Creative work on the topic of healthy sleep. Research work “The meaning of sleep in human life”

Dreams provide access to areas of the unconscious that are inaccessible in the waking state. Without being an expert, you can notice that dreams quite often reflect our expectations related to the future. Thus, the fear of failing an exam causes a school graduate to have a dream of corresponding content. However, dream language is rarely so clear. For example, an exam situation may be dreamed of by people who have completed their studies a long time ago and are not taking any exams. In addition, dreams are rich in strange, unusual “scenery,” so that an event perceived in a dream as an “exam” may most closely resemble, from the point of view of everyday perception, a scene from a “play of the absurd.” The category of time in a dream is much more relative than in the waking state. For example, the dreamer knows exactly “what will happen next” (i.e. has clear information about the “future”), but, at the same time, cannot determine “how it all started” and “how he ended up here” (i.e. .e. does not focus on the “past”). Freud notes that, as a rule, in dreams “thoughts expressing wishes for the future are replaced by a picture taking place in the present.”

In a dream, such a characteristic of time as unidirectionality (from the past to the future) is not observed. Therefore, in dreams we often encounter temporal anomalies: we simultaneously participate in mutually exclusive or spatially separated actions or experience the situation “and then it all started all over again.” Perhaps the fabric of a dream, rich in symbols and complex interweaving of events, has more analogies with the concept of “image of the future” than our more rational and systematized “daytime” ideas. After all, on the one hand, our future is constructed on the basis of past experience, and we see the present through the prism of the future (interflow, not a clear separation). On the other hand, images of the future, like images of dreams, are something that objectively does not exist. And modeling the image of the future is possible only with the help of the language of symbols - that is, the same language with which dreams speak to us.

However, not all dreams are symbolic in nature and need to be “deciphered.” The founder of the psychoanalytic approach to dream interpretation, Sigmund Freud, conditionally divided dreams into three groups. The first group included dreams that had a clear meaning and reflected everyday, real reality. The second group consisted of dreams that took place in realistic conditions, but contained strange, unusual events. And, finally, the third group of dreams was characterized by vagueness and absurdity from the point of view of waking consciousness, i.e. these were dreams that carried symbolic rather than explicit meaning. As an example of dreams of the first category, Freud considered the dreams of children. In these dreams, according to Freud, desires that may be satisfied (or not satisfied) in the near future of the child are reflected in an unchanged form.

However, it would be a mistake to think that absolutely all children's dreams are literal and do not carry any symbolic meaning. Younger schoolchildren already quite often see dreams that can be attributed to both the second and third groups. Especially often threatening images acquire a symbolic nature in children's dreams.

The data from a study of children's dreams are interesting. Thus, nine-year-old Tim K. has a recurring “horror dream” - he flies over an erupting volcano. The events of the dream cannot be called everyday, however, symbolically they reflect the boy’s current life situation. Without going into psychoanalytic details, we note that Tima associates “volcano” with “danger” and causes fear. The only way out seems to him to rise as high as possible, in order to be out of reach of the “volcano”. The dream drawing he made includes only a volcano and a small figure of the dreamer flying over it. There is no ground or any perspective in the drawing. In this case, flight probably symbolizes moving away from a real source of danger into a fantasy world, which is confirmed by data from other studies.

The function of a dream according to S. Freud is an attempt to satisfy a desire. Each desire can have a correspondence with a certain area of the surface of the body (in this case we are talking about the pre-narcissistic split dream body), which is what partial objects represent. In the philosophical and anthropological theory of poststructuralism, the correspondence we expressed between the objects of desire and the body appears in the form of a “body without organs” - a map of the cohesion of partial objects. In their late work “Schizoanalytic cartographies” (“Cartographies schizoanalitiques”, 1989), J. Deleuze and F. Guattari are engaged in constructing such maps for various systems: the unconscious, society, economy.

“I” as the field of dream unfolding is itself on the surface and designates a certain surface. As a “skin” structure, “I” expresses the unity of surface and boundary, since it is formed on the basis of the difference between “mine” and “other”. All this is reflected in the structure of the dream, as the presence of a bodily diagram in the dream tells us. But beyond that, the most fundamental element of this structure is the “screen”.

The concept of a “dream screen” was proposed by psychoanalyst B. Levin and means something onto which a dream picture is projected, while dream space is a mental area in which the dream process is realized as an empirical reality. These are two different, although complementary, mental structures. He interpreted the screen as a symbol of sleep (the desire to sleep) and the merging of the “I” with the chest in a flattened form, to which sleep is unconsciously equated, while the visual images of the dream represent desires that can disrupt the state of sleep. As a result, we can talk about the fundamental interaction of Self and Other in a dream.

In addition to the border and surface, there is another effect that arises along with them - meaning. In relation to the effects of corporeality, meaning appears to be the same element of the general system, being also an integral part of the structure of the dream.

Meaning, as an integral part of any boundary, also appears in a dream at the boundary of the interaction of the “I” with the Other, in the space of which this “I” resides in the dream. Moreover, this boundary is a continuation of interaction with the external other. To illustrate what has been said, one can imagine a Möbius strip, in which only by following the surface one can get to its other side: the distinction between the sides of the border, between the dreaming and the dreaming body, is erased. This is the sliding surface of meaning.

R. Barth speaks about signification in the theory of psychoanalysis: “It is known that Freud considered the psyche as a dense network of relationships of significance.” Thus, one of the elements of this relationship represents the explicit meaning (manifester trauminhalt) - the signifier, the other, for example, the substrate of the dream - the hidden (latente traumgedanken), the real - the signified. There is a third element, which, according to the semantic triangle, is the result of the interaction of the first two - the sign (the dream itself).

Let's return to Freud's basic position about dreams as hallucinatory satisfaction of desire. Desire expresses lack. According to Lacan, it has a “contour,” a surface that is formed by the space of the lost object.

A dream is a “metaphor of desire” (R.O. Yakobson). The desire of an object, which does not know satisfaction precisely because of its absence, is a “metonymy of the lack of being” (J. Lacan).

The boundary of a dream is a break in the chain of signifiers, separating the hidden content from the explicit. The mental apparatus produces manifest material from “hidden” material. Such production gives rise to some theorists to consider the mental apparatus as a dream machine. But the dream machine also turns out to be a machine of surfaces. Each element of a dream is a form, a sliding surface of meaning.

According to Jung, dreams play an important additional (or compensatory) role in the psyche Freidger, Freudimer. “The general function of dreams is to try to restore our psychological balance by producing dream material, which restores in a subtle way the general mental balance.”

Jung approaches dreams as living realities. They must be gained through experience and carefully observed. Otherwise it is impossible to understand them. Paying attention to the form and content of dreams, Jung tried to reveal the meaning of dream symbols and at the same time gradually moved away from the reliance on free associations in the analysis of dreams characteristic of psychoanalysis.

Taylor, postulates basic assumptions regarding dreams:

1. All dreams serve health and wholeness.

2. Dreams do not simply tell the dreamer what he or she already knows.

3. Only the dreamer can say with certainty whether what the dream means can happen.

4. There is no dream with only one meaning.

5. All dreams speak a universal language, the language of metaphor and symbol.

More important than the cognitive understanding of sleep is its understanding as the act of learning from dream material and taking that material seriously.

The lost harmony between consciousness and the unconscious can be restored with the help of dreams. They bring memories, insights, experiences, awaken hidden personality traits and reveal unconscious elements in their relationships.

Thanks to their compensatory behavior, dream analysis opens up new perspectives and ways out of impasses.

In a series of dreams, a phenomenon stands out that is somewhat reminiscent of the process of development within the personality. Individual acts of compensation turn into a semblance of a plan leading to one common goal, like steps along the path of development. Jung called this process of spontaneous self-expression in the symbolism of dream series the process of individuation.

All sleep phenomena can be divided into three categories:

1) The coincidence of the mental state of the observer with what is happening at the moment of this state, an objective, external event that corresponds to the mental state or its contents (for example, a scarab), in which a causal relationship between the mental state and the external event is not traced, and in which, taking into account the mental relativity of time and space, such a connection cannot exist.

2) Coincidence of a mental state with a corresponding (happening more or less at the same time) external event that takes place outside the perception of the observer, that is, at a distance, which can only be verified later (for example, the Stockholm fire).

3) The coincidence of a mental state with a corresponding but not yet existing future event, which is significantly distant in time and the reality of which can also be established only later.

Freud theorized that dreams symbolized a person's unconscious needs and anxieties. He argued that society requires us to suppress many of our desires.

When working with dreams, it is also necessary to take into account Freud's position that the content of dreams comes from real experiences. During sleep, it is only reproduced and remembered, although after waking up a person can deny that this knowledge belongs to his awareness. That is, a person in a dream knows something that he does not remember in the waking state.

Municipal educational institution "Lyceum No. 43" (naturally - technical)

PHENOMENON OF SLEEP AND DREAMING

Senin Vasily

10 "a" class

Introduction 2

Bedtime 2

Functions of sleep and dreams 3

Dream Processing Circuit 3

Conclusion 5

References 5

Introduction

The dreams of shamans became the source of the mythological picture of the world, new religions arose from the dreams of prophets, and the dreams of rulers were declared the reason for changing the form of government. The phenomenon of sleep and dreams as an object of study has long lacked academic respectability. In recent decades, the situation has changed and the study of culture while ignoring the study of such an aspect of human existence as sleep is not possible.

In various humanities, the idea of dreams has been formed not only as an individual psychological, but also as a cultural phenomenon, which makes it possible to make it an object of cultural studies. Numerous conferences are held on various aspects of sleep and dreams, and collections of works devoted to the anthropology of dreams appear. Monographs are being published on the role of dreams in various cultures, and various approaches to solving this problem are proposed. However, existing research on sleep and dreams shows a limited and incomplete picture.

Time to sleep

The duration of night sleep required for the human body also depends on the season. In winter - it should be at least half an hour longer than in the summer.

Dreams in the “REM” phase (occurs after slow sleep and before waking up, to wake up or to “turn to the other side”) appear according to an individual biorhythm - every 90-100 minutes. This occurs in accordance with the intra-circadian cyclicity of change (increase) general body temperature and redistribution of blood in the body, increased blood pressure, increased respiratory rate and heart rate.

Short-term memory is involved in remembering dreams, therefore, up to 90% of the content of a dream is forgotten within the next half hour, after waking up, unless, in the process of remembering, emotional experience, ordering and comprehension, its plot is recorded in the long-term memory of the brain.

A natural sleeping pill is fatigue and/or certain moments in the 90-minute cycles of the body’s individual biorhythm when body temperature drops.

A sufficient night's sleep promotes weight loss (if you are overweight, it normalizes it). In this case, dinner no later than four hours before bedtime. Eating at night is excluded, you can only drink clean water, in small quantities (to flush the esophagus, prevent dehydration and to fall asleep as quickly as possible). The effect will be more noticeable - with high physical activity, during daylight hours.

Frequent lack of sleep causes the body to wear out and age faster. Scientists, and not only English ones, have found that you can slow down the aging of the brain if you stabilize your biorhythms - by simply following a sleep schedule.

Functions of sleep and dreams

1. The prognostic function of dreams, caused by the need to predict the future (in a situation where it is impossible to use rational methods) and based on attributing to the deceased the ability to know the future. This is one of the most sought after functions of dreams. During periods of economic or political instability, prophetic dreams of political and religious leaders were considered extremely important. 2. The innovative function of dreams is a consequence of the fact that in traditional communities the structure-forming elements of culture are sacred, and any change in them is a violation of divine institutions. When historical conditions change, an appeal to revelations received in a dream makes it possible to legitimately replace previous structures with new ones revealed through a dream. Dreams, performing the function of resolving intracultural contradictions, are often the only means of ensuring the psychological and even physical survival of a community. The introduction of cultural innovations is the most important function of dreams in traditional communities. The use of dreams as a mechanism for the socially acceptable introduction of innovations can be recognized as a unique method of self-regulation of conservative cultures. This way of introducing innovations is one of the few possible in a traditional society, the basis of whose existence is connection with ancestors and maintaining stability. 3. The legitimizing or sacralizing function is based on the archaic connection of dreams with the world of ancestors and the world of deities, due to which dreams become a means for divinely sanctioned confirmation of the authenticity of institutions or claims to possess power.

Dream Processing Diagram

1. Initial processing of dream images occurs when the dreamer, trying to remember and understand dream images, connects elements of the dream memory into a coherent structure. The most significant, from the point of view of the bearer of a certain “dream tradition”, images are isolated, and those of no interest are discarded. The next stage of this processing stage is the creation of a coherent story from images selected and reduced to elementary logically connected blocks.

2. Secondary processing of a dream occurs during dream telling, since the report of a dream follows the norms accepted in a given cultural environment, which will affect the structure and content of the dream story. The most socially important elements of the dream will be strengthened, while less significant ones will be muted or omitted. The content of the dream story will also be determined by the personality of the person to whom the story is addressed.

3.The next processing is interpretation. The dream is analyzed using tools developed for this purpose by a given cultural community. The process of interpretation, endowing the dream with certain meanings, can thereby change the very structure of the message, which, during subsequent retelling, will work to confirm this interpretation.

4.Dreams that are considered the most significant in this community undergo further processing. These kinds of dreams are told not only by the dreamer, but also retold by his listeners. It is these dreams that are most often recorded by ethnographers. These dreams are included in legends, epic tales, historical chronicles, and the lives of saints. During transmission, these dreams undergo the greatest schematization, acquire standardized structures, images and interpretations, and are finally deprived of individual characteristics, becoming a cultural product.

Since standard dreams are prescribed under certain conditions, members of a given community are prepared in advance to see such a dream. Thus, this kind of significant dreams, even at the initial stage of processing, are largely devoid of individual features, and recall largely consists of subsuming it under standardized schemes. As a result, we get a closed system aimed at maintaining and preserving tradition, where a dream ceases to be only an individual psychological phenomenon, and begins to exist within the framework of a “cultural model of dreams.”

Conclusion

1. Science has formed the idea of dreams not only as an individual psychological phenomenon, but also as a cultural phenomenon, which makes it possible to make it an object of cultural studies. The semiotic approach to the study of the phenomenon of dreams in cultural texts is the most promising methodologically for a number of humanities. This approach is based on the premise that dreams are culturally conditioned, and all our judgments about dreams are totally mediated by the cultural language that we use. In traditional societies, dream structures exist that depend on a socially transmitted pattern of beliefs, and cease to appear when that belief loses support.

The understanding of dreaming in a traditional community as one of the ways of thinking and, therefore, one of the ways of organizing knowledge, as well as the concept of the “cultural model of dreams”, implying that people dream within the pattern set by the culture, can become the methodological basis of cultural studies projects of dreaming as a cultural phenomenon.

2. The idea of the sacredness of dreams, universal for most traditional cultures, is based on the understanding of the state of sleep as a space of communication with the world of the dead, undergoing the following evolution: the world of the dead -> the world of ancestors -> the world of ancestors -" the world of spirits -> the world of gods. In traditional societies, the significance of a dream is directly related to the social status of the dreamer. The importance given to dreams is binary. On the one hand, this is the need for prophetic dreams (in a situation where rational forecasting is impossible), based on attributing to the dead the ability to know the future. On the other hand, for representatives of archaic cultures, dreams pose a threat, since when plunging into sleep, a person finds himself in the contact zone between the world of the living and the dead. For this reason, both the state of sleep itself, and especially certain normatively fixed images and plots of dreams, traditionally considered dangerous, became the object of specific rituals of protection, quantitatively superior to the rituals of acquiring prophetic dreams, being a reflection of more ancient and popular ideas.

3. Dreams in traditional communities are determined by a certain cultural model of dreams, which determines individual psychological experience and represents a closed system aimed at maintaining tradition. Another strong point of this system is the ability to introduce innovations based on the cult of dreams, which makes it possible to respond to the challenges of the time using traditional methods of transferring experience.

4. Understood as a means of communication with the space of the sacred, existing in accordance with the cultural model prescribed to it, the phenomenon of sleep and dreams performs a number of significant cultural functions in a traditional community, such as (1) prognostic, (2) innovative, (3) legitimizing or sacralizing functions.

Conclusion

In this literature review, with the help of information sources, I provided detailed information about such a process as sleep. In the course of my work, I described the Functions of sleep and dreams, the scheme of dream processing, etc. Sleep time is not erased from life, but has a certain influence on a person in the waking state

List of used literature

1. Rabinovich, E. I. “Dreaming as a mechanism for modernizing traditional culture”

2. "The art of dream interpretation in ancient Egypt"

3. "Dreams and relics of the cult of the dead in Jewish folk and elite culture"

4. Selected works, volume I. Semiotics of history. Semiotics of culture

5. Slavic folk interpretations of dreams and their mythological basis

6. “Interpretation of dreams in social and cultural anthropology”

7. Human biological rhythms [electronic resource] Access mode:

http://www. kakras. ru/doc/bioritm-life-cycle. html.

8. “Prophetic or prophetic dreams.”

9. “Prophetic” dream and “fulfilled” event: mechanisms of correlation

10. “Dream State” Trans. from English . - M

Sections: Primary School

Every day, all over the planet
The children go to bed at night.
Toys sleep with them,
Books, bunnies, rattles.
Only the sleep fairy doesn't sleep
She flies over the Earth
Gives children colorful dreams,
Interesting, funny...

I. Introduction.

Mom says that I should go to bed on time, get a good night's sleep, and then I will be in a good mood, I will feel cheerful, which means it will be easy for me to study and I will successfully cope with all my tasks. But it turns out that so much time is spent sleeping... During this time I could play on the computer, watch my favorite shows on TV, assemble a new car from a construction set, play with friends and much, much more... And you have to go to bed... And every time you are so reluctant to fall asleep... And in the morning, interestingly, when the alarm clock rings, I hardly open my eyes and am reluctant to part with my favorite pillow and blanket...

I wondered what kind of phenomenon “dream” is? That's the one I chose object your work. Why is it sometimes so difficult to fall asleep, but in the morning, on the contrary, to “open your eyes”? How long do I need to sleep? What time should you go to bed? What time do you get up? And also, when we sleep, we dream... And sometimes they are so interesting, funny... And sometimes scary... And my grandmother says that I grow in my sleep... And so I decided to conduct my research to clarify all these questions.

Purpose of the study– study the effect of sleep on human health. Through research we must confirm hypothesis that good sleep has a positive effect on a person’s health, mood and performance. Tasks works:

find out what happens to a person during sleep;
determine the best time to sleep and its duration;
find out how easy it is to fall asleep and wake up.

II. Main part.

1. Sleep is a gift of nature.

So, sleep... In the electronic encyclopedia Wikipedia, I found the following definition: “sleep is a natural physiological process of being in a state with a minimal level of brain activity and a reduced reaction to the surrounding world, characteristic of mammals, birds, fish and some other animals, including insects.”

The ancient Greeks believed that sleep is a special gift sent to man by the god of sleep - the winged Morpheus, one of the sons of the god Hypnos. And, perhaps, they were right, sleep is truly a gift of Nature, the importance of which is difficult to overestimate. According to doctors and researchers, during sleep the processes of accumulation of energy reserves, regeneration, and plastic metabolism occur. As a result, energy resources depleted during the day are restored.

Many scientists study this phenomenon. I found a lot of interesting things about sleep in different sources:

1. It turns out that each of us has two sleeps: “slow” sleep and “fast” sleep: during 6-8 hours of sleep, slow sleep lasting 60-90 minutes changes several times to fast sleep - for 10-20 minutes and just after this is the time a person sees dreams.

2. Scientists conducted experiments and deprived people of the opportunity to dream, that is, they woke them up before the onset of REM sleep, and as it turned out, neuroses appeared in people without dreams - feelings of fear, anxiety, tension. It turns out that our dreams are just as necessary brain work as ordinary mental activity. We need dreams like breathing or digestion!

3. During slow-wave sleep, growth hormone is released. And there are even special techniques for increasing height using sleep.

4. There are many known cases when things happened in a dream. significant discoveries. It is well known that it was in a dream that D.I. Mendeleev was able to organize the Periodic Table of chemical elements, Niels Bohr “saw” the structure of the atom. Many writers and artists see their works in their dreams. Thus, Mozart heard entire symphonies in his dreams, Pushkin saw poems. Salvador Dali learned to conjure up entire paintings while half asleep: he sat down in a chair, clutched a teaspoon in his hand and placed a tray on the floor. When the artist fell asleep, the spoon fell with a clang, the artist jumped up and sketched what he saw in his dream. Beethoven composed a piece in a dream. Derzhavin composed the last stanza of the ode “God” in a dream. According to scientists, such insights are possible because dreams create conditions for self-immersion, the subconscious elaboration of information that a creative person thought intensively about while awake.

5. Pets also dream. Many people have probably noticed how a cat or dog twitches in their sleep. There is an explanation that this happens because at night one part of the brain relaxes the muscles of the body, and the other at the same time sends them a command to move. In response to this, the muscles only indicate movement. As a result, if a dog dreams of chasing a cat, then its paws will move as if running. A cat may hiss and arch its back in its sleep.

6. With flying storks, every ten minutes another bird flies into the middle of the school and dozes, lying on the stream of air and barely moving its wings.

7. Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep and lie down on the ground during REM sleep.

8. Somewhat of a dream more important for humans than food. A person can live without food for about 2 months. A person can live very little without sleep. In ancient China there was an execution: a person was deprived of sleep. And he did not live longer than 10 days.

9. The longest period of time without sleep is eighteen days, twenty-one hours and forty minutes. The person who set such a record later spoke about a terrifying mental state - he was seeing various images, his vision, the ability to behave adequately, his memory and logic had deteriorated. This man was a seventeen year old student Randy Gardner. The record was set in 1964 and has not been broken since then. After the record, Randy slept for only fifteen hours straight, which was enough for him to get a full night's sleep.

2. Research with my friends.

I did my research. My friends Lenya and Misha agreed to help me.

Study #1: How Much Sleep Should We Sleep?

First, I decided to find out how much sleep do we need? There is an opinion that children from 7 to 12 years old should sleep 9-10 hours. We slept for 3 days - 8 hours each, then 3 days - 10 hours each and 3 days - 11 hours each. We rated our well-being on a 10-point scale. And this is what happened:

As you can see, we felt the best from days 4 to 6, that is, it turns out that we really It's better to sleep 10 hours. 8 hours is not enough for us, and more than 10 hours is also not good for us. It should be noted that for the last 3 days, when we slept for 11 hours, for the last hour Misha and I didn’t feel like sleeping at all, and we just lay in bed.

Study #2: What time should we go to bed?

Then, when we decided on the duration of sleep, I decided to find out if there was a difference, What time do you go to bed? First, for 5 days we went to bed at 8 o’clock, then 5 days at 9 and 5 days at 10. My friends and I noted that at 8 o’clock it was difficult for us to fall asleep, but at 9 o’clock Lenya and I quickly passed out after working days. Although Misha noted that it was difficult for him to fall asleep even at 9 o’clock. And when we started going to bed at 10 o’clock, we felt tired and really wanted to sleep after 9 o’clock. Misha said that for him 10 o’clock is the best time to fall asleep. As it turned out, Lenya and I used to go to bed at 9 o’clock, and Misha at 10. And we concluded that it depends on a person’s habits, but you need to go to bed at the same time, then it will be easier to fall asleep.

3. Fall asleep easily.

But besides a certain time for easy falling asleep, there is also other recommendations:

do not eat food 2-3 hours before bedtime;
a short walk (30 min.) before bed;
warm bath before bed;
airing the room before going to bed;
fall asleep in complete silence;
sleep on your stomach or left side.

I also checked some of them. For 5 days, my friends and I walked before going to bed, took a bath and ventilated the room. After discussing our feelings, we realized that These recommendations really work: We fell asleep faster.

4. Advice from doctors.

But how Is it easy to get up in the morning? Doctors advise:

gradually get up, stretching in bed for 10 minutes;
massage of the fingers and earlobes, since it is on them that a large number of nerve endings are located, and the body wakes up when they are stimulated;
cool, invigorating shower;

a cup of aromatic tea.

I also learned a little trick... It turns out that there is an interesting exercise that allows you to quickly free yourself from the tenacious embrace of sleep. While still half asleep, half asleep, you need to roll over onto your back, remove the pillow from under your head, lie down straight like a “soldier” and imitate the movements of a caught fish: the upper part of the body should remain almost motionless, and your legs - more precisely, your feet and shins connected together - you need to move from side to side (while pulling your feet towards you).

My friends and I started trying out this particular fun exercise. After shaking our “tails” in the morning, we feel cheerful and our mood improves.

III. Conclusion.

In fact, sleep is the most important component of human activity. The better we sleep, the better the results of our work during the day. Sleep is not a time “crossed out” from active life. This is the process during which our body gains strength, preparing us for the next day. Good sleep gives us strength, we feel fit, we think clearly. It allows us to concentrate on work throughout the day. The best way to do everything we have planned is to give our body time to rest while sleeping.

Internet resources.

Wikipedia http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream
Interesting facts about sleep http://www.passion.ru
Interesting facts about sleep http://uucyc.ru
Interesting facts about sleep http://www.kariguz.ru/articles/a14.html
Interesting facts about sleep http://www.SLEEP-DRIVE.ORG.RU
How to easily wake up in the morning http://www.znaikak.ru/legkostanduputrom.html
PERSONAL HYGIENE http://www.shitoryu.narod.ru/shitoryu/bibliotek/index2.htm
The science of sleep, or what happens behind closed eyes? http://www.spa.su/rus/content/view/133/746/0/
About the Dream http://www.kariguz.ru/articles/a3.html
Child's sleep http://www.rusmedserver.ru
Secrets of sleep http://www.kariguz.ru/articles/a1.html

Sections: Primary School

Every day, all over the planet
The children go to bed at night.
Toys sleep with them,
Books, bunnies, rattles.
Only the sleep fairy doesn't sleep
She flies over the Earth
Gives children colorful dreams,
Interesting, funny...

I. Introduction.

find out what happens to a person during sleep;
determine the best time to sleep and its duration;
find out how easy it is to fall asleep and wake up.

II. Main part.

1. Sleep is a gift of nature.

Many scientists study this phenomenon. I found a lot of interesting things about sleep in different sources:

3. During slow-wave sleep, growth hormone is released. And there are even special techniques for increasing height using sleep.

6. With flying storks, every ten minutes another bird flies into the middle of the school and dozes, lying on the stream of air and barely moving its wings.

7. Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep and lie down on the ground during REM sleep.

2. Research with my friends.

I did my research. My friends Lenya and Misha agreed to help me.

Study #1: How Much Sleep Should We Sleep?

Study #2: What time should we go to bed?

3. Fall asleep easily.

But besides a certain time for easy falling asleep, there is also other recommendations:

do not eat food 2-3 hours before bedtime;
a short walk (30 min.) before bed;
warm bath before bed;
airing the room before going to bed;
fall asleep in complete silence;
sleep on your stomach or left side.

4. Advice from doctors.

But how Is it easy to get up in the morning? Doctors advise:

gradually get up, stretching in bed for 10 minutes;
massage of the fingers and earlobes, since it is on them that a large number of nerve endings are located, and the body wakes up when they are stimulated;
cool, invigorating shower;

a cup of aromatic tea.

My friends and I started trying out this particular fun exercise. After shaking our “tails” in the morning, we feel cheerful and our mood improves.

III. Conclusion.

Internet resources.

Wikipedia http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream
Interesting facts about sleep http://www.passion.ru
Interesting facts about sleep http://uucyc.ru
Interesting facts about sleep http://www.kariguz.ru/articles/a14.html
Interesting facts about sleep http://www.SLEEP-DRIVE.ORG.RU
How to easily wake up in the morning http://www.znaikak.ru/legkostanduputrom.html
PERSONAL HYGIENE http://www.shitoryu.narod.ru/shitoryu/bibliotek/index2.htm
The science of sleep, or what happens behind closed eyes? http://www.spa.su/rus/content/view/133/746/0/
About the Dream http://www.kariguz.ru/articles/a3.html
Child's sleep http://www.rusmedserver.ru
Secrets of sleep http://www.kariguz.ru/articles/a1.html

Municipal educational institution

Verkhnespasskaya secondary school

Eternal miracle - a dream

(biology project; educational topic “Psychophysiological foundations of sleep and dreams”)

Performed: 10th grade student

Manyakhina Margarita

Supervisor: biology teacher

Skakalina Galina Viktorovna

With. Verkhnespasskoe, 2011

2.2 Types of sleep……………………………………………………… p. 7-8 2.3 Stages of sleep……………………………………………...…p. 8-10 2.4 The need for sleep and the consequences of sleep disturbances...p. 10-12

2.5 Dreams, their interpretation ………………………………….. p. 12-15

2.6 Conclusions……………………………………………………….…… p. 15

Conclusion…………………...…………………………………… p. 16-17
Information sources………..……………………….……… p. 18

Introduction

When darkness falls, most people lie down, take a comfortable position and fall asleep until the morning. After sunrise, they wake up and begin their business with fresh energy. This alternation of wakefulness and sleep is inherent in all people. Children sleep significantly longer than adults, and in older adults, overall sleep duration is significantly reduced. In general, a person spends 1/3 of his life sleeping. In many ways, good health, performance and the desire to live life to the fullest depend on how complete the restoration of physical, intellectual and mental strength was during sleep. At the same time, the quality and duration of sleep are largely determined by the events occurring in a person’s life during the day. Unpleasant news, the use of medications and certain types of foods, and violations of any habits can have a significant impact on the effectiveness and duration of sleep, which in turn can affect the nature of daytime behavioral activity and the emotional state of a person.

Interest in the problem of sleep has existed for as long as humans have existed. Daily immersion in this seemingly mysterious state has always given rise to many guesses, legends, and reflections. Only a strictly scientific study of this phenomenon began to bring real results. So I decided to plunge into this still unresolved problem and answer the questions that concern everyone about sleep and dreams. That is why I chose the topic of my research work “The eternal miracle is a dream.”

Target – determine the relationship between sleep and dreams and their role in human life.

Tasks:

study scientific literature on the basics of sleep and dreams, highlight the main theories of sleep;
get acquainted with the types of sleep, its stages, functions;
find out the basics of dreams and their interpretation;
propose a rational daily routine that has a beneficial effect on human life.

Object of study - sleep and dreams.

Subject of study - psychophysiological foundations of sleep and dreams.

Hypothesis - a dream has a mental basis, a dream has a physiological basis.

^ Eternal miracle - a dream

2.1 Sleep theories and hypotheses

Today there are many theories of sleep. All of them describe sleep as a special state of the body caused by prolonged physical and psychological stress.

In modern science, the doctrine of sleep developed by I. P. Pavlov and his followers has received the widest recognition.

^ The theory of sleep by I.P. Pavlova based on the theory of conditioned reflexes. The results of numerous experiments and observations on animals and people led him to the conclusion that in higher animals and humans, sleep and wakefulness are associated with the work of the higher parts of the central nervous system - the cerebral cortex. The work of the brain is based on two nervous processes - excitation and inhibition; they arise under the influence of external and internal stimuli. Excitation forces the body to work, and inhibition delays the activity of organs and turns off the process in the nerve cell itself.

Dream - this is one of the types of inhibition that covers the cerebral cortex and its underlying parts.

Modern theories of sleep

Currently, most of the existing hypotheses regarding the functional purpose of sleep and its individual stages can be reduced to three main types: 1) energetic, or compensatory-restorative, 2) informational, 3) psychodynamic.

According to "energy" theories During sleep, the energy expended during wakefulness is restored. A special role is given to the so-called delta sleep, the increase in duration of which follows physical and mental stress. Any load is compensated by an increase in the proportion of delta sleep. It is at the delta stage of sleep that the secretion of neurohormones that have an anabolic effect occurs. Morphological formations related to sleep regulation were identified. The reticular formation controls the initial stage of sleep. The hypnogenic zone, located in the anterior part of the hypothalamus, also has a regulatory effect on the functions of sleep and wakefulness. Theory P.K. Anokhina attaches decisive importance to the functions of the hypothalamus in this process. With prolonged wakefulness, the level of vital activity of the cells of the cerebral cortex decreases, so their inhibitory effect on the hypothalamus weakens, which allows it to “turn off” the activating effect of the reticular formation.

^ Information theories argue that sleep is the result of a decrease in sensory flow to the reticular formation. A decrease in information entails the activation of inhibitory structures. There was also such a point of view that it is not cells, not tissues, not organs that need rest, but mental functions: perception, consciousness, memory. The perceived information can “overwhelm” the brain, so it needs to disconnect from the outside world (which is the essence of sleep) and switch to a different operating mode. Sleep is interrupted when the information is recorded and the body is ready for new experiences.

^ According to "psychodynamic" theories of sleep, the cerebral cortex has an inhibitory effect on itself and on subcortical structures. Psychodynamic theories include homeostatic theory of sleep. Under homeostasis in this case, the entire complex of processes and states on which optimal brain function is based is understood. According to his theory, there is two types of wakefulness- calm and tense. Calm is supported by the activity of the reticulo-thalamocortical system (activating the impulses that the reticular formation sends, prompting the thalamus and cerebral cortex to work harder), and tension, in addition, by the activity of the limbic system. The combination of these two systems provides tense wakefulness is a necessary basis for coordinated reactions. During REM sleep, only the limbic system works: emotions are excited and coordinated reactions are paralyzed. Judging by the activity of brain structures, REM sleep is an analogue of not calm, but intense wakefulness. It can also be noted that sleep refers to one of the types of cyclic rhythms of human brain activity. Cyclicity underlies our existence, which is ordered by the rhythmic change of day and night, seasons, work and rest. At the level of the organism, cyclicity is represented by biological rhythms, primarily the so-called circadian rhythms, caused by the rotation of the Earth around its axis.

2.2 Types of sleep

In humans and many animals, the period of sleep and wakefulness is confined to the daily cycle of day and night. This kind of dream is called monophasic. If the change of sleep and wakefulness occurs several times a day, sleep is called polyphasic. A number of animals also experience seasonal sleep (hibernation), due to environmental conditions unfavorable for the body: cold, drought, etc.

In addition to those listed, there are several other types of sleep: narcotic(caused by various chemical or physical agents), hypnotic And pathological.

Drug sleep can be caused by various types of chemical influences: inhalation of ether vapor, chloroform, introduction of various types of drugs into the body, for example, alcohol, morphine and others. In addition, this dream can be caused by electronarcosis (exposure to an intermittent electrical current of weak strength).

Pathological sleep occurs with brain anemia, brain injury, the presence of tumors in the cerebral hemispheres, or damage to certain areas of the brain stem. This also includes lethargic sleep, which can occur as a reaction to severe emotional trauma and can last from several days to several years. The phenomena of pathological sleep should also include somnambulism, the physiological mechanisms of which are still unknown.

Of particular interest is hypnotic sleep , which can be caused by the hypnotic effect of the situation and the influence of the hypnotist. During hypnotic sleep, it is possible to turn off voluntary cortical activity while maintaining partial contact with the environment and the presence of sensorimotor activity.

At all stages of the evolutionary ladder, a cyclic alternation of sleep and wakefulness is observed: from lower vertebrates and birds to mammals and humans. However, it should be noted that there are frequent disturbances in the rhythm of sleep, which include insomnia and the so-called irresistible sleep (narcolepsy).

2.3 Stages of sleep

Human sleep has a regular cyclic organization.

V.M. Kovalzon offers the following definition of sleep: “ dream – this is a special genetically determined state of the human body (and warm-blooded animals, i.e. mammals and birds), characterized by a natural sequential change of certain printing patterns in the form of cycles, phases and stages” (Kovalzon, 1993).

Sleep studies are carried out through polygraphic recording of physiological indicators. In 1957, W. Dement and N. Kleitman proposed what became classic sleep pattern. Eight to nine hour sleep is divided into five to six cycles, interspersed with short intervals of awakening, which, as a rule, do not leave any memories for the sleeper.

Each cycle includes two phases: the phase of slow (orthodox) sleep and the phase of rapid (paradoxical) sleep.

The main function of slow-wave sleep is recovery homeostasis brain tissue and optimization of control of internal organs. It is also well known that sleep is necessary to restore physical strength and optimal mental state.

As for paradoxical sleep, it is believed that it facilitates the transfer of information from short-term memory to long-term memory, storage of information and its further reading.

The most characteristic symptoms of sleep include a decrease in the activity of the nervous system and cessation of contact with the environment due to the “switching off” of the sensorimotor sphere.
The thresholds of all types of sensitivity (vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch) increase during sleep. The threshold value can be used to judge the depth of sleep.

In the first four stages, perception thresholds increase by 30-40%, while in REM sleep - by 400%. Reflex function during sleep is sharply weakened. Conditioned reflexes are inhibited, unconditioned reflexes are significantly reduced. However, some types of cortical activity and reactions to certain stimuli may persist during normal periodic sleep. For example, a sleeping mother hears the sounds of a sick child moving. This phenomenon is called partial wakefulness.

Most muscles are in a relaxed state during sleep, and a person is able to maintain a certain body position for a long time. At the same time, the tone of the muscles that close the eyelids is increased. As you fall asleep, your heart and breathing rhythms slow down and become more even.

2.4 Sleep needs and consequences of sleep disturbances

The need for sleep depends on age. Thus, the total duration of sleep for newborns is 20-23 hours a day, at the age of 6 months to 1 year - about 18 hours, at the age of 2 to 4 years - about 16 hours, at the age of 4 to 8 years old - 12 hours, from 8 to 12 years old - 10 hours, from 12 to 16 years old - 9 hours. Adults sleep on average 7-8 hours a day.

A person should sleep from 21 to 3 am (solar time). Extreme options are possible: from 10 am to 4 am or from 8 pm to 2 am. No matter your circumstances, you must sleep from 12 to 4 am. Now let's look at what happens if a person does not sleep during these periods of time.

^ Consequences of disrupted bedtime routine

The deepest functions in our body rest earlier, the more superficial ones rest later.

Mind and mind They rest most actively from 9 pm to 11 pm (solar time). Therefore, if you did not go to bed or did not fall asleep at 10 pm, then your mind and intelligence will suffer. If you neglect this information by going to bed after 11 pm, then the person’s mental abilities and rationality will gradually decline.

If for some reason a person does not sleep from 11 to 1 am (solar time), then he will suffer prana - life force, as well as the nervous and muscular systems. Therefore, if a person does not rest at this time, then weakness, pessimism, lethargy, loss of appetite, heaviness in the body, mental and physical weakness are felt almost immediately.

If a person does not sleep from 1 am to 3 am (solar time), then he suffers from this emotional strength. Thus, excessive irritability, aggressiveness, and antagonism appear.

If a person’s activities take place in bustle and strong nervous tension, then he is advised to sleep for 7 hours and get up at 4 in the morning (solar time), or even sleep for 8 hours and get up at 5 in the morning. However, in all cases, going to bed after 10 pm is harmful for both mental and physical health.

A person deprived of sleep dies within two weeks. Sleep deprivation for 3-5 days causes an irresistible need for sleep. As a result of 60-80 hours of sleep deprivation, a person experiences a decrease in the speed of mental reactions, mood deteriorates, disorientation in the environment occurs, performance sharply decreases, and rapid fatigue occurs during mental work. A person loses the ability to concentrate, various disorders of fine motor skills may occur, hallucinations are possible, and sometimes sudden memory loss and slurred speech are observed. With longer sleep deprivation, psychopathy and other mental disorders may occur.

2.5 Dreams, their interpretation

One of the main features of paradoxical sleep is, of course, dreams. Perhaps none of the phenomena of human consciousness has as many theories and idle inventions as dreams. From the moment of the emergence of human culture to the present day, dreams are represented as the border between the real and the other world.

And not surprisingly, dreams are often very vivid, sometimes brighter than everyday reality. But Aristotle already approached the interpretation of dreams from a more scientific position, highlighting the role of sensations and emotions in the mechanism of the occurrence of dreams. However, only in the 19th century. belief in the supernatural nature of dreams began to wane. Modern dream theories emphasize that dreams are an extension of the waking state.

Over the age of 10 and until the mid-sixth decade of life, people spend about a quarter of their total sleep time in a state of REM sleep. The following are distinguished: basic forms of dreams observed during sufficiently deep sleep:

1. dream-desire, based on the desires for self-preservation and reproduction operating in the subconscious;

2. dream-fear, based on the fear of pain, suffering, etc., and on the (never completely disappearing) feeling of fear of life or of the world;

3. dream-past, reproducing scenes and episodes of childhood;

4. sleep-mononeir(from the Greek monos - only and oneiron - dream) - completely incomprehensible and meaningless images that at first glance have nothing to do with the sleeping person; they are the true subject of dream interpretation; These images are of particular interest to surrealists;

^ 5. a dream bearing the stamp of “collectivity”; here we are talking about experiences that cannot be comprehended by the consciousness of a waking individual; in these dreams, the sleeper joins the treasury of experience of his ancestors or all of humanity.

The doctrine of higher nervous activity, and in particular the disclosure of the features of the inhibition process, helped to fully comprehend the internal mechanism and physiology of dreams. Experiments have shown that the transition of a nerve cell from a state of excitation to complete inhibition and back occurs through a series of intermediate, so-called hypnotic phases. When sleep is deep, there are no dreams, but if for one reason or another the strength of the inhibitory process in individual cells or areas of the brain weakens and complete inhibition is replaced by one of the transition phases, we see dreams.

Against the background of various inhibitions during sleep, those smoldering excitations in our brain that are associated with desires and aspirations that persistently occupy us during the day often flare up brightly. This mechanism (which physiologists call the revival of dormant dominants) underlies those frequent dreams when we see actually fulfilled what we only dream about in reality.

“An unprecedented combination of white impressions” is what the famous Russian physiologist Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov called dreams. This image well reflects one important feature of dreams. It is impossible to see in a dream something that was not once perceived by our brain.

The interpretation of a dream is currently considered in several aspects. The following main styles and approaches to the analysis of night visions can be distinguished:

People's- based on centuries-old observation and transmission of folk wisdom in the form of dream books, omens, folklore, fairy tales, legends, myths, traditions, epics;

^ Shamanic and magical - formed from relevant traditions. Associated with coming into contact with helping spirits from other worlds and receiving information “from there.” This is an interpretation of dreams within the framework of witchcraft and various types of magic.

^ Spiritual, religious - the interpretation of a dream occurs within the framework of a particular religion or spiritual system. So, for example, in Buddhism the emphasis is on the karmic, cause-and-effect relationship, according to which this or that content of the dream appeared.

^ Psychological, psychotherapeutic, psychoanalytic - the dream is considered in the context of certain scientific directions with their own characteristics (classical psychoanalysis, ontopsychology, analytical psychology, psychodrama, Gestalt psychology, micropsychoanalysis, transpersonal psychology, existential psychotherapy, etc.).

What approach to dream analysis can be considered the most accurate, effective, reliable and useful for the dreamer himself? Any one of them could be correct. This depends, of course, on what tasks and goals the cooperation between the dream specialist and the dreamer sets for itself. And also on the level of education, intelligence, attitudes and nature of the subject’s worldview. It is very important what the person himself is focused on, what he wants to know and get. But the most significant, higher approach in the interpretation of dreams seems to be one that takes into account the spiritual dimension, the spiritual perspective of personal growth.

The fundamental law of interpretation is the fact of the presence of a dream setting. Being flexible and plastic, it lends itself to many interpretations at the same time. Therefore, the leading principle of working with dreams is that the conclusions, the final analysis of the dream, are carried out by the dreamer himself. The result of the interpretation should come creatively, intuitively, sometimes as an insight, a breakthrough within the very personality of the subject.

To this day, dream books are extremely popular, making it possible to more fully interpret the meaning of a dream.

2.6 Conclusions

The science of dreams has not yet said the last word. Only one thing is absolutely clear: sleep is an integral part of human life. Sleep has a physiological basis, but its course is influenced by many factors, including mental ones.

Many mechanisms of dreams are still not understood. Dreams are a reflection of a person’s physical and mental reality. By analyzing them, you can discover unknown secrets of the human unconscious. By studying the symbolism that appears in a dream, one can diagnose a disease that has not yet manifested itself on the physical plane.

Dreaming is an excellent tool for understanding a person’s hidden problems. The main thing is to learn how to use this tool.

Conclusion

Modern psychologists distinguish two periodic states of the psyche, inherent in all people: wakefulness - a state characterized by active interaction between a person and the outside world, and sleep - a state considered primarily as a period of rest.

Therefore, at the end of my work, I would like to suggest an approximate daily routine, by following which you will be active and vital throughout the day, after a full night’s sleep:

Get up 7.00.
Morning exercises, water treatments, bed making, toilet 7.00-7.30
Morning breakfast 7.30-7.50
Road to school or morning walk before school starts 7.50-8.20
School classes 8.30-14.00
Hot breakfast at school around 11 o'clock.
The road from school or a walk after school 14.00-14.30
Lunch 14.30-15.00
Afternoon rest or sleep 15.00-16.00
Afternoon tea 16.00-16.15
Preparing homework 16.15-17.30
Outdoor walks 17.30-19.00
Dinner and free activities (reading, music lessons, manual labor, helping the family, foreign language classes, etc.) 19.00-20.30
Getting ready for bed (hygienic measures - cleaning clothes, shoes, washing) 20.30-21.00
Sleep 21.00-7.00

Sleep is by no means a passive inhibitory state that only contributes to the restoration of strength and energy; sleep is a specific, active state of the brain that promotes the full use of existing experience and acquired information in the interests of more perfect adaptation of the body during wakefulness.

This is the vital function of sleep and its integral component - dreams.

Information sources

Nemov R.S. “General Psychology”, St. Petersburg: Peter, 2005
Smirnov T. “Psychology of Dreams”, M.: “KSP+”, 2001
Tutushkina M.K. “Practical Psychology”, St. Petersburg: Publishing House “Didactics Plus”, 2004.