SLEEP, DREAMING, HYPNOSIS, AND PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS

By: Katelyn Starns

Sleep is a behavioral state that is a natural part of every individual’s life. We spend about one-third of our lives asleep. Nonetheless, people generally know little about the importance of this essential activity. Sleep is not just something to fill time when a person is inactive.

Sleep is a required activity, not an option. Even though the functions of sleep remain a mystery, sleep is important for normal motor and cognitive function. We all recognize and feel the need to sleep.

After sleeping, we recognize changes that have occurred, as we feel rested and more alert. Sleep actually appears to be required for survival. Rats deprived of sleep will die within two to three weeks, a time frame similar to death due to starvation.

PROBLEMS WITH SLEEPING COULD OCCUR FROM:

difficulty concentratingmemory lapsesloss of energyfatiguelethargyemotional instability

Problem sleepiness can be deadly. Approximately 100,000 automobile crashes each year result from drivers who were “asleep at the wheel.” In a survey of drivers in New York State, approximately 25 percent reported they had fallen asleep at the wheel at some time. Crashes in which the driver falls asleep are especially common among young male drivers

Misconception 1: Sleep is time for the body in general and the brain specifically to shut down for rest.

Sleep is an active process involving specific cues for its regulation. Although there are some modest decreases in metabolic rate, there is no evidence that any major organ or regulatory system in the body shuts down during sleep. Some brain activity, including delta waves, increases dramatically. Also, the endocrine system increases secretion of certain hormones during sleep, such as growth hormone and prolactin. In REM sleep, many parts of the brain are as active as at any time when awake.

Misconception 2: Getting just one hour less sleep per night than needed will not have any effect on daytime functioning.

When daily sleep time is less than an individual needs, a “sleep debt” develops. Even relatively modest daily reductions in sleep time (for example, one hour) can accumulate across days to cause a sleep debt. If the debt becomes too great, it can lead to problem sleepiness. Although the individual may not realize his or her sleepiness, the sleep debt can have powerful effects on daytime performance, thinking, and mood.

Misconception 3: The body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules.

The biological clock that times and controls a person’s sleep/wake cycle will attempt to function according to a normal day/night schedule even when that person tries to change it. Those who work night shifts naturally feel sleepy when nighttime comes.

Misconception 4: People need less sleep as they grow older.

Older people don’t need less sleep, but they often get less sleep. That’s because the ability to sleep for long periods of time and to get into the deep, restful stages of sleep decreases with age. Many older people have more fragile sleep and are more easily disturbed by light, noise, and pain than when younger. They are also more likely to have medical conditions that contribute to sleep problems.

Misconception 5: A “good night’s sleep” can cure problems with excessive daytime sleepiness.

Excessive daytime sleepiness can be associated with a sleep disorder or other medical condition. Sleep disorders, including sleep apnea (that is, absence of breathing during sleep), insomnia, and narcolepsy, may require behavioral, pharmacological, or even surgical intervention to relieve the symptoms.

Sleep is a dynamic process. Sleep is not a passive event, but rather an active process involving characteristic physiological changes in the organs of the body

Physiological changes during sleep. Table 1 summarizes some basic physiological changes that occur in NREM and REM sleep.

Sleep and the brain. Sleep is actively generated in specific brain regions.

A dream is defined as a "sequence of sensations, images, thoughts, etc., passing through a sleeping person's mind”

Dreams have been around for as long as the first civilization came to be and have been a normal part of human existence.

In our dreams, we can go anywhere, we can be anybody, and we can do anything.

Sometimes, dreams can be understood in the context of repressed thoughts. Dreaming serves as an outlet for those thoughts and impulses we repress during the day. When we go to sleep at night and slip into our dream state, we feel liberated and behave in a manner that we do not allow ourselves to in our waking life. 

Research have showed that people who are deprived from entering the dream phase of sleep or the REM stage, exhibit symptoms of irritability and anxiety. In one dream study, volunteers are woken up right before they enter into the dream  state.

Some researchers believe that dreams help you to tackle stress. Dreaming is a necessity and helps to recharge the mind and revitalize the body.

In one dream study, volunteers are woken up right before they enter into the dream  state. Then they are allowed to fall back to sleep. Again, right before they enter REM sleep, they are awaken.  This continues on through the night. The volunteers sleep the same amount of time as they normally do. The next day, these volunteers go about their day and observed to be disoriented, depressed, crabby, and quick tempered. There is a general impairment in their daily functioning.

Some eat more than usual.  As this study continues on through several nights, subjects become more and more agitated.  It is found that deprivation of REM sleep causes over-sensitivity, lack of concentration and memory loss. This study shows the importance of dreaming and its role in your well-being and health. Some researchers believe that dreams help you to tackle stress. Dreaming is a necessity and helps to recharge the mind and revitalize the body. 

The process of dreaming, as distinguished from the product, was made available for scientific study by the discovery of objective indicators of dreaming. The first of these was reported in 1953 by E. Aserinsky , and N. Kleitman, who noted while observing sleeping subjects that bursts of rapid eye movements (REMs) occurred periodically during sleep.

The best answer seems to be that the eyes are scanning the dream scene, just as the eyes of a person who is awake scan the visual field. There is some evidence to support this scanning hypothesis. Dreams that involve much action are reported after a REM period in which there are many large eye movements, whereas more passive dreams are correlated with smaller eye movements.

Freud’s empirical method for interpreting a dream involves free association. After a person reports a dream to his analyst, he is instructed to say everything that comes into his mind when each successive element of the dream is presented back to him.

By using the method of free association with his patients dreams, Freud was able to formulate a comprehensive theory of the dream. The dream has two kinds of content:

the manifest (conscious) content, which is the dream as experienced and remembered by the dreamer,

the latent (unconscious) content, which is discovered through free association

Even if we're allowed to sleep, but our dreaming is interrupted, there is a lot of evidence now that suggests dreaming is an important component of short-term memory. So, this is one possibility and perhaps one that's quite important. But, the bottom line is we truly don't know why we dream.

Actually, the worse thing you can do is stop dreaming. It's a very bad prognostic sign, because it means that the trauma was too deep to even represent in fantasy. As long as you're dreaming about it and even if the dreams are horrific, your mind is working on it.

Dream recall is a learned skill, and like any memory skill, if you practice it, if you use it, it gets better. You can do such simple things as putting the notepad and pen by your bed, setting the intention saying to yourself, "okay, tonight I'm going to remember a dream.“

For most people who have structured lives and need to be to work and so forth, it works better to pick a weekend or vacation to let yourself wake up naturally from a dream.

One of the things that people find particularly helpful, and people don't always believe in it at first, is that the dream is very much connected with the body position in which you've had the dream. So if you sleep on your right side or on your left side and you wake up on your left side and have no dream recall, if you have the time to very gently roll into the other sleep position and lie there for a moment, very often dream recall will come fluttering back.

Hypnosis is a state of relaxed concentration where the critical mind is bypassed. It is similar to being like a child who is open and receptive and rarely critical of his/her world.

If you can be hypnotized, you have a “weak” mind.

Hypnosis is actually a state of deep relaxation. It is the level of relaxation where in your brainwaves are operating at the “alpha” level. Alpha states are conducive to hypnosis and meditation, heightened creativity and physical relaxation.

People who are in a hypnotic trance will reveal secrets or say things they will regret.

When one is in a hypnotic trance, (deep relaxation) they can hear every word the practitioner is saying and they can choose how they want to respond. The person in trance always remains in full control.

You can be hypnotized against your will.All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. A French

pharmacist named Emile Coue made this statement in the early 1900’s. Today every student and practitioner of hypnotherapy knows this as a core truth. You have to want to be hypnotized before a trance state can be achieved. There are methods for inducing a trance (deep relaxation) in resistant subjects; however, even those methods are not effective unless you intend to be hypnotized.

“I didn’t get hypnotized, I heard every word!”

A state of deep relaxation means that you are relatively free of the usual busy thought-traffic that bombards your mind in everyday consciousness. Without all the usual distracting clutter, your mind is able to direct itself and focus much more clearly. As you achieve relaxation, the hypnotherapist might suggest that you imagine yourself in your favorite place, at your favorite time of year.

1. Psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, phobias and PTSD.

2. The control of pain.3. Medical disorders such as chronic fatigue

syndrome, asthma and irritable bowel syndrome.

4. To enable medical and dental procedures to be performed more comfortably. E.g. tooth extractions and bone marrow aspirations.

5. To assist in stopping smoking6. To reduce discomfort in childbirth7. To help cope with chronic illness and cancer.

8. Hypnosis is not a cure for all illness

Simply being in a state of hypnosis can leave you feeling very relaxed but has no other lasting benefits. The lasting benefits come from the "therapy" delivered by the practitioner while you are in hypnosis or by yourself when practicing self-hypnosis.

Hypnosis therapy can help a person to modify old behaviors and habits in order to improve their life. It can therefore be used to correct problems such as grief, addictions, anxiety, insomnia, unreasonable anger, phobias and obsessive compulsive behaviors.

Some of us are not at all easy to hypnotize because we are too logical, reticent and suspicious of others.

Another problem with hypnosis therapy is that it can actually be quite hard to find a qualified hypnotherapist.

Psychoactive drugs are chemical substances that affect the brain functioning, causing changes in behavior, mood and consciousness. While these drugs can be used therapeutically to treat both physical and psychological disorders, they are also used recreationally to alter mood, perceptions and consciousness.

DepressantsDepressants are also known as hypnotics

or sedatives. These drugs slow and inhibit neurological activity. Depressants produce fatigue in the user. Alcohol, antihistamines, barbiturates and the prescription drug Valium are examples of depressants.

StimulantsStimulants increase brain activity.

Commonly used stimulants are caffeine and nicotine. Amphetamine and cocaine are also stimulants. Some stimulants are used recreationally and others, such as anti-depressants, have medicinal purposes and are available by prescription

HallucinogensHallucinogens are substances that alter the

cognition and sensory perception of the user. Marijuana, psilocybin and mescaline are naturally-derived hallucinogens. Such drugs as LSD and ecstasy are synthetic hallucinogens. Unlike other psychoactive drugs, most hallucinogens are not lethal at high doses. Most hallucinogens are classified as Schedule I drugs by the United States, meaning the government deems them unsafe and of no medicinal value.

OpiatesOpiates alleviate painful sensations. Opiates

are derived from opium and produce effects by interacting with opiate receptors in the brain. Opium is naturally produced in opium poppies. Codeine and morphine are clinically-administered opiates used to treat pain. The illegal drug heroin is an opiate. Opiates are highly addictive.

Psychoactive drugs impose a substantial health burden on society. Tobacco and alcohol in particular are major causes of death and disability in developed countries, and the impact of tobacco is expected to increase in other parts of the world

Using psychoactive drugs, be it to find pleasure or to avoid pain, can harm health and cause social problems both in the short and longer term. Health effects can include diseases of the liver or the lungs, cancer, deaths and injuries caused by accidents, overdoses, suicide, and assaults.

Psychoactive drugs are used for many different reasons. Physicians may prescribe a psychoactive drug, like morphine, to treat pain. Other psychoactive drugs may be prescribed for the treatment of mental disorders, such as depression or anxiety. Psychoactive drugs have a long history as part of religious rituals in many different cultures

Psychoactive drugs work by temporarily altering typical neurological functioning. The drugs yield different effects. Depressants are psychoactive substances that slow neurological functioning. Alcohol is an example of a commonly used depressant. Stimulants, which range from caffeine to cocaine, increase neurological functioning. Opiates, containing opium derived from the poppy plant, dull or block painful sensation.

Many psychoactive drugs are physically or psychologically addictive. Because of the capacity for psychoactive drugs to produce pleasurable effects in the form of altered perception, heightened mood or relief from pain and anxiety, the likelihood exists for psychoactive drugs to be abused.

Psychoactive Drugs & Their Effects | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5435253_psychoactive-drugs-effects.html#ixzz17HLQAUJk

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