough sleep. • The reason nightmares appear then is that if REM is blocked, REM rebound occurs. • REM rebound = the first time we go to sleep after being deprived of REM, both the length and the number of dreams increase (rebound) dramatically to make up for the loss. • Hence, the chances of having unpleasant dreams increase. • DO NOT mean something is wrong with you, just part of dreaming. • NO evidence that nightmares are caused by eating something strange.

16. Incubus Attacks (“Night Terrors”) Incubus attack, from the Latin meaning “to have a devil on your back”. • These are horrible dreams that are quite vivid and real. • occurs during NREM, not REM • The body knows that a regular dream is coming every 90 minutes and prepares for it, but the body is caught completely unprepared by an unpleasant dream that gets triggered during NREM. • The physical overload it causes sets off major bodily changes. Breathing rate zooms upward, and the person feels choked, heart rate takes off to an unbelievable 170-plus beats a minute. • These events create a feeling of panic, and a fear of dying. The sleeper usually springs up in bed, sweating, nauseated, and afraid. Since to the body, which is unprepared, NREM is so much closer to reality than REM, we “know” it is “not” a dream, and its’ too much to handle. Night terroris fairly common in very young children. • For some unknown reason, these dreams seem to be connected with a maturing brain. • Should not be treated by a professional, since all that would do is call attention to them and frighten the child even more. The child will grow out of them. • If incubus attacks occur with any frequency beyond middle adolescence, the chances are good that something physical is wrong and this should not be ignored.

17. Sleep walking and talking • A fair number of people sleepwalk or talk in their sleep. Neither indicates something is wrong with them. • On the side of the brain, there are specific areas that control body movements and speech. When random electrical impulses hit these areas, they cause walking or talking. • Such behavior typically occurs during stage 4 sleep, a deep NREM sleep period, so the person is not really awake or making much sense. • Trying to communicate is fruitless. • You may have heard it is dangerous to wake a sleepwalker. That’s not true. Sleepwalkers are just asleep. Wake them up so they don’t wander off and hurt themselves. Just be sure they’re sitting or lying down first.

18. Insomnia • About 44% of Americans have trouble sleeping. Most of these problems are self created. • Dogs and cats, for example, don’t have insomnia (the inability to get enough sleep). • The two most common causes of insomnia are getting out of normal circadian cycle and taking drugs or alcohol especially before going to sleep. The irony of sleep pills: • They tend to block REM sleep. • As a result, over a week or so, these people are losing more and more REM and feeling worse and less able to sleep. • By the end of a week, they may even feel depressed. • The more depressed they become, the more they need REM, and so on. Alcohol • Really heavy alcohol use for an extended period of time can cause such severe REM rebound that dreams appear while the person is still awake – in a form like the incubus attack. • Bugs seem to be attacking, snakes are crawling under the bed and so forth. • These are the result of the continued heavy use of drugs or alcohol; On the other side, sometimes drugs can help bring sleep for a very brief time after a trauma, such as a death in the family.

19. Narcolepsy • An infrequent problem that starts sometime between the teens and 20 years of age • In this disorder, an individual can go into “instant” REM anywhere anytime, even while driving a car or in the middle of talking to someone. • Thus, although rare, it is extremely dangerous since the person immediately loses consciousness. • Drugs are available that often help, so treatment is mandatory. No cause is known. • Sad narcoleptic puppy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN1_yS6_5T4

20. Sleep Apnea • Usually with older people • The word apnea means to “stop breathing”. Someone with this disorder literally stops breathing hundreds of times during sleep and keeps waking up. • Normally the person doesn’t know this is happening. • This severely affects REM sleep.

21. Inception • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3-a58Wt2tk&feature=related

22. States of Consciousness Hypnosis • involves being in a relaxed state with a heightened ability to focus on specific things, while ignoring the usual distractions. • Before we go on, it might help to give you a feel for why people think hypnosis is a strange and mysterious force. One of the words connected with “mystical” happenings is that we still use is mesmerize, which means to put someone under your power. This term comes from Anton Mesmer, who worked in the late 1700s “curing” people of their ailments. • Mesmer claimed that he had special magnetic powers and that people who needed help could have their body magnetisms “realigned” if they came to him. • He had an enormous bathtub filled with iron fillings, water, and ground glass. Iron rods stuck out from the side of the tub, and the “sick” visitors were told to hold onto the tub, claiming he was mixing his magnetism with theirs. • Mesmer then entered the room wearing colorful, flowing robes and touched the tub, claiming he was mixing his magnetism with theirs. • Mesmer was clearly a quack, since for those who couldn’t make it to his place, he sold bottles of his special magnetism for a “take-out” cure.

23. The Nature of Hypnosis • Hypnosis: a state that helps a person focus attention on certain objects, acts, or feelings. Think back to a time when you were both studying and listening to music: • You could not do both of them equally well and at the same time. • If you focused on the music, what you were reading faded, or if you focused on what you were reading, the music faded. • So it is obvious that we have the power to control how much attention we give to different things in the environment. And if we want, we can cut out some stimulation altogether. • You have been doing that while reading this text. • Some of the things you may have been blocking out include the feel of your clothing, if you have shoes on your feet, that the room is light, that there is noise coming from the heat register, that your arms are connected to your body, and so forth. • Once you are aware of these things, they come into focus, one by one, demonstrating the point. Memories are cut off also. • You have “forgotten” for example, the sights, smells, sounds and feelings of your first day in high school – until reading this sentence.

24. Analogy • The brain is like a mammoth stereo system with billions of speakers, switches and filters so that you can turn on one, then another, blend them, mix them, or make most of them turn off completely. • Some people get so good at controlling incoming stimulation that they can stick a knitting needle right through the arm and not feel a thing. Ouch?

25. How brain can be modified? • Depending on the goal, hypnotists use the power of suggestion to aid in focusing or blocking whatever system is desired. • Thus, a person can be aided in forgetting something, remembering something, reducing pain, and so forth. • All of us can do anything without hypnosis that we can do under hypnosis. Some people just don’t have enough confidence in themselves to believe that this is the case, so they rely on the hypnotist to aid them.

26. Hypnosis is NOT sleep • Misconception may have arisen because subjects can get so relaxed they are like rag dolls and they act semiconscious. • Or it may be because hypnotists say, “You are getting sleepy”. Hypnosis is an intense form of relaxation with the person fully conscious. • Does the hypnotist really have control over the person? Only if the person wants to be under control, since he or she is still conscious. • If you tell someone in a deep trance to stay in the room and you’ll be back in a couple of days, he or she may still there for a while, relaxed, until what you’ve said fully registers. The person will then get up and leave. • Trance is just another word for the state of relaxation that the person is in. The deeper the trance, the more likely the subject will be relaxed and will cooperate with the hypnotist’s suggestions.

27. Can you make someone do something immoral under hypnosis? • Unlikely, unless the person really wants to do it and uses the hypnosis as an excuse. • If, however, the subject is in a deep trance and is foggy, he or she may trust what the hypnotist says far more than normally, so that is a problem. • In this sense, hypnosis can be dangerous, since the subject lets down defenses while putting faith in the hypnotists. • Thus, hypnotized people could say or do things that would embarrass them later on. • The actual physical dangers are few, but some subjects get a headache afterward or feel a little anxious or confused.

28. Use of Hypnosis • Might help with reducing weight or with giving up smoking or drinking (but only if the person really desires to change). • Hypnosis can help with minor pain, such as some dental work; it can help a woman through a normal childbirth; it can help reduce some headaches. • Hypnosis cannot improve memory, but it can help you focus better on such things as study assignments, so it has been useful in education. • A great deal of “hype” has been given to the so-called posthypnotic suggestion, with people claiming that it causes someone to do something that they can’t control. This is quite an exaggeration since a person is suggestible under hypnosis but still quite conscious.

29. Meditation • Form of self-control in which a person uses many of the “switches” and “filters” of the brain to cut off the outside world. • He or she then focuses on some steady rhythm or sound, trying to put the brain more or less into “neutral” in order to feel peaceful and at ease. • The steady sound can be a hum or a word or a phrase that the person repeats, or even simply the ticking of a clock. • Meditation can be very effective in lower blood pressure or lowering heart rate. Some people can do it without going through any ritual. • And some people cannot relax, no matter what. Asking them to relax actually makes them nervous and more tense.

30. Interesting Facts: • Infants spend a good 75% of the time in REM sleep • Anormal person can sleep up to 17 hours a night, but too much sleep doesn’t work either. After 11 hours, the brain is “thick,” and we do poorly on tasks requiring alertness. • Long sleepers (ten hours plus) also tend to die earlier than short sleepers (six hours).