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Sleep is a genetically programmed behavior to increase the adaptive capacity of the subjects. It is an active process. There is physical recovery and mental restructuring. Rest is a biologically controlled primary motivation. It involves the recurrent cyclicity of periods of rest, interspersed with periods of wakefulness and with an almost perfect fit to the basic light-dark cycle.
You may also be interested in: REM sleep: what it is, duration and characteristics Index- What is the dream
- Sleep Characteristics and Functions
- Dream Tiops
What is the dream
Circadian rhythms are periods with a duration of approximately 24 hours. Of all the cycles, the most familiar is the sleep-wake cycle:
- It oscillates around 25 hours in duration, but, daily, there is an adjustment to the conditions of the light-dark cycle (each day a subject "loses" one hour of his basic cycle)
- The tendency to adopt a 24-hour cycle is due to influences from environmental factors (they allow the adjustment of the internal controllers to the demands). If these factors were absent, free development cycles or periods would be observed (they would work only according to internal controllers). These free periods reflect the rhythmic or cyclical character of the endogenous process that generates the circadian rhythm.
- The daily duration of sleep, although it varies, oscillates around 7.5 hours. The amount of sleep required by a subject declines throughout childhood and adolescence, stabilizes in adulthood, and declines again in later life.
From 3 months on, 2 types of dreams can be observed in the fetus: one active, preceding the paradoxical dream, and the other quiet, preceding the future delta dream. The fetus dedicates 50% to each of these dreams. After 8 months, wakefulness appears with a very short duration. And it is from 24 months when wakefulness takes up more time than sleep. During the first days of life, the subject manifests the "polyphasic sleep pattern": multiple sleep-wake cycles during one day, since at these times, sleep is not influenced by light-dark cycles.
The total amount of sleep reaches 17-18 hours (3/4 of the day sleeping). From the age of 4, a considerable reduction in sleep time is observed and what is called "biphasic sleep pattern" appears (sleeping twice throughout the day). From the age of 5, the sleep-wake cycle stabilizes in a "monophasic or unifhasic sleep pattern" (a single sleep and wake period per day). Around eight months the vigil appears; polyphasic sleep pattern.
Adolescence: between seven and eight hours of sleep. Hartmann indicates that "one of the most notable differences between subjects who sleep a lot and those who sleep little, has to do with the amount dedicated to paradoxical sleep", very sleepers spend a lot of time in paradoxical sleep. Low-sleep subjects tend to be more sociable and less nervous, more efficient, skillful, and optimistic. Very sleepers show a profile characterized by pessimism, apathy and depression.
Sleep Characteristics and Functions
They asked: 3 characteristics of the dream:
- Periodically necessary function for the body.
- It presents a cyclical rhythm regardless of external conditions.
- It corresponds to a situation in which a complete interruption of the sensory and motor functions that link the brain with the external environment occurs. (It's not correct).
Factors determine the birth of sleep according to Franken:
- Circadian rhythms.
- Environmental stimulation / activation: the more intense the environmental stimulation, the greater the difficulty in sleeping if the subject develops his waking activity under stressful situations, difficulty in initiating and / or maintaining sleep is observed (the environmental effects are temporarily separated from the onset of sleep). dream).
- The time that the subject has been without sleep: The longer the subject has been in the waking phase, the more likely it is that the sleep process begins. These arguments highlight that sleep is a genetically programmed activity.
Sleep deprivation: Total sleep deprivation:
- Large inter-individual differences in resistance to sleep.
- Cannot be achieved if subject is inactive.
- As waking time increases, the tendency to sleep increases (greater at night).
- Performance on short, non-boring tasks is generally similar to that of non-sleep deprived subjects.
- Great difficulty even inability to achieve concentration.
- Some psychotic manifestations.
- When they are allowed to sleep, there is considerable recovery from slow sleep phase IV and almost complete recovery from paradoxical sleep phase.
Selective paradoxical sleep deprivation:
- Rebound phenomenon: when the subject is allowed to sleep without interruptions, they enter the paradoxical sleep phase more easily and frequently.
- Escape phenomenon: The subject tends to manifest some of the characteristics of paradoxical sleep in the phases of slow sleep and even in the waking phases.
- Emotional changes.
Alterations in the information acquisition and consolidation processes. 3) Selective slow sleep deprivation (phase IV):
- Rebound phenomenon: The subject spends more time in phase IV than it would normally use with characteristics similar to paradoxical sleep deprivation.
- Symptoms of depression, tiredness and fatigue may appear.
Sleep functions:
- During the sleep period, various processes take place that may become essential to guarantee the physical and mental integrity of the subject.
- Sleep has functions related to energy conservation. This is reflected in various indices: reduction in body temperature, decreased muscle tone, heart rate and respiratory.
- It has to do with the probability of survival (immobility of sleep allows predators to go unnoticed).
Functions of paradoxical dream: (Jouvet)
- The reveries of the paradoxical dream have the function of programming the execution of specific behaviors of the species, or instinctive behavior.
- Development of the nervous system in the early stages of life (long duration).
- Consolidation of long-term memories (the time of this dream is increased when learning tasks have been carried out).
- Metabolic functions: elimination of toxins accumulated in the NS.
- Adaptive functions: the cortical activation of paradoxical sleep allows to be more sensitive to environmental stimulation.
- Selective deprivation of paradoxical sleep can be beneficial for depressed subjects: if we prevent overactivation during paradoxical sleep, we obtain greater excitability or neural activity during wakefulness, suppressing or mitigating the behavioral manifestations of depression.
Slow sleep functions:
- Adaptive role: energy recovery and storage to compensate for the wear and tear in the previous waking phase and prepare for the wear and tear of the following waking phase.
- In individuals who habitually practice sports, when they perform intense physical activity, there is an increase in the time dedicated to slow sleep, especially sleep III and IV slow sleep, for several nights.
- In individuals who do not habitually practice sports and have sedentary activities, there are various effects. One of the most notable is the reduction in latency to start the sleep period. The quality of sleep and the positive effects on the general functioning of the individual seem to depend on the delta sleep phases (III and IV).
- The time dedicated to slow sleep phase IV is practically the same in subjects who sleep little as in those who sleep a lot; The difference between both types of subjects is related to the time they dedicate to paradoxical sleep and to phases II of slow sleep.
- Therefore, slow sleep is important for the physical and mental well-being of the subject, and for their adaptive functioning.
Dream Tiops
Slow or passive sleep: no rapid eye movements (SLNM). Paradoxical dream: with rapid eye movements (REM).
SLEEP PHASES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS CHARACTERISTIC PHASES
- (I) Slow Sleep - Somnolence - Discontinuous alpha waves encephalogram, initiating rhythms with theta waves (2-7-c / s), sporadically b waves.
- II) Slow Sleep - Superficial Sleep - More abundant theta waves, Some slower rhythms, delta waves (0.5-2 c / s). - There is a progressive decrease in muscle tone
- III) Slow sleep - Medium sleep - Considerable increase in delta waves that occupies between 20% and 50% of the EEG - Muscle activity continues to decrease
- IV) Slow Sleep - Deep sleep - Predominance of delta waves (+ 50%). - Even less muscle activity Paradoxical dream - Sudden change in the EEG. Signs of phase I sleep appear - Electroencephalographic desynchronization appears - Paradoxically, at the same time that this manifestation of cortical activity occurs, a profound loss of muscle tone occurs
Slow sleep: During slow sleep, a synchronization of eeg waves is observed; Changes related to the predominance and functional control of the Parasympathetic Autonomous NS: its functioning entails energy storage (reduction in heart rate, BP, basal temperature, tear secretion, and miosis). Daydreams are conceptual, rational
Paradoxical sleep: Predominance of the sympathetic autonomic system; it entails energy consumption (increase in blood pressure, heart rate, cerebral blood flow, oxygen consumption).
It is produced:
- EEG desynchronization
- Rapid eye movements
- Frequent erections in males
- Occurrence of bruxism (rubbing teeth)
- Loss of muscle tone (some contractions of the muscles of the face and extremities)
- Subjective perception of time, quite close to the actual course of it.
If you are awakened during this phase, you can relate the content of the dream (dreams with plot and predominantly perceptual and emotional connection; more intense as the dream progresses). Cognitive restructuring and programming processes. Daydreams occur, mainly in the paradoxical dream phase, but also in other phases. Those that are located in the beginning of the dream, have quite similar to waking fantasies. In the REM phase they tend to be more intense as the sleep phase progresses. Criteria for detecting what type of dream a subject is in (Ardila):
- Magnitude of the stimulus capable of awakening the subject (response threshold). As the paradoxical sleep phase approaches, the higher the response threshold. This relationship is modified when the stimulus is relevant or significant for the subject (it emphasizes the consideration of sleep as an active process).
- Electroencephalographic recording: In slow sleep there is a certain synchronization (low frequency and high voltage waves), while in the paradoxical sleep phase there is a sudden desynchronization.
- Vegetative activity: functional predominance of parasympathetic activity during slow sleep and sympathetic activity during paradoxical sleep.
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