Are They A Product of Your Subconscious?
Are They A Product of Your Subconscious?
Are They A Product of Your Subconscious?
subconscious?
Dream is a word used to describe the subconscious
experience of a sequence of images, sounds, ideas, emotions,
or other sensations usually during sleep, especially REM
sleep
There is no neurologically agreed upon, biological definition
for dreaming
It is known that dreams are strongly associated with REM
sleep
But there is a lot that is unknown about dreams and the
purpose of dreams is interpreted in many different ways
What is the purpose of dreams? Do we need to dream? Are
dreams an interaction between your subconscious and
conscious?
The Ontogenetic Hypothesis of REM sleep states that this
sleep phase is particularly important to the developing
brain, possibly because it provides the neural stimulation
that newborns need to form mature neural connections and
for proper nervous system development.
Studies investigating the effects of Active Sleep deprivation
have shown that deprivation early in life can result in
behavioral problems, permanent sleep disruption, decreased
brain mass (Mirmiran et al. 1983), and result in an abnormal
amount of neuronal cell death (Morrissey, Duntley & Anch,
2004).
REM sleep is necessary for proper central nervous system
development (Marks et al. 1995). Further supporting this
theory is the fact that the amount of REM sleep decreases
with age, as well as the data from other species
Dreams may also regulate mood. Hartmann says dreams may function like
psychotherapy, by "making connections in a safe place" and allowing the dreamer to
integrate thoughts that may be dissociated during waking life
Both Freud and Jung identify dreams as an interaction between the unconscious and the
conscious
Dreams are seen as projections of parts of the self that have been ignored, rejected, or
suppressed
It is believed that people resolve issues in their sleep and use dreams to reorganize
thoughts – are dreams used to deal with traumatic events?
Another idea is that dreams helps the mind run tests of its Emergency Broadcast System,
a way to prepare for potential disaster. For example, when new mothers dream about
losing their babies, they may actually be rehearsing what they would do or how they
would react if their worst fears were realized.
There's also evidence that dreaming helps certain kinds of learning. Some researchers
have found that dreaming about physical tasks, like a gymnast's floor routine, enhances
performance. Dreaming can also help people find solutions to elusive problems.
"Anything that is very visual may get extra help from dreams," says Deirdre Barrett,
assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and editor of the journal Dreaming.
Barrett has found that even ordinary people can solve simple problems in their lives (like
how to fit old furniture into a new apartment) if they focus on the dilemma before they
fall asleep
Zhang hypothesizes that the function of sleep is to process, encode and
transfer the data from the temporary memory to the long-term memory:
NREM sleep processes the conscious-related memory (declarative
memory), and REM sleep processes the unconscious related memory
(procedural memory)
Numerous studies have suggested that REM sleep is important for
consolidation of procedural and spatial memories.
A recent study (Marshall, Helgadóttir, Mölle & Born, 2006) shows that
artificial enhancement of the REM sleep improves the next-day recall of
memorized pairs of words
Freud proposed that dreams protect sleep, which might be disturbed by
the arousal of unacceptable wishes
Ferenczi proposed that dreams may communicate something that is not
being said outright (subconscious thoughts)
There have also been analogies made with the cleaning-up operations of
computers when they are off-line. Dreams may remove parasitic nodes
and other "junk" from the mind during sleep.
Dreams may also create new ideas through the generation of random
thought mutations
REM stands for “rapid eye movement”
REM sleep is a state of sleep in which brain activity is most
like wakefulness
Eugene Aserinsky discovered REM sleep in 1953 while
working in the lab of his PhD advisor. Aserinsky noticed
that the sleepers' eyes fluttered beneath their closed eyelids.
He later used a polygraph machine to record the sleeper’s
brain waves during these periods.
Adult humans spend about a quarter of their sleep time in
REM (approximately 90-120 minutes), much of it dreaming
During a typical night, humans experience 4 or 5 periods of
REM sleep (short periods at the beginning of the night and
longer periods as the night progresses)
Amount of REM sleep varies with age- a newborn baby
typically spends more than 80% of total sleep time in REM
Physiologically, certain neurons in the brain step,
known as REM sleep-on cells, (located in the pontine
tegmentum), are particularly active during REM sleep,
and are probably responsible for its occurrence. The
release of certain neurotransmitters, the monoamines
are completely shut down during REM. This causes
REM atonia, a state in which the motor neurons are
not stimulated and thus the body's muscles don't
move. Lack of such REM atonia causes REM Behavior
Disorder where sufferers act out the movements
occurring in their dreams.
Heart rate and breathing rate are irregular during REM
sleep
Body temperature is not well regulated during REM
sleep
Lucid dreaming occurs when dreamers realize that they are dreaming
(lucid dreaming can occur with varying levels of awareness and dream
control)
The dreamers are sometimes capable of changing their dream
environment and controlling various aspects of their dream.
The dream environment is often much more realistic in a lucid dream,
and the senses heightened
The realization is usually triggered by the dreamer noticing some
impossible or unlikely occurrence in the dream
Two types of lucid dreaming: dream-initiated lucid dreaming and wake-
initiated lucid dreaming
Dream-initiated lucid dreaming: Starts off as a normal dream until the
dreamer realizes that they’re dreaming
Wake-initiated lucid dreaming: The dreamer goes from a normal waking
state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in conscousness
Time passage appears to be the same during lucid dreaming as when
awake
Ngan Diep
Kim Fleck
Stephen Johnson
David Yoshida
Discussion Questions
Introduction
History
Characteristics of Lucid Dreaming
Physiological Aspects
Usefulness of Lucidity
Methods of Induction
Conclusion
Introduction
What is lucid dreaming?
Dreams in which you know that you are
dreaming.
Levels of lucid dreaming and awareness
High-level lucidity
Low-level lucidity
How common are lucid dreams?
"About 58% of the population have experienced a
lucid dream at least once in their lifetime, while
about 21% report it with some frequency (one or
more a month). – Jayne Gackenbach
415 AD written in a letter by
St. Augustine.
Dream Actions
(Schatzman, Worsley, and Fenwick 1988)
Dream Sex
(LaBerge, Greenleaf, and Kedzierski 1983)
Adventure and Excitement
Practice/Rehearsal
Therapeutic