Transcript To Sleep, No Doubt to Dream

Kerry Ryffel and Emily Wild
Background
 1952: Eugene Aserinsky observed changes in eye
movements as babies sleep
Is faster eye movement associated with dreaming?
 Coauthor Nathaniel Kleitman joined expanded the
study to include adults.
Background Continued
 REM sleep: rapid eye movement sleep or dreaming
sleep
 Four Stages of Sleep:
 Stage 1: the lightest
 Stage 4: the deepest
 Sleep cycles through the four stages, REM sleep several
times a night.
William Dement’s Study
 8 subjects were monitored with electrodes while they
slept.
 Over several nights, the subjects were awakened each
time they began dreaming.
 Then, the subjects were given several recovery nights
in which they were monitored but not disturbed.
William Dement’s Study
 Control recovery-the procedure was repeated, but
subjects were awakened after a dream ended.
 Eliminated the possibility that effects were due to
being awakened several times in the night.
Findings
 As study progressed, subjects dreamt more often.
 Increase in dreaming time during recovery nights
 Anxiety, difficulty concentrating, weight gain
 Brain attempts to make up for lost dream time-REM
rebound effect
Significance and Recent
Research
 Drugs/alcohol suppress REM
 Research with its origins in this study suggest that
there is a greater synthesis of proteins during REM