Summarize the chapter on : Sleep and Dream Research - Assignment Example

Using electrodes attached to machinery with pens and a moving belt of paper, this machine is able to record the changes of the body and brain as the subject drifts off to sleep and moves throughout the sleep stages until they research the REM (rapid eye movement) cycle. Electrodes and gauges are attached to the head and scalp to record brain activity, to the chin to record muscle activity, to the eyes to record eye movement, and to the chest and abdomen for changes in respiration. This allows the researcher to monitor the stages of sleep and the patterns of the individual.

The functions of sleep and dreams have not always plagued the minds of scientists. Though sleep studies have been conducted for decades, the first testable hypothesis was created by Eugene Aserinsky in the early 1950s. Aserinsky noticed that when infants slept, their rapid eye movement coincided with an absence of body movement. When studies were undergone to test this hypothesis among sleeping adults, Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman implemented the electroencephalograph to gain more accurate measures.

It was during these series of studies that the researchers noted that the rapid eye movements of their subjects occurred almost simultaneously with physiological changes. Such changes included low voltage and fast activity in the brain and heart and pulse rates that seemed to speed up. Kleitman presumed that these changes were a result of emotional disturbance and, furthermore, might be the cause of the subject dreaming. Eager to determine if the cycles of rapid eye movement were associated with dreaming, the researchers would wake their subjects up during REM.

In over seventy percent of their subjects, a number that would begin to fluctuate between sixty and ninety percent in future studies, their attempts were in favor of their hypothesis that REM is a result of dreaming. Further research conducted during a variety of studies verified that most cycles of REM come about because the subject is dreaming. The electroencephalograph revealed that an individual’s brain waves are altered as a person sleeps, and as they move through the various stages of sleep, everything slows down - the movement of their body, respiration, heart rate, and loss of muscle tone.

After completing one rotation of the four-stage sleep, the rhythms of the body become irregular, including the brain waves moving faster and bursts of rapid eye movement. The cycle of REM sleep has begun. During their studies, the author and various researchers were able to determine that each sleep cycle - all four stages - takes approximately ninety minutes to complete. Furthermore, these cycles, including REM, occur consistently throughout the night. The researchers concluded that more time is spent in REM than in any of the other four sleep stages.

Slow wave sleep occurs during the first third of the night, while REM sleep occurs in the last third. As such, most individuals have between four and six REM periods, accounting for almost twenty-five percent of our total sleep time. After understanding many of the mechanics of REM sleep, the author set out to test the hypothesis that dreams are an inevitable part of the sleep cycle. To test this, as well as to determine the average lengths of dreams, the researchers would wake their subjects ten to fifteen minutes into the REM cycle.

The subjects would be asked questions in regard to their dreams and, based on