Topic 2 Sleep

Get Psyched! Chapter 5 - In Your Dreams

What are some common sleep problems?
 1 What is sleep? Get Psyched! p60
2 Why do we sleep when we do? Get Psyched! p61
3 Why do we sleep? Get Psyched! p62
4 What happens when we sleep? Get Psyched!
5 Distinguish two different stages of sleep. pp.63-65
6 What does an electroencephalograph (EEG) measure?
7 Evaluate the use of an EEG Lesson PPT
8 Draw a diagram of the stages of a sleep cycle Get Psyched! p65
9 Summarise the stages of sleep and the characteristic brain waves
associated with each stage
10 What happens if we do not sleep? Get Psyched!
pp.68-69
11 What happens if we do not get enough sleep? Get Psyched! p70
12 How much sleep do we need? Get Psyched! p71
13 What are dreams? Get Psyched!
14 Why do we dream? Contrast two theories of dreaming. pp.72-74
1. What is sleep?
• Get Psyched! Chapter 5 page 60
• Sleep is a naturally occurring state of altered consciousness

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 2. Why do we sleep when we do?
• Get Psyched! page 61
• The human sleep wake cycle is a circadian rhythm.
• This cycle is controlled by the pineal gland found in the hindbrain.

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 Pineal gland
A gland located in the centre of
the brain that helps regulate
body rhythms and sleep cycles

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 Melatonin

• Melatonin is a natural product

found in plants and animals. It is
primarily known in animals as a
hormone released by the pineal
gland in the brain at night, and has
long been associated with control of
the sleep–wake cycle
 3. Why do we sleep?
• Get Psyched! page 62
• It’s generally believed that we sleep in order to restore
and rest our bodies and minds.

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We sleep in order to survive

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 4. What happens when we sleep?
• We become unresponsive to external stimuli.
• However, we are very active during sleep!

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 5. Distinguish two different stages of sleep
• Two main types:
– Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep
– Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep
• Periods of NREM sleep alternate with REM sleep about
4-5 times during a night sleep
• Dreams occur more in REM sleep

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Sleep as an ASC
Characteristics and Patterns of Sleep
REM sleep – resting brain
• A type of sleep characterised by brainwaves with high frequency and low
amplitude
• The muscles of the body are in a state of paralysis and dreams may be
experienced
NREM sleep – resting body
• A type of sleep that is broken into four stages, where the sleeper falls into a
deeper and deeper sleep as the stages progress
• Characterised by relaxation of the muscles, a slowing down of physiological
functions and brainwaves that decrease in frequency and increase in
amplitude
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 Stages of sleep
• We sleep in different stages, with a full cycle lasting about 90
minutes.
• Each stage of sleep is associated with different brain waves that
can be measured with an EEG.
• The different brain waves are:
• alpha
• beta
• theta
• delta

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 Checklist: Get Psyched! pp.63-65

6. What does an EEG measure?

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 One method used to measure level of alertness: Quantitative
data
 Electroencephalograph (EEG)
 DARE
 Detects, amplifies and records electrical activity of the brain in the form of
brainwaves

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Wireless EEG Headsets
Cambridge University Press Typical EEG Brainwaves © Mulcahy & Warner 2011
Concepts of NWC and ASC
Methods used to Study ASC

Measurement of Physiological Responses

• Consciousness is a psychological construct
– it cannot be measured directly, but only inferred from an individual’s self-reports
and behaviour, or gauged using physiological changes as an indicator.

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Challenge in conducting research on sleep

• Various devices to measure physiological responses are used to give

psychologists an accurate reading of bodily changes and responses during
various states of consciousness.

• Different patterns of physiological responses are associated with different

levels of alertness and states of consciousness.

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Concepts of NWC and ASC
Methods used to Study ASC

Objective Measures: Quantitative data

• Collected under controlled condition
• Biases are minimized
• Hence more reliable, accurate, and scientific method of data collection

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Electro-encephalograph (EEG)
• Brainwaves vary in:
– Frequency
– Amplitude

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Brain waves
• Frequency
– how fast
– Speed: how many cycles per minute
• Amplitude
– how big
– Strength: how large are the peaks and troughs

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Electro-encephalograph (EEG)
• Beta
– high frequency and low amplitude
– indicates:
• awake, active and alert state (i.e. normal waking
consciousness)
• REM sleep (Beta-like wave – saw tooth pattern)

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Electro-encephalograph (EEG)
• Alpha
– medium frequency and medium to low amplitude
– indicates:
• hypnogogic state (awake and relaxed)
• daydreaming, meditating
• NREM stage 1

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Electro-encephalograph (EEG)
• Theta
– medium frequency and a mixture of high and medium amplitude

– indicates:
• NREM stage 1
• NREM stage 2
• NREM stage 3 (first half)

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Electro-encephalograph (EEG)
• Delta
– low frequency and high amplitude
– indicates:
• NREM stage 3 (latter half)
• NREM stage 4 (deep sleep)

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Beta – Alpha – Theta - Delta
• In this order the brain wave patterns equate roughly to going from
NWC – beta down into deep sleep – Delta

• Beta awake
• Alpha relaxed
• Theta asleep
• Delta deep sleep

• “BAT is Dancing while you are asleep”

7. Evaluate the use of an EEG
• Changes in physiological responses occur for many reasons apart from a
change in the state of consciousness; for example, as a result of physical
activity or a physical health problem.
• Therefore, psychologists typically use measures of physiological responses
in conjunction with other observations and data-collection techniques in
order to obtain more accurate data

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8. Draw a diagram of the sleep-wake cycle

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Sleep patterns and stages
Typical sleep patterns
9. Summarise the stages of sleep and the characteristic brain
waves associated with each stage

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• Stage 1 NREM – dosing, falling asleep, hypnic jerks, losing awareness (alpha, theta) 5 – 10 mins

• Stage 2 NREM – truly asleep, everything continues to slow, (theta with spindles – high frequency & k
complex - low frequency high amplitude) may still think not asleep 10 – 20 mins

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Sleep spindles Stage 2 sleep

• Brief bursts of higher frequency brainwave activity

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K-complex Stage 2 sleep
• Single sharp burst of a low frequency, higher amplitude
wave

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• 3 NREM – deeper sleep, more slowing of bodily function (theta, delta) 30 mins

• 4 NREM – Deepest, hard to wake, disorientated (delta) 20 mins at beginning less as night goes on

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REM

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 Sleep phenomena
• There are many strange phenomena that occur when we sleep.
• Some common sleep phenomena include:
• sleep walking
• sleep eating
• sleep talking
• REM behaviour disorder
• Snoring
• Can be investigated further as a part of Abnormal Psychology project

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Checklist
10. What happens if we do not sleep?

11. What happens if we do not get enough sleep?

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 Sleep deprivation
• If we don’t get enough sleep then we experience sleep deprivation.
• This can have disastrous consequences, such as low attention and
concentration, which can lead to accidents.
• Students who get less sleep do not perform as well in school as those who
sleep more.
• If we are sleep deprived we may experience microsleeps – brief periods
where we drift into sleep but still appear awake.

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 REM sleep deprivation
In a study it was found that when volunteers were woken each time they entered REM
sleep their attempts to dream grew more urgent.

• By the fifth night, participants tried to enter REM so frequently that many had to be
woken 20 or 30 times to prevent them from doing so
• Volunteers complained of day time memory lapses, poor concentration and anxiety
• When allowed to sleep volunteers experienced more REM sleep than they usually
would  REM rebound

Later experiments show that missing any stage can cause rebound
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for that stage.
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• REM Rebound
– the recovery (‘catching up’) of REM sleep immediately following a period of lost REM
sleep by spending more time than usual in REM sleep
– that is, increasing the relative amount of REM sleep during subsequent sleep periods

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 Sleep as an ASC
Sleep Deprivation
• Normally deprivation has temporary effects which are quickly overcome once
sleep is recovered
• Participants who are deprived of sleep will sleep longer than normal on the
first night and then gradually work their way back to a normal sleep pattern.
– e.g. 15 hours on the first night, 12 hours the second night and 10.5 hours the third night

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 Psychological effects of Sleep Deprivation

• Simple and routine tasks are very difficult for the sleep deprived-most
people experience problems with attention and concentration eg driving a
car ‘no amount of sleep deprivation is safe (Gillberg & Akerstedt 1998)

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 Physical effects of sleep deprivation
• Pituitary gland releases growth hormone when you are in deep sleep, so lack of
sleep (NREM) may cause physical growth processes to be interrupted.
• With less sleep, less glucose is metabolized  muscle strength and endurance
is reduced
• Ability to form fine motor functions such as hand writing, computer skills,
operating machinery is impaired
• Immune system is weakened  increased chance of infections
• Appetite increases and this can lead to long term weight gain (Ansch et al.,
1988)
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 Sleep as an ASC
Sleep Deprivation

Microsleeps and REM Rebound

• Some research findings about sleep deprivation indicate that after 2-3 days of
such deprivation, a person will engage in
• Microsleeps
• REM Rebound

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 Sleep Deprivation
• Microsleeps: A very short period (2–5 second) of drowsiness or sleep that occurs
while a person is apparently awake
• Especially prevalent when people who are sleep derived are required to complete
monotonous tasks-> drivers encouraged to have 15 min power nap
• Going with out sleep for between 17-19 hours is equivalent to having a BAC of 0.05
(Williamson & Feyer, 2000)
• EEG pattern is the same as that of an early NREM sleep stage
• Loss of conscious awareness and therefore no recall of events occurring during
microsleeps

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 12. How much sleep do we need?
• Over the course of our lifespan, the amount of sleep we need changes.
• Amount of night time sleep decreases with age
• Proportion of time spent in REM decreases with age

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 Sleep over the lifespan
• Newborn infants require around 16 hours of sleep
per day whereas elderly people only require 6-7
hours.
• On average, teenagers should be receiving
between 9 and 10 hours per night.

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Across the Lifespan

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 Adolescence
• Amount of sleep drops from about
10 hours to 8 hours in 13-19 year-
olds (adolescents need about 9 hours
sleep)

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 Sleep-Wake Cycle Shift during Adolescence
• Adolescence tend to go to sleep later and wake up earlier than preferred
during weekdays, which means insufficient night-time sleep and difficulty
waking up in the mornings.
• Therefore a sleep debt is accrued which needs to be recovered (made up),
usually on weekends.

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 Sleep-Wake Cycle Shift during Adolescence

• Delayed onset of sleep (or delayed sleep phase) in adolescence due to:
– Biological factors, e.g. hormone induced shift of body clock forward by
1-2 hours (therefore sleepier 1-2 hours later) and/or
– Environmental factors, e.g. staying up late for socialising, doing
homework

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Sleep-Wake Cycle Shift during Adolescence
• Sleep loss in adolescence has adverse effects,
– accrued sleep debt requiring recovery
– tiredness/fatigue
– lethargy
– loss of motivation
– irritability
– negative moods
– impact on academic work or work performance

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 13. What are dreams?
• Every night we experience strange narratives and
stories when we sleep.
• These are dreams, and most often occur during the
stage of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
• If we don’t get enough REM sleep then we may
experience REM rebound.

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 14. Why do we dream?
• Sigmund Freud proposed that we dream to safely
release troubling and anxiety producing thoughts.
• Freud’s theory is called the psychoanalytic theory.
• Hobson and McCarley proposed that dreams have a
biological basis: they are the by-product of the random
firing of neurons that occurs when we are in REM
sleep.
• They called this the activation-synthesis hypothesis.
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