The average person sleeps around four months a year, begging the question why do humans dedicate such a large portion of our time asleep? One of the key components of sleep are dreams, many psychologists have attempted to figure out why dreams are beneficial to us, some of these theories include: Wish-fulfillment, problem solving, replay, and activation-synthesis. Through analyses of my dream, I will demonstrate that activation-synthesis is the most logical explanation as to why we dream. Sleep is crucial for the stability of one’s mind, body, and temper. When an individual enters a sleep deprivation they tend to have exhaustion, irritability, and an inability to focus that can only be remedied by several nights of healthy sleep. The healthy …show more content…
The reality is that one can only recall a dream shortly after waking up from REM sleep, therefor the only reason people do not remember their dreams is because they wake up in the wrong part of their sleep cycle. I apparently rarely wake up after REM sleep, because I am rarely able to recollect my dreams when I wake. Over the two-week period in which I recorded a dream journal I only able to recall four dreams. The dream I will analyze with the different theories started at a table where a couple of high school friends and I were sitting. We were all talking about our dates to the prom. When it got to be my turn, I announced that I was going with an elephant, my friends promptly told me that it was highly insensitive to refer to Edie, who was at the time my girlfriend, as an elephant. I tried to explain that I was not mocking her, I was literally brining an elephant as my date. The scene then cuts to the University of Michigan football stadium, where the dance was held. I dance a couple of dances with my elephant date, who oddly had no name. The dream then completely transitions to the elephant and I playing a game, and the elephant was beating me by a lot. I got upset and accused the elephant of cheating, because it has photographic memory, thus giving it an unfair …show more content…
The location and aesthetic of the prom was, to my recollection, the same as in my dream, suggesting that I only dreamed of going to prom was merely an adaptation of my previous memories. Further supporting this thought the friends I sat around the table with were actual friends I had in high school. Even though we never sat around a table and talked about our dates to prom, my brain could have just been scanning familiar faces and replaying them for me in a new context. Replay theory goes against wish-fulfillment theory by saying that the dream was meaningless. Despite the reasoning behind replay theory, it does not explain why we visualize and relive our memories each night. The Thalamus is constantly working at turning short-term memories into long-term memories, and yet we are not always thinking about the past. Furthermore, everyone has had especially weird dreams where nothing makes sense and everything seems strange and new. These dreams could not possibly from our memories, because nothing of the sorts has ever been previously
An abundance of research has been generated on sleep and why it occurs, with results suggesting that dreaming may partially explain the phenomenon. Though results have failed to discover the primary function of sleep, they have unveiled dreaming as a secondary function, which despite not being fundamental for survival possesses a great deal of utility nonetheless. While the primary function of dreaming, much like the primary function of sleep, remains ambiguous; a number of theories and empirical studies have proposed secondary functions relevant to waking life. The threat simulation theory, for example, postulates that dreaming serves an evolutionary function, thought to have heightened survival and reproductive success in the Pleistocene era. The theory purports that dreaming allows for an endogenous simulation of potential threats, which rehearses the cognitive mechanisms necessary for threat perception and avoidance in reality (Valli, Revonsuo, Pälkäs, Ismail, Ali, & Punamäki, 2005; Arnulf, Grosliere, Le Corve, Golmard, Lascols & Duguet, 2014). Additionally, the continuity theory posits that dreams mirror waking life experiences, thus serving a predictive function. In accordance to this theory, dream imagery can be used to predict wellbeing, and diagnose depression and anxiety (Miller, DeCicco, Fox, & McCourt, 2015; DeCicco, Lyons, Pannier, Wright, & Clarke, 2010; Michels, Schilling, Rausch, Eifler, Zink, Meyer-Lindenberg, & Schredl, 2014). Lastly, dreams have a
When we take naps, we are contributing to our brain forming these key memories. When conducting a study, researchers found that our memories are formed and consolidated in the REM and Stage 2 NREM categories of sleep. They discovered that “REM and Stage 2 NREM support a variety of powerful sleep-dependent memory processes that act to (i) enlarge the neural networks in which memories are stored, (ii) integrate these new memories with other, older memories, into rich semantic networks, and (iii) extract patterns and rules from large bodies of encoded information” (Stickgold). When we enter REM sleep or Stage 2 during our naps, we undergoing these processes and consolidating memories that we will utilize in the future.
Of the many automatic functions that the human mind is hardwired to perform, from blinking, to breathing, sleep is by far one of the most imperative. A process that allows mind and body alike to rest, recuperate, and repair, sleep is something that is truly essential for our continued survival, to an extent, as more than a day or two without it can have adverse and potentially crippling side effects. Without sleep, our brain operates at a far less advanced level, struggling to process and internalise information, and making less intellectually sound decisions as a result, demonstrating why a reasonable amount of sleep per night is something that everyone must strive to achieve, so that one can stay on top of the day to day challenges that life so frequently poses. However, as universal as the idea of sleep may be, there is one aspect of the process that is often
Because of this, the theory that I find myself in most agreement with is the Activation Synthesis Theory. According to an article by Kendra Cherry (Verywellmind.com) Activation Synthesis Theory is essentially the idea that when we dream it’s our mind sorting out gathered information and is basically the minds “clean up” process. She explained how according to research done by Allen Hobson our dreams are our mind interpreting the activity that is produced by our limbic system during REM sleep. According to Cherry’s article she stated that Hobson believed there are five key characteristics of dreams. Those characteristics include illogical content, intense emotions, acceptance of strange content, strange sensory experiences, and difficulty remembering dream content. The Theory of Activation Synthesis definitely stirred the pot. Dream researchers who based their ideas and research off of interpreting the meaning of dreams did not like the idea that dreams were merely our brain in a sense just “twiddling its thumbs” until we wake and it can go back to doing its regular job. Its intriguing that there are so many different theories about dreams because it’s one of those things where you can
The human brain is complex and the way the body advances is through sleep. Sleep allows the body to rest, repair and rejuvenate itself. The brain is responsible for wave patterns called alpha and beta waves that through a series of stages, produces what we know as non-rapid eye movement (NREM), and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
The second major dream theory is the activation-synthesis hypothesis. The activation-synthesis hypothesis is a biological view that suggests dreams are a consequence of random stimulation of brain cells during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Scientists theorize that when neurons trigger in the brain stem during REM sleep, the cortex struggles to make sense of the stimulation, causing dreams to be created. According to this theory, the dream randomly begins, but is then influenced by individual personalities, motivations, memories, and
Thirty five percent of students stay up past three AM doing school work at least twice a week. How does the brain function with suboptimal amounts of sleep? While asleep, the human brain is hard at work and the amount of sleep a person receives can affect the mind and body’s function throughout the day. Sleep gives the body time to restore, repair, and regenerate.
The most interesting theory that we have studied to me is the sleep theory. Most of the world really do not know the correct amount of sleep our body needs. During this study I realized there are distinctive stages and each phase of rest affects the various elements of the body and can influence a person’s volume to work not only mentally, but physically. Numerous individuals are uneducated on the significance of getting the best possible measure of rest. At the point when the body does not get enough sleep, many issues can occur. For example, memory misfortune, condition of misery, poor occupation execution and fractiousness any many others. Rest has been divided into different stages and each stage has an essential influence. Each stage is
Sleep is as essential to the human body as food and water, but sometimes sleep quality and quantity is inadequate and this is known as sleep deprivation (SD). Sleep deprived people are sleepy and fatigued making them prone to accidents, impairing their judgement and they are more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions. Not sleeping for 24 hours reduces hand-to-eye coordination, which can be compared to having a blood alcohol content of 0.1 and contributes to road accidents and work injuries. A child’s school performance is negatively affected by the lack of sleep and may cause emotional problems such as depression. Sleep deprived adults suffer from lack concentration, irritability, sleep inertia and a grogginess that lasts
Sleep health is essential for an individual’s health and well-being. Sleep disorders and sleep deprivation is an unmet public health concern. It is estimated that fifty to seventy million Americans chronically suffer from some type of sleep disorder, which in turn, effects daily function and negatively affecting health and longevity (The National Academy of Sciences, 2006). Sleep is increasingly identified as important to public health, for it has been linked to motor vehicle crashes, industrial disasters, and medical or occupational errors. Not only can lack of sleep lead to hazardous outcomes but it can also lead to chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, depression, and obesity.
Introduction: Sleep deprivation is on the rise in the United State and it is also having a profound impact on the cognitive abilities of young adults as their school performance and decision making are weakened due to a lack of sleep. These effects also translate to poor memory and may have extremely damaging long term effects as a person ages including an increase in diseases such as Dementia and personality disorders. Sleep deprivation is the number one reason for the increase in people’s demeanor change as it can damage the increase of key hormones and change a person’s personality with just a few nights of insufficient sleep. Most of the psychological diseases common in the united states currently can be in some way brought back to a lack of sleep and it’s harmful effects including depression and mood disorders.
Central Idea: Sleep deprivation is a serious problem, and though it is often overlooked, effects of sleep deprivation can impact one’s everyday life.
Dreams are an experience that we all share as human beings, yet are also completely unique to each and every one of us. For these reasons, dreams have puzzled man since the beginning of time. Around the early 1900’s, a man by the name of Sigmund Freud pioneered the psychology of dreams through many of his theories. His ideas are a milestone in dream psychology and are still used today. As dream psychology developed, more and more theories were proposed and we now have a better understanding about dreams. However, since dreams vary to person to person, we have not completely discovered all there is to discover. The most difficult and complex questions to answer are why we dream, and why we dream what we dream.
I get dreams. They come once in awhile, in little segments. They take about year to end, due to their rarity of showing up. These dreams replay the day I met my husband. It replays over and over and over again. It's like I’m getting pulled from the inside out. It was then a starry night at a sensual hotel, down in the inner parts of london in an expensive hotel I was staying at, for I was rich. You wouldn’t be able to understand how luxurious it was. The pungent scent of fine bread was as strong as a ferocious slap to the face. Although I had seen better hotels, there was something about this one. The stone pillars, burgundy curtains, and marble ground were as fine as fine could be. Yes like any rich hotel it was, but the feeling was what made this experience get lodged into my mind. Everyone there was sculpted precisely, having skin so thin and fine, and teeth so shiny
Sleep is a State of relative unawareness and stillness of the voluntary muscles (the muscles that run at will). The stages of sleep varies from light to dark and each one has specific characteristics that can be measured. A sleep study is made up of a number of medical tests carried out at the same time during sleep. The tests measure specific sleep properties and helps to diagnose sleep disorders. A sleep study can also be called a polysomnogram.