How Bio Psych Changed My Life

This is the study of what it means to be awake, semi-awake, and asleep.

1. Altered states (binding problem)

• Short-term, reversible, not wide awake

• daydreaming: detached steam of consciousness
  • advantages: future thinking, creativity, attentional cycling
  • disadvantages: negative mood can be a result of daydreaming

• hypnosis (review)

• meditation
  • mindfulness, focused attention
  • Tangen’s 12 steps
    • beginning signal
    • cleansing breath
    • close your eyes
    • relax everything
    • center yourself
    • wait for the healing tone
    • self-talk
    • sensory scene
    • smile (puppy)
    • 3-2-1
    • open your eyes
    • ending signal

• mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT)
  • Barnard & Teasdale (1991): mind has multiple modes for processing new info. Two modes: being (accepting & allowing) & doing (driven, goal oriented). Emphasis on metacognitive awareness (experience negative thoughts as events, not part of self). Depressed rely on one mode emotional, ignore cognitive mode; they can’t decenter.
  • Seal & Williams: mindfulness-based stress reduction program. Cope with current stressors by not focusing on past or future.

• peak experience: Maslow’s self actualization

• traumatic experience (dazed)

• fasting
  • intermittent fasting: less than 24 hrs
  • spiritual experience
    • Bahá’í: sunrise to sunset March 1-20, not younger than 15 or over 70
    • Buddism: Vinaya monks; not each after noon meal (Middle path: avoid extremes of indulgence & self-mortification)
    • Christianity: Lenten fast
    • Hinduism: fast on Mondays (Shiva), Thursdays (Vishnu) or Saturdays (Ayyappa).
    • Islam: Ramadan
    • Judaism: 6 days a year (Yon Kippur, etc.)
    • Taoism: avoiding grains
    • Yoga: Monday or Thursday & full moon days

• physical exercise: 
  • trance: runners’ high

• infections

• hallucination & psychosis

• • drugs & alcohol

2. Brain waves

• beta waves
  • awake
  • high frequency  12 Hz to 38 H
  • low amplitude
  • desynchronous

• alpha waves
  • meditating
  • still awake & aware
  • 8-13 HZ

• theta waves
  • higher amplitude than alpha
  • slower frequency                       6–7 Hz.
  • light sleep
  • 5-10 min

• delta waves
  • lowest frequency waves                        4-7 Hz
  • highest amplitude
  • deep sleep

• • REM
    • Combination of
      • alpha waves
      • delta waves
      • desynchronous waves (like beta)

3. Sleep

• Don’t know why the body requires sleep

• Know 
  • lack of sleep is linked to higher risk of
    • depression
    • heart disease
    • aggravates mental illness
  • mammals & birds sleep

• Stages
  • NREM
    • N1
    • N2
    • N3 (delta) = slow wave; deep sleep
  • REM

• Historically:
  • Alfred Loomis (1887-197
    • Lawyer, inventor, 
    • RADAR, microscope centrifuge
    • lab in Tuxedo Park
  • Dement & Kleitman, 1953
    • REM sleep plus 4 NREM

• Now, 3 stages plus REM
  • combined stages 3 and 4

• Stages based on EEG, eye movements, respiratory, cardiac, and movement events

• Cycles
  • N1→N2 →N3 →N2 →REM

• proportion of REM sleep increases until just before natural awakening

• In humans (adults), sleep cycle from 90 to 110 min.
  • 60 minutes for newborns

• Awake

• Close eyes
  • meditating
  • alpha waves
  • still awake & aware
  • 8-13 HZ

• Stage N1
  • Somnolence or drowsy sleep
  • Twitches and jerks
  • Hallucinations
  • Lower awareness
  • Theta waves
    • higher amplitude than alpha
    • slower frequency                      6–7 Hz.
  • light sleep
  • 5-10 min\
• Stage N2
  • About 50% of sleep time
  • Theta waves (same as stage 1)
  • less movement, less awareness
  • body temperature drops
  • heart rate slows
  • Two additions (discovered by Loomis)
    • K complexes
    • Sleep spindles
  • K-Complex
    • Brief high-voltage peaks
    • roughly every minute
    • often followed by bursts: sleep spindles
    • Suppress cortical arousal, except to danger signals
    • Aid memory consolidation
  • Sleep Spindles
    • AKA “sigma bands” or “sigma waves”
    • last half second
    • sudden bursts
    • usually 12-14 Hz
    • less movement, no awareness
• Stage N3
  • Deep or slow-wave sleep
    • Bed wetting
    • Sleep walking
    • Sleep talking 
    • Night terrors
  • Delta waves
  • Lowest frequency waves                       4-7 Hz
  • Highest amplitude
  • Used to be called stages 3 & 4
    • minimum is 20% delta
    • less than 50% delta
    • more than 50% delta
  • Body repairs itself
  • builds bone & bone
  • strengthen immune system
• REM
  • Rapid eye movement sleep
  • 20–25% of total sleep time
  • rapid low-voltage EEG
  • Combination of
    • alpha waves
    • delta waves
    • desynchronous waves (like beta)

• As night progresses
  • Less delta waves
  • desynchronous waves (like beta)
  • Heart rate rises
  • Breathing is faster, shallow, irregular
  • Like being awake
  • more acetylcholine
  • But no monoamines
    • dopamine, norepinephrine, etc
    • serotonin, histamine

• Paralysis
  • If asleep
    • inject acetylcholinesterase inhibitor
    • paradoxical sleep
  • If awake
    • paradoxical sleep only if monoamines depleted

• GABA (amino acid)
  • promotes wakefulness
  • diminishes during deep sleep
  • increases during REM

• Glycine (amino acid) increases too

• Both 
  • ionotropic GABA (respond to glycine)
  • metabotropic GABA receptors (respond to GABA)

• First REM of night
  • ~90 minutes after fall asleep

• After 1^st cycle
  • more as night goes on

• first                              lasts 10 minutes

• final                             60+ minutes

• Relatively little dreaming in NREM

• Lucid dreams in REM

• • Memorable dream

4. Sleep disorders

• Jet lag
  • Don’t travel across time zones
  • “Go west”, not east
  • Called desynchronosis
  • Alterations to circadian rhythms
  • Sleep disorder
    • May last several days
    • Figure 1 day per time zone
  • Out of synch w destination time
    • contrary to accustomed rhythms
    • times for eating, sleeping, hormone regulation and body temperature 
  • How long to adjust
    • Varies greatly
    • Cross 1-2 time zones no prob.
  • Not linked to length of flight
    • 10 hr flight within time zone okay
      • Europe to southern Africa
    • Trans-meridian distance (west–east) 
      • 5 hr flight from LA to NY
      • International Date Line
    • Maximum possible disruption is 12 hours plus or minus
  • Symptoms
    • Headaches, irritability
    • Fatigue, mild depression
    • Sleep problems
    • Digestive problems (constipation-diarrhea)
  • To minimize effects
    • Before the flight
      • Ask doctor about meds
      • Partially adapt
        • Up an hour earlier
      • Light box
    • During flight
      • Travel in smaller segments
        • Overnight midway
      • Set time to destination
        • Sleep-wake
    • After flight
      • Sunlight
      • Eat on schedule
  • Most people have circadian period a little over 24 hours
    • Easier to stay up later
    • Harder to get up earlier
• Apnea
  • During sleep
    • Abnormal pauses in breathing (apnea)
    • Abnormal low breathing (hypopnea)
  • Each apnea can last 
    • Seconds to minutes
  • 5-30 per hour
  • Sleep Study = polysomnogram
  • Most common in men; 2+x
    • Can affect children too
  • Symptoms
    • excessive daytime sleepiness
    • slower reaction time
    • daytime fatigue
    • vision problems
  • Treatment
    • CPAP machine
      • Continuous Positive Airway Pressure 
      • pumps air into throat
    • Turbinate surgery
      • Grind down turbinates in nose
    • Oral Appliance Therapy (OAT)
    • Dental appliance; custom-made mouthpiece to shift lower jaw

• Insomnia
  • Incidence
    • 10% and 30% of adults
    • 6% for more than 1 month
  • More often in 65+
  • More often in women
  • Difficulty 
    • initiating sleep
    • maintaining sleep
    • wake up often
    • can’t get back to sleep
    • Wake up too early
  • Clinical diagnosis
    • 3+ nights per week
    • 3+ months
    • adequate opportunity for sleep
    • not caused by other condition
  • Types
    • Transient insomnia
      • less than a week
      • often stress related
    • Acute
      • less than a month
    • Chronic
      • More than a month
  • Causes
    • can be: high levels of stress hormone
  • Symptoms
    • Muscle weakness
    • Hallucinations
    • Double vision

• Narcolepsy
  • Symptoms
    • Excessive sleepiness
    • Fall asleep at inappropriate times
      • Work
      • Driving
    • Cataplexy
      • Sudden muscular weakness
      • when emotional
    • Drop head, weak knees, collapse
    • Slurred speech but normal hearing
  • Often confused with insomnia
  • REM within 5 minutes
    • An hour before normal
  • Possible genetic cause
  • Treat with amphetamines
    • Provigil or Nuvigil

• • RLS (restless leg syndrome)
    • Willis-Ekbom disease
    • Neurological disorder
    • irresistible urge to move
    • Involves
      • usually legs
      • can be arms, torso, head
      • phantom limbs
    • Temporary relief as long as move
    • Sensations
      • pain
      • aching
      • crawling feeling
    • Circadium rhythm to them
      • Time of day
      • When relaxing or reading
    • Usually also have
      • periodic limb movement disorder
    • Spectrum disorder
      • minor annoyance
      • major disruptions
    • Primary RLS
      • Idiopathic
        • No known cause
        • usually begins slowly
        • before age 40–45
        • can disappear for years
        • Often progressive
          • Gets worse with age
        • Can occur in children
          • misdiagnosed as growing pains
      • Genetics
        • 60%+ of cases
        • autosomal dominant
    • How it works
      • Dopamine & iron systems
      • low levels in cerebrospinal fluid
      • levodopa
      • cross blood-brain barrier
      • Iron is essential for making L-dopa
    • Four symptoms
      • Urge to move limbs with or without sensations
      • Improvement with activity
      • Worsening at rest
        • sitting for long time
      • Worsening in the evening or night
        • Clear circadian rhythm
        • restlessness in evening and night
    • No way to prevent it
    • Drugs
      • doesn’t cure
      • side effects
        • nausea, dizziness, orthostatic hypertension
    • Related to periodic limb movement disorder
      • Limbs jerk during sleep
      • disrupted sleep
    • Secondary RLS
      • Characteristics
        • Sudden onset
        • After age 40
        • Can be daily from beginning
        • Caused by specific medical conditions
          • iron deficiency               25% of cases
          • extra iron                        75% of cases
          • Diseases
            • Varicose veins
            • magnesium deficiency
            • fibromyalgia
            • sleep apnea
            • thyroid disease
            • diabetes
            • peripheral neuropathy
            • Rheumatoid arthritis
            • Parkinson’s
            • POTS
            • Worse in pregnancy
            • ADHD
          • RLS & periodic limb movement
            • Low levels of dopamine
            • Medications can cause it
              • Antihistamines
              • Antidepressants
              • Antipsychotics
              • Benzodiazepine withdrawal
              • Opioid withdrawal
      • Treatment
        • Rule out venous disorders
        • Stretching, walking & moving
        • vibrator
        • leg massage
        • hot baths & heating pads
        • ferritin
          • 60% will see improvement
        • Dopamine agonist
          • might cause symptoms earlier in the day

5. Dreams

• Sequence of
  • Images, sensation, emotions

• Purpose = unknown

• Duration of second to 20 min.
  • Get longer as night progresses

• More REM as night progresses

• 5-minute dream is about 5-minutes of story
  • Don’t compress a day into 5 min.

• Remember if awakened in REM

• 3-5 dreams per night

• About 2 hrs per night
• Common
  • Feel out of your control
  • Except lucid self-aware dreams
  • Can provide creative thoughts, problem solutions or inspiration

• • REM has no release of:
    • Monoamines
    • Norepinephrine, serotonin & histamine
  • Theories
    • Ancient
      • Fates and gods talking to you
    • Unconscious Mind
      • Sigmund Freud
      • Unconscious wishes
    • Threat-simulation theory
      • Antti Revonsuo
      • Prepare you for real life
      • Evolutionary theory
    • Activation Theory
      • Hobson & McCarley
      • Random neuron firings
  • Random bits
    • Blind People
      • Congenital blind                                    auditory only
      • Some sight                    some visual dreams
      • If see color                                dream in color
    • Congenital blind            
      • 25% more nightmares
  • All mammals experience REM
    • dolphins lowest amount of REM
    • humans are in the middle
    • opossum and the armadillo most