Sleep and Dreams
With the evolution of man in mind scientists studied the sleep patterns of animals that existed before man such as the Echidna and different primates.
The Echidna does not have Paradoxical (REM) sleep.....On to the next specimen--the apes.
Sleep-wake patterns in non-primates consist mainly of polyphasic episodes of rest and activity with frequent (up to 12) cycles of wakeful activity throught the 24 hour day.
Man has the most developed monophasic pattern. One episode of consolidated sleep and one main episode of wakefulness.
Some animals such as the chimpanzee have a biphasic sleep-wake pattern. They take a nap during the daytime.
“Medical evidence of illnesses such as pneumonia, artiosclerosis and parasitic disease has been found in the mummies of early egypt, and it is reasonable to expect that the presence of disease in early man was associatted with changes in sleep and wakefulness in a similar manner as is seen today.” (The Encyclopedia of Sleep and Sleep Disorders, Michael J. Thorpy, M.D Jan Yager, PHD.)
Blood Letting became an increasingly frequent theraputic means for treating disease, including sleep disorders, in more advanced civilizations. The Chester Beatty papyrus, which was written around 1350 B.C., contains information on the interpretation of dreams.
In periods of history the use of opium {laudanum} was widely used as a treatment for insomnia, and it is likely that it was used as far back as the Sumerian age, which suggests that opium may have been the first hypnotic medication used.
The basic Yin-Yang Symbol is attributed to Fu Hsi(ca. 2900 B.C). The symbol has since become the symbol for sleep and wakefulness. It has been adopted by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as its emblem.Hippocrates(460-370 B.C.) wrote Corpus Hippocraticum, which comprises other authors as well. There is a section inside where Hippocrates gives his theory regarding the causes of sleep and dreams, which he considered of “medical” origin.
“Sleep is due to blood going from the limbs to the inner regions of the body.”
HIPPOCRATES believed that if your blood isn’t warm enough you won’t produce sleep. The blood needed to be warmed by the inner of the body.
He also believed that narcotics from the opium poppy could be useful in treatment of insomnia.
Aristotle(384-322 B.C) believed that dreams were important predictors of the future. He also proposed a theory of sleep based on the effect of food ingestion. A theory that regards the fumes of the food being digested to be the inducer of sleep.
He believed that once food was ingested produced fumes that were taken to blood vessels and then transfered to the brain where they induced sleepiness. The sleep process continued as long as food was being digested.
Leucippus of Miletus (ca. 430 B.C) regarded sleep as a state caused by the partial or complete splitting-off of atoms. Epicurus (ca. 300B.C.) revived the theory and wrote extensively on sleep and dreams, although his own works have been lost.
The Roman Poet Titus Lucretius Carus (ca. 50 B.C) wrote of the teachings of Epicurus on atomism, sleep and dreams, in a poem entitled “De rerum natura”.
Sleep in the Bible
The Bible contains numerous references to sleep and dreams, which were regarded as being predictors of the future.
Essential elements of good sleep are: hard work, a clear conscience, freedom from anxiety and trust in Jehova.
Ecclesiastes 5:12, Psalms 3:5, 4:8, Proverbs 3:24-26, 4:16, 6:9-11, 10:5, 19:15, 20:13, 24:33-34, Romans 13:11-13,
Sleep and dreams were a way to communicate with God.
Genesis 28:10-16
Joseph’s Dream to take Mary as his wife, his dream to flee to Egypt with his family, the dream that it was safe to return home, and the dream of the Magi.
A jewish physician Moses ben Maimon (A.D 1135-1204) emerged as the most influencial physician in Arabic medicine also wrote on how much and when a person should sleep.
“The day and night consist of 24 hours. It is sufficient for a person to sleep one third thereof which is 8 hours. These should be at the end of the night so that from the begining of sleep until the rising of the sun will be eight hours. Thus he will arise from his bed before the sun rises.” - Misheneh Torah, “Hilchoth De’ oth” (Ch.4, No. 4)
Sleep/DeathA jewish physician Moses ben Maimon (A.D 1135-1204) emerged as the most influencial physician in Arabic medicine also wrote on how much and when a person should sleep.
“The day and night consist of 24 hours. It is sufficient for a person to sleep one third thereof which is 8 hours. These should be at the end of the night so that from the begining of sleep until the rising of the sun will be eight hours. Thus he will arise from his bed before the sun rises.” - Misheneh Torah, “Hilchoth De’ oth” (Ch.4, No. 4)
Homer wrote; “Sleep and death, who are twin brothers.” in the Iliad (ca. 850 B.C.) and Ovid (43 B.C-A.D 17) in the Amores 2, “What else is sleep but the image of chill death?”
Psalms 76:6, Matthew 9:24, Mark 5:39, Luke 8:52
Sleep in the 19th Century ( The age of Sleep Theories)
The anatomy of human sleep and wakefulness was partially revealed through the animal experiments of two outstanding neuroanatomists, Luigi Rolando (1773-1831) and Marie Jan Pierre Flourens (1794-1867).
“Rolando in 1809 demonstrated that a state of sleepiness occurred when the cerebral hemispheres of birds were removed, and his experiments were replicated by Flourens in 1822 with the ablation of cerebral hemispheres of pigeons.” (The Encyclopedia of Sleep and Sleep Disorders, Michael J. Thorpy, M.D Jan Yager, PHD.)
“The Age of Sleep Theories” ____19th Century
And so began the scientific rigor regarding explanations on the cause of sleep.
Four main groups of reference for the cause of sleep
Vascular- This viewpoint was primarily based on the work of Alcmaeon from the 5th century B.C. {This type was the most disputed of theories in the early part of the 19th century.} The idea was that sleep was induced due to blood filling up the brain. Johannn Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840) First observed the brain of a subject who was sleeping in 1795. His conclusion was that sleep was caused by the lack of blood in the brain. “The theory that sleep was due to congestion of the brain was the most accepted vascular theory in the first half of the 19th century.” The main alternate to this notion was the thought that sleep was due to insufficient blood in the brain (anemia). By the end of the 19th century these vascular sleep theories lost most support.
Chemical - Aristotle originated the premise that dreams come from chemicals in food.
Neural-This viewpoint was based on the mid 19th century studies of histological understanding of the central nervous system. 1890 Rabl Ruckhardt started his work on his “neurospongium” hypothesis. His belief was that during sleep there is a partial paralysis of the neuronprolongations. This prevents communication with adjacent nerve cells. Coincidentally enough, around the same time of Ruckhardts’ discovery two other French histologists found that sleep was produced by retraction of ameoboid processes of the nerve cell (Raphael Jacques Lepin and Marie Mathais). In 1906 Santiago Ramon Y Cajal was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on cells termed “neuroglia” interacting between neurons and were able to promote or inhibit the transfer of information from one cell to another.
Behavioral -The most popular dream theory appeared in 1889 by Charles Edouard brown-Sequard. He proposed that sleep was due to an inhibitory reflex. “The inhibitory theory of sleep was advanced with the experimentation of Heubel, who proposed that sleep was due to the loss of peripheral sensory stimulation, which was essential for the maintenance of alertness.”
20th Century TheoRies.
Ivan Pavlov successfully expanded upon the 19th century notion of the inhibitory theory.Neural-This viewpoint was based on the mid 19th century studies of histological understanding of the central nervous system. 1890 Rabl Ruckhardt started his work on his “neurospongium” hypothesis. His belief was that during sleep there is a partial paralysis of the neuronprolongations. This prevents communication with adjacent nerve cells. Coincidentally enough, around the same time of Ruckhardts’ discovery two other French histologists found that sleep was produced by retraction of ameoboid processes of the nerve cell (Raphael Jacques Lepin and Marie Mathais). In 1906 Santiago Ramon Y Cajal was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on cells termed “neuroglia” interacting between neurons and were able to promote or inhibit the transfer of information from one cell to another.
Behavioral -The most popular dream theory appeared in 1889 by Charles Edouard brown-Sequard. He proposed that sleep was due to an inhibitory reflex. “The inhibitory theory of sleep was advanced with the experimentation of Heubel, who proposed that sleep was due to the loss of peripheral sensory stimulation, which was essential for the maintenance of alertness.”
20th Century TheoRies.
Sleep is.....“the resting state of consciousness.” --Marie de Manceine
“Sleep is a reflex which has been biologically evolved for the purpose of protecting the brain from further poisoning by the products of metabolism , and which may be evoked, as an association reflex, and the conditions of fatigue.”
