Are they a product of your
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.
Practiced by Tibetan Buddhists
for a thousand years through a
form of dream yoga
1913 Term coined by Frederick
Van Eeden
Modern research- Stephen
LaBerge and Lynn Nagel of
Stanford University
The beginning of lucidity is marked by
distinct eye movements
Occurs late during the REM sleep cycle
Induced by some sort of “cue”
Recognition of this “cue” is made possible
by higher cortical arousal
Waking up from a lucid dream feels more
real than waking from a normal dream
This is due to the higher cortical arousal
experienced during lucid dreaming
Is there a correspondence between actions of
the dreamer and muscle activity and
electrical responses?
Dream Actions
(Schatzman, Worsley, and Fenwick 1988)
Dream Sex
(LaBerge, Greenleaf, and Kedzierski 1983)
Adventure and Excitement
Practice/Rehearsal
Creative Problem Solving
Therapeutic
What is the nature of the dream world?
Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreaming
(MILD)
Mindfulness
External Signals
Electric Shock to the wrist
Dream Light (LaBerge 1985)
How long do dreams last?
Is lucid dreaming an ASC? YES
How long do dreams take? About 13 sec
Is there a correspondence between actions of the
dreamer and muscle activity and electrical
responses? YES
What is the nature of the dream world? We don’t
know.
Dreams provide clues to the nature of more serious mental illness
Schizophrenics, for example, have poor-quality dreams, usually
about objects rather than people
According to one study, "good dreamers," people who have vivid
dreams with strong story lines, are less likely to remain depressed
It is thought that dreaming helps diffuse strong emotions.
Dreaming is believed to be a “mental-health activity“
However, no one has yet been able to say that REM sleep or
dreaming are essential to life or even sanity
MAO inhibitors, an older class of antidepressants, essentially
block REM sleep without any detectable effects, although people
do get a "REM rebound"—extra REM—if they stop the medication.
That's also true of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
like Prozac, which reduce dreaming by a third to a half
A ll dreams are part of a consciousness-expanding
process that can lead the dreamer into a deep sense of
meaning and an enlarged appreciation of life. The
entire process of dream dialogue is a process through
which the dreamer gradually comes to feel a sense of
deep relationship with self and others, and with an
underlying source of relationship and wholeness
which Jung called the archetype of the Self. As the
dreamer participates in ongoing dreamwork,
corresponding positive physiological effects can be
observed, especially enhancement of the immune
system.
Nightmares are vividly realistic, disturbing
dreams that rattle you awake from a deep
sleep. They often set your heart pounding from
fear. Nightmares tend to occur most often
during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when
most dreaming takes place.
Humans spend about 6 years dreaming
Dreams are generated in the forebrain
Most common emotion experienced during dreaming is anxiety
The U.S. ranks the highest amongst industrialized nations for
aggression in dreams with 50% of U.S. males reporting aggression
in dreams, compared to 32% for Dutch men
Men generally have more aggressive feelings in their dreams than
women, and children's dreams do not have very much aggression
until they reach teen age
This parallel much of the current research on gender and gender
role comparisons in aggressive behavior
This supports the view that there is a continuity between our
conscious and unconscious styles and personalities
In men's dreams 70 percent of the characters are other men, while
a female's dreams contain an equal number of men and women
Sexual dreams show up about 10% of the time and
are more prevalent in young to mid-teens
Approximately 70% of women have recurring
dreams and 65% of men
The most common themes are: situations relating
to school, being chased, sexual experiences, falling,
arriving too late, a person now alive being dead,
flying, failing an examination, or a car accident
Twelve percent of people dream only in black and
white
In general, more introverted, psychologically
oriented people naturally remember their dreams
and practical, concrete thinkers don’t
Almost the entire state of being before we're born is REM
sleep
Researchers believe children have to reach a certain level of
intellectual maturity, around the age of 8 or 9, before their
dreams resemble adults‘
Research has shown that children dream about animals
more often than adults and are more likely to report being
victims than aggressors
Children are also more likely to have "fantastic" dreams,
while adults' dreams tend to contain more elements of
reality
A typical fantastic dream from a 10-year-old studied
included a cat asking for directions to the "cat bathroom."
Similarly, an 11-year-old boy dreamed that a snake wanted
to go up a ski lift
Discussion
Questions
Could there be consciousness during sleep?
Do we have deliberate control over our
actions in dreams?
Is lucid dreaming an altered state of
consciousness?
