psychology-health

There are four stages of sleep; all accompanied by varying degrees of high and low voltage activity. The first stage is transitional, with “low voltage, high-frequency waves of active wakefulness” (Pinel, 2007, p.369). During this stage of sleep, the frequency and voltage is similar to that of a person who is awake. As we progress through the stages through to stage four, the voltage increases, as the frequency fades. When we are rested and begin the waking process, we go back through each stage to stage 1. It is in this emergent stage 1 EEG that we experience rapid eye movement (REM). REM is said to be the time during sleep when we dream, and physiological changes also occur during this time.

Some people think that outside factors can influence the subject of their dreams. For example, the fluffy fur of a puppy may become a part of a dream where the person is wearing a fur coat and is stimulated by the feel of the soft fur. In actual fact, their dog may be asleep on the end of the bed as they lay dreaming. People also wrongly assume that the dreams they have last for a minute amount of time, and when questioned about the length of time their dreams last, they often suffer from time distortion and say that is was no more than a few minutes. Dreams are found to occur in real time, so this assumption of most people is, therefore, incorrect (Pinel, 2006, p.371).

Many people also wrongly assume that they do not have dreams, although they dream as much as everyone else, but without the recall capabilities. If these people were awakened during the REM stage, it is said that they would indeed remember their dreams, but perhaps not as vividly or as often as the majority of people (Pinel, 2006, p.371).

Physiological effects during sleep include stimulated sex organs. It is common for a gentleman to have an erection while he is sleeping, whether his dream is of a sexual nature or not. Other involuntary functions such as blood pressure are also altered during sleep. During stage 4 sleep, somnambulism and sleeptalking can occur. People often think that this happens because of a dream they were having, although somnambulism happens in the deepest stage of sleep, not the REM stage which is much lighter.

Hobson’s (1989) activation-synthesis theory is that we have dreams because of neural activity, and that the brain is trying to decipher the information via the dream so it makes sense to us (Pinel, 2006, p.372 ). Freud believed that dreams were manifestations of suppressed sexual urges, and that we dealt with unconscious issues through dreams because they were too much to cope with in the conscious state. It is my belief that Freud’s theory is the most logical, because dreaming is the perfect venue for venting unwanted stress which may otherwise be suppressed until it becomes unmanageable. I do believe that this is a self-regulatory system of maintaining good psychological health. However, it is possibly not a reasonable comparison between Hobson and Freud, because one theory has more to do with psychological issues, while the other has physiological relevance. ReferencePinel, J. P. J. (2007). Basics of biopsychology. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

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