2. THEORIES
Oneirology is the study of dreams
Sigmund Freud
• allows our unconscious mind to act our repressed longings and impulses
Carl Jung
• lets us reflect on our waking selves and solve our problems or think through issues
Activation-Synthesis Theory (1973)
• simply the result of random electrical brain impulses that pull imagery from traces of
our experiences stored in our memory
• images are not the same as the stories that we remember as our dreams
• in order to make sense of the imagery, our waking minds create the stories without
realizing it.
3. FIVE STAGES OF SLEEP
1st stage:
• very light sleep; easy to be
woken up
2nd stage:
• slightly deeper sleep
3rd and 4th stages:
• deepest sleep; delta brain
waves are the slowest
brain waves
5th stage:
• REM/occurs about 90
minutes after going to
sleep
4. R A P I D E Y E M OV E M E N T ( R E M )
discovered in 1953 by University of Chicago researchers Eugene
Aserinsky and Nathaniel Klietman
the sleep stage at which most dreaming takes place
occurs during REM sleep:
• rapid eye movements occur
• heart rate and breathing quickens, blood pressure rises
• brain activity increases to the same level as when awake, or higher
• rest of body is essentially paralyzed or there is a loss of muscle tone
(muscular atonia)
• caused by the release of glycine from the brain stem to the motoneurons/motor
neurons
• paralysis could be nature’s way of ensuring that we don’t act out our dreams
5. D R E A M R E C A L L A N D C O N T RO L
we forget 50% of dream’s content 5 Lucid dreaming:
• learned skill; occurs when you realize you are
minutes after dream ends, 90-95% after 10 dreaming while asleep
• less than 100,000 people in the U.S. have this
theories as to why we forget dreams ability
easily: • said to help in overcoming
nightmares, improving mental health, and
• dreams contain repressed facilitate problem solving
thoughts/wishes; wouldn’t want to
remember them anyway
Dream incubation:
• learning to plant a seed for a specific dream
• physical sensations are quickly topic to happen
forgotten when we wake up • used by those who believe in problem solving
• humans traditionally remember through dreams by directing their dreams to
the specific topic when going to sleep
both by association and
• several studies have shown this method to be
repetition, and because dreams are effective over a period of time
unique and vague, recalling is
difficult
6. R E M S L E E P B E H AV I O R D I S O R D E R ( R B D )
characterized by acting out our dreams that are vivid, intense, and/or violent
dream –enacting behaviors include twitching, talking, yelling, punching, kicking, arm-flailing, leaping from
bed, and grabbing
• extreme cases led to the afflicted person to unintentionally murder or seriously injure a loved one lying on the
same bed
muscle atonia that normally occurs during REM sleep is incomplete or absent, allowing the afflicted person to
“act out” his/her dreams
• caused by a dysfunction of the brain stem mechanisms responsible for the normal suppression or muscle tone
and paralysis in REM sleep
• severity is determined based on frequency and duration of episodes, and tendency towards violence
an acute form of RBD may take place during withdrawal from alcohol or sedative-hypnotic drugs
usually seen in middle aged to elderly people, and more common among men
highly treatable with medications, such as muscle relaxant
