2. Biology of Sleep and Dream
Prof. Hani Hamed Dessoki,
M.D.Psychiatry
Prof. Psychiatry
Chairman of Psychiatry Department
Beni Suef University
Supervisor of Psychiatry Department
El-Fayoum University
APA member

3. SLEEP & DREAMS

4. SLEEPSLEEP
Imagine...if on the average,
people sleep 8 hours a day,
they are sleeping away 1/3 of
their life.
How much is that?

5. Perspectives on
dreaming
 Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of
Dreams (1900)
 Struck by how often clients described them
 “The royal road to the unconscious.”

6. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Psychology in
Action (8e)
by
Karen Huffman
PowerPoint ® Lecture Notes Presentation
Chapter 5: States of
Consciousness
Karen Huffman, Palomar College

7. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Understanding
Consciousness
 Consciousnes
s (an
organism’s
awareness of
its own self
and
surroundings)

8. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Understanding
Consciousness
 Alternate States of
Consciousness
(ASCs): mental states,
other than ordinary
waking
consciousness, found
during sleep,
dreaming,
psychoactive drug
use, hypnosis, etc.

9. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Sleep and Dreams:
Circadian Rhythms
 Circadian Rhythms (biological
changes occurring on a 24-hour cycle)
– Our energy level, mood, learning, and
alertness all vary throughout the day.
– Sections of the hypothalamus called the
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and the
pineal gland regulate these changes.

10. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Sleep and Dreams:
Circadian Rhythms (Continued)
 Disrupted circadian rhythms,
through shift work, jet lag, and
sleep deprivation may cause
mood alterations, reduced
concentration and motivation,
increased irritability, lapses in
attention, and reduced motor
skills.

11. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Sleep and Dreams
 What happens
to humans and
other animals
while we sleep
and dream?

12. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Sleep and Dreams: Stages of
Sleep
 NREM (Non-Rapid-Eye-Movement) Sleep:
Stage 1(lightest sleep)
Stage 2 (deeper sleep)
Stages 3 and 4 (deepest sleep)
 REM (Rapid-Eye-Movement) Sleep:
Light sleep--also called paradoxical
sleep

13. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Sleep and Dreams: Stages of
Sleep (Continued)
 NREM (non-REM) sleep
– Includes Stages 1 through 4
– Lower-frequency brain waves, decreased
pulse and breathing,and occasional,
simple dreams
– Serves a biological need (NREM needs
met before REM needs)

14. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Sleep and Dreams:
Stages of Sleep (Continued)
 REM (Rapid-Eye-Movement) sleep
– Also called paradoxical sleep
– High-frequency brain waves, increased pulse
and breathing, paralysis of the large muscles,
and dreaming
– Serves a biological need and may help with
learning and consolidating new memories

15. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Sleep and Dreams:
Why Do We Sleep?
 Repair/restoration theory: sleep helps us
recuperate from daily activities
 Evolutionary/circadian theory: sleep evolved to
conserve energy and as protection from predators
 Cognitive theory: dreams are an
important part of information processing of everyday
experiences

16. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)
Sleep and Dreams:
Why Do We Dream?
 Psychoanalytic theory: dreams are
disguised symbols
(manifest versus latent content)
of repressed desires and anxieties
 Biological theory: (activation-
synthesis hypothesis) dreams are simple by-
products of random stimulation of brain cells

17. Neural Regulation of
Arousal
 Electrical stimulation of the brain stem induces arousal
– Dorsal path: RF--> to medial thalamus --> cortex
– Ventral path: RF --> to lateral hypothalamus, basal ganglia, and
the forebrain
 Neurotransmitters involved in arousal:
– NE neurons in rat locus coeruleus (LC) show high activity during
wakefulness, low activity during sleep (zero during REM sleep)
 LC neurons may play a role in vigilance
– Activation of ACh neurons produces behavioral activation
 ACh agonists increase arousal, ACh antagonists decrease arousal
– 5-HT: stimulation of the raphe nuclei induces arousal whereas
5-HT antagonists reduce cortical arousal

18. Pharmacology of Arousal
 Vigilance promoting
– Amphetamine enhances monoaminergic
neurotransmission
– Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors
– Nicotine stimulates cholinergic receptors
 Sleep promoting
– Alcohol, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines stimulate
GABAA receptors
– Antihistamines block H1 receptors involved in cortical
(and subcortical) arousal

19. Neural Control of SWS
 The ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPA) is
important for the control of sleep
– VLPA neurons promote sleep
lesions of the preoptic area produce total
insomnia, leading to death
electrical stimulation of the preoptic area
induces signs of drowsiness
– VLPA sends (inhibitory) GABA projections to locus
coeruleus (NE), raphé nuclei (5-HT), and
tuberomammillary nucleus (histamine)

20. Neural Control of REM
Sleep
 The pons is important for the control of REM sleep
– ACh neurons in the peribrachial pons modulate REM sleep
 Increased ACh increases REM sleep
 Peribrachial neurons fire at a high rate during REM sleep
Peribrachial lesions reduce REM sleep
– Pontine ACh neurons project to the thalamus (control of
cortical arousal), to the basal forebrain (arousal and
desynchrony), and to the tectum (rapid eye movements)
– Pontine cells project via magnocellular cells within medulla
to the spinal cord: release glycine to inhibit alpha-
motoneurons (induce REM motor paralysis or atonia)

21. NT Interactions: REM Sleep

23. There are specialized centres for
particular varieties of sleep
SWS
REM

24. Suprachiasmatic Nucleus
 The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
contains a biological clock that governs
some circadian rhythms
– SCN receives input from
amacrine/ganglion cells in the retina, a pathway
that may account for the ability of light to reset the
biological clock (zeitgeber function)
the intergeniculate leaflet of the lateral geniculate
thalamic nucleus
– This pathway may mediate the ability of other
environmental stimuli to reset circadian rhythms (e.g.
animals own activity)

25. SCN Clock Cells
 SCN cells exhibit circadian rhythms in activity
– SCN glucose metabolism (2-DG method) is higher during the
day than during the night
– Each SCN cell appears to have its own clock (separate daily
peaks in activity)
Yet SCN clock cells act in a synchronized fashion (a
chemical rather than a neural effect)
 Nature of clock cells
– Hypothesis was that clock cells produced a protein that upon
reaching a critical level, inhibited its own production
 Fruit fly: two genes per and tim control the production of
two proteins: PER and TIM, eventually high levels of
these proteins turn off the per and tim genes, resulting in
declining levels of PER and TIM proteins, which in turn
activates the two genes

26. Seasonal Rhythms
 SCN plays a role in governing seasonal rhythms
– Testosterone secretion in male hampsters shows an annual
rhythm with increased secretion as length of day increases
This annual rhythm is abolished by SCN lesions;
lesioned hampsters secrete testosterone all year long
 Pineal gland interacts with the SCN to control seasonal rhythms
– The SCN projects to the PVN, which connects with the pineal
gland which secretes melatonin
During long nights, the pineal gland secretes high
amounts of melatonin
– Lesions of the SCN, of the PVN, or of the neural connection
between the SCN and PVN disrupt seasonal rhythms
controlled by day length

27. Activation-Synthesis Theory
 Dreams are a product of activity from pons and/or
brainstem)
 Cerebral Cortex attempts to make sense of neuron
firings by creatAing a story
 Limbic system increase frontal lobe decrease
 DREAMS HAVE NO MEANING!

28. Evidence
PET scans and other imaging
techniques provide evidence for
this.

29. Lucid Dreaming
 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

30. Lucid Dreaming
 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

31. Most dreams are ofMost dreams are of
ordinary things.ordinary things.
BUTBUT
Lucid Dreams are so vividLucid Dreams are so vivid
they SEEM REAL.they SEEM REAL.
The Stuff of Which Dreams
Are Made
These slides are visually enhanced versions of those
created by Dr. Kevin Richardson, which are available at
http://bluehawk.monmouth.edu/~krichard/

32. Lucid Dreaming-is it real?
 There are “How to” books on lucid dreaming,
websites focused on teaching people the “art
and science” of lucid dreaming, advertisements
stating- "Now instead of wasting up to Eight
Hours Every Single Day with normal sleep, by
mastering the art of lucid dreaming I am now
able to enjoy truly mind blowing experiences
every night!” (www.lucid-dreamer.info)
 Lucid dreaming is very appealing to people and
many try to learn how to become lucid dreamers
and “control” their dreams
 Is this possible?

33. FACTS
 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

34. FACTS
 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

35. FACTS
 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

36. Sleep and Dreams
“Sometimes,
a cigar
is just a
cigar.”
Freud, on the
meaning of dreams
These slides are visually enhanced versions of those created by Dr. Kevin Richardson, which are available at
http://bluehawk.monmouth.edu/~krichard/

37. Children and Dreams
 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

38. Children and Dreams
 Children are also more likely to
have "fantastic" dreams, while
adults' dreams tend to contain
more elements of reality

39. The Basic Hypothesis
• Dreaming is a basic cognitive activity.
• Mainly re-patterning and creative (at large)
• This is a physio-psychological function
whether narrated as a declared dream or
not.
• Its efficacy in the proper direction is assessed
empirically through clinical monitors
• The phenomenon is basically related to the natural
biorhythmic activity of human phenomenon.

40. Inner Eye

41. Dream Content

42. Dream Describtion

43. Dream and Creativity

44. What is it?
A state of
apparently
heightened
suggestibility
What is it?
A state of
apparently
heightened
suggestibility
Post-
Hypnotic
Amnesia
Temporary
memory
loss
(Maybe)
Post-
Hypnotic
Amnesia
Temporary
memory
loss
(Maybe)
You are
getting sleepy…

45. But WHY Do We Dream?
• Latent Content may actually be
Unconscious Drives & Wishes
•
•Dreams may help sort & fix our
days’ experiences in memory
•
• Dreams result from random
neural activity originating in
brainstem
• Latent Content may actually be
Unconscious Drives & Wishes
•
•Dreams may help sort & fix our
days’ experiences in memory
•
• Dreams result from random
neural activity originating in
brainstem
What if we couldn’t dream?
These slides are visually enhanced versions of those created by Dr. Kevin Richardson, which are available
at http://bluehawk.monmouth.edu/~krichard/

46. These slides are visually enhanced versions of
those created by Dr. Kevin Richardson, which are
available at
Why Do We
Daydream?
Temporary escape from reality;Temporary escape from reality;
Help prepare us for future events;Help prepare us for future events;
Substitute for impulsive behavior.Substitute for impulsive behavior.