Sleeping and Dreaming Essay

Humans are very abnormal creatures. We are in a day and age where it is acceptable to become so consumed by work and other activities, that we sometimes deny ourselves of one of the most necessary functions. That function is sleep and it is a very vital component that us humans love to neglect ourselves of.

Methods: The participants, all males age 23-32, slept in a dark, quiet lab while their brain waves and eye movements were recorded. They were not aloud to sleep at all during the day when they were not in the lab because they might dream. To establish a base for the experiment, participants in the study were allowed to sleep normally for a few nights. The next few nights the participants were fully awaken every time that they started to dream. The next section was the recovery phase where they could sleep normally followed by more nights where they would be woken between

Foster states, “Essentially, all the stuff we've burned up during the day, we restore, we replace, we rebuild during the night.” Foster also explains that “Within the brain, a whole raft of genes have been shown to be turned on only during sleep, and those genes are associated with restoration and metabolic pathways.” I agree with Foster’s first explanation of why we sleep. Sleep helps repair and renew tissue and nerve cells, the neutralization of neurotoxins, and the restoration of normal levels of chemicals throughout our bodies. Sleep can also heal the body physically. For example, it can heal wounds, strengthen the immune system, and increase growth hormone levels in the

This is the phase in which people dream most vividly and remember them most often. There are two theories behind dreams. The first is Freud’s theory. Freud said that dreams occur in order to fulfill our wishes. Dreams are also filled with unconscious messages that can be analyzed for deeper meaning. Oftentimes, dreams are connected to the current events that are present in somebody’s life. The other theory is the Activation Synthesis Hypothesis. This can be explained in three easy steps. When we are awake, our minds take in information and stimulus and we react a certain way. At night, when we are asleep, our minds process these stimuli and reactions, and that is why dreams

The average human spends about 25 years of their life sleeping. That is equal to one-third of a person’s life. So if sleep is vital and common among every single human, what do you know about it? What happens when we sleep (Attention Grabber)? Before the 1950s, scientists believed that the brain would just “shut off” when we would go to sleep. It wasn’t until the discovery of the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) state that scientists really looked into what happens in the brain while we are asleep. Studies have found that we go through a cycle of stages during sleep, and it is important for our health (Orientation to Topic). Today, I am going to inform you about what really happens when we sleep, and some issues that are found among it (Specific Purpose). In order to really understand this worldwide commonality, you need to know some background on sleep, the stages in the cycle, and some common disorders (Central Idea). I have taken a year long psychology course that went into depth on sleep psychology, and I have done extensive research on the topic to better grasp it (Statement of Credibility). I want to inform you on sleep so you can understand what happens when you close your eyes every night, and so you can detect any irregularities in your sleep pattern (Statement of Goodwill). First, I will give a background of why and how we know to sleep, then I will explain the stages in the sleep cycle, and finally I will tell you about some common disorders (Preview).

Sleep is an altered state of consciousness. Consciousness, modern psychologists believe, is an awareness of our environment and us. Sleep is the tendency to think of rest. When people get tired they want to close their eyes, lie down and sleep. What is the reason we do this? The human body requires long periods of sleep in order to restore and rejuvenate. When the body sleeps it helps to grow muscle, repair tissue, and structure hormones.

One of the most fascinating natural occurrences known to science is something everyone's body requires them to do, this strange phenomenon is sleep. Sleep is not fully understood by anyone, there are too many variables and unanswered questions to discover what sleep is for and why the human body stresses sleeping so much. Dreams are just as undiscovered as sleep. There are many observations made about dreams and what parts of the brain are utilized during these inter-sleep hallucinations. But like sleep, there is no official reason or meaning behind it. Sleep and dreams, although strange and without apparent purpose, reveal many things about an individual, his or her habits, and potentially innermost subconscious thoughts.

 Sleep is not uniform activity, but one produced of different brain waves throughout the night.

The question “why do we sleep?” is a very difficult question to answer. One way to think about why sleep is important is looking at sleep as if it was food. Food helps us feel better and also helps the human body function properly.There are many different assumptions on why we sleep.The first is that sleeping allows the body to repair cells damaged by metabolic

Why is sleep so important to us? There have been studies done that suggest that sleep deprivation can be detrimental to or decrease the function of our immune systems. Just think, how often was it that after many days of continual sleep deprivation did you start to think that you had a cold? Sleep deprivation can also result in a decrease in core body temperature, decrease in the release of growth hormone, and possible cause an increase in heart rate variability. Sleep also seems to be important in order for our nervous system to work properly. Without sufficient amount of sleep, our behavior and our ability to do things are impaired. We feel drowsy and are unable to concentrate after not getting enough sleep. With enough sleep deprivation, it has been found that some begin to hallucinate and develop mood swings. Higher-ordered cognitive task become more difficult to do where it has been shown that tests that require speed and accuracy have lower results compared to those that are not sleep deprived. Judgment is also impaired; it has been tested that riskier behavior is more likely to occur when sleep deprived. (2).This is part of the reason why you should not drive when you are sleep deprived. Aside from the risk of falling asleep at the wheel, since judgment is

Sleep is undoubtedly one of the most essential requirements for the human body to function properly. It plays a very important role in ensuring the wellness of the human body both physically as well as mentally. In fact, the importance of sleep is clear from the fact that it helps you in maintaining a good lifestyle throughout our entire lifetime. Not only does it help maintain our physical and mental health; rather it also helps in maintaining a decent and healthy lifestyle along with ensuring safety from a number of fatal diseases. It is usually said that the mood in which you wake up is largely dependent on the type of sleep you have been in. This in itself is a big proof of the importance of sleep in our lives. While sleeping, our body finally gets its share of rest and it also gets ample time in rejuvenating from all the wear and tear that it went through during the entire day. Not only this, the body is in its own working condition when we are sleeping as this is the time when it supports the healthy functioning of the brain as well as physical attributes of our body.

Although the idea of dreams has always been a psychological one, there is a philosophical side to them. Descartes once said, "For all I know, I might be dreaming" (Bruder/Moore, Philosophy, 81). This conjecture of Descatres was one that explained the concept of dreams. He asked the question, How do we know that we are not dreaming and our whole life is but a dream? There can never be an answer to this question but it proves that there is a philosophical view of dreams.

Most people have at least stayed awake for the entire night once during their lifetime. This behavior is common amongst individuals enrolled in High School or pursuing University degree. One might wonder how lack of sleep for the night impact him/her. However, it has being proven that being awake for 24 hours has unpleasant effects on health.So why is sleep so important? How does lack of sleep impact one’s mood so significantly, causing people to be ‘grumpy’, isn 't sleep just people lying down in their bed and closing their eyes.sleep is a complex process, it is a natural process where body relaxes and repairs itself. Sleep takes places in 3 stages, 1-2 stage ,2-3 stage and REM (Rapid Eye Movement ) stage. Our body is like a battery, sleeping helps replenishes that energy, if one does not store enough energy for the next day the body will struggle to carry out simple tasks which can Aultimately lead to exhaustion. Sleep is the time when the human body gets a chance to rest. Personally suffering from sleep deprivation it has caused a lot of problems in my own life such as flying safely, concentrating on school work and working efficiently.

"You'll never see an object in dream that you haven't seen in your daily life"

One of the most recent explanations for why we sleep is the brain plasticity theory. This is based on findings that sleep is connected to changes in the structure and organization of the brain. This phenomenon is still not completely understood, but its connection to sleep has many critical implications. It has been known, for example, that sleep plays a crucial part in the development of infant's brains. Infants spend about fourteen hours a day sleeping. A connection between sleep and brain plasticity is becoming clear in adults as well. This is seen in the effects sleep have on people's ability to learn.