5 Stages Of Sleep Essay

Before a person is able to fully dream they must go through five different stages of sleep. As the sleeper passes through the distinct cycles, the brain waves shift. During the first stage, the body begins to drift off and fall into a daydreaming state. This occurs when the brain is passing through alpha waves. It is not uncommon for people to experience sudden muscle contractions that give the sensation of falling. These vivid and sometimes very real experiences are called hypnagogic hallucinations. When the brain waves progress into theta, the individual’s sleep is still relatively light as it transitions into stage two. Stages two, three and four most commonly occur in sequence. During stage two, the brain waves begin to slow. Short periods of rapid brain wave activity, called sleep spindles, occur throughout the 20 minute period. The body temperature starts to drop and the heart rate slows, as well as the breathing. Extremely slow delta waves emerge in the third stage. They are interspersed with smaller, faster waves and instigate the transition from a light sleep to a very deep sleep. In stage four delta waves are produced almost exclusively. It is referred to as deep sleep because no eye movement or muscle activity occurs. Typically sleepwalking, bed-wetting, and night

The most famous contributor during the twentieth century became the founding father of psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud formulized his own ideology called dream work. He distinguished between the manifest content, or what the dreamer remembers and the latent content, or the underlying wish behind it. “The purpose of dream work is to transform the forbidden wish into a non-threatening form, thus reducing anxiety and allowing us to continue sleeping,”(McLeod). There are four particular aspects involved in the process of dreamwork; condensation, displacement, considerations of representability, and secondary