Sleep Dreaming - Essay Example

There are five stages of sleep. In the first stage, the cycle of sleep commences. It is a light stage in which a person transits between wakefulness and sleep. Slow brain waves known as theta waves are produced by the brain with a high amplitude. This stage takes between five and ten minutes to complete. In the second stage, the brain produces sleep spindles. This is a rhythmic activity of brain waves. This activity, which lasts for about twenty minutes, lowers the temperature of the body and decreases the heart rate. In the third stage, delta waves which are slow brain waves start emerging. This stage is an interface between light and deep sleep. Stage four takes thirty minutes to complete and constitutes deep sleep. By the end of this stage, people who are habitual may sleepwalk. The fifth stage of sleep, called the rapid eye movement (REM) stage is in which most dreaming takes place (Cherry, 2011). This stage comes with an increase in the rate of respiration, eye movement as well as brain activity. 

Five common beliefs about dreaming:

1. Dreaming is an emblem of healthy sleep.
2. Dreams regulate stress.
3. Dreams may occasionally be true.
4. Dreams are essential for our emotional and psychological well-being.
5. Dreams broaden imagination.

Theories of dreams:

Two common theories of dreams are Sigmund Freud’s theory of dreams and the activation-synthesis dreaming model. The former interprets dreams as signals of unconscious desires while the latter defines dreams as a subjective interpretation of internally generated signals. I agree more with the activation-synthesis dreaming model because I believe that signals for the thoughts of dreaming are generated by the brain. Besides, dreams do not always portray unconscious desires, so I disagree with Sigmund Freud’s explanation.