Why do we sleep?

Noureen Lakhani

The average person spends 36% of their life sleeping - but why do we sleep? Moreover, why do we dream?

The hypothalamus in the brain has a biological clock underneath it – tells us when it’s good to be up, when to sleep and interacts within other areas of the hypothalamus, combining to send projections down to the brain stem.  This then projects forwards, bathes the cortex with neurotransmitters that keep us awake and provide us with consciousness.
Director of the Sleep Disorders Centre at Newton Wellesley Hospital, Boston suggests that "...a possible (though certainly not proven) function of a dream is to be weaving new material into the memory system in a way that both reduces emotional arousal and is adaptive in helping us cope with further trauma or stressful events."  Many theories for dreams have also been thought of, all open to interpretation of course. 

Have you ever considered whether other animals dream?  Research shows that rats have had dreams about running in a maze. An experiment was carried out where a rat was hooked up to a device that measured the pattern of neurones firing in the hippocampus - the part of the brain involved in memory.  The rats performed many tasks in the maze and produced distinctive brain patterns, some of which were reproduced during their sleep.  This lead scientists to conclude that the rats were dreaming about running through the maze.  The correlation was so high that the scientists were able to place where in the maze the rat was dreaming and whether the rat was dreaming of running or walking.  Just imagine what a nightmare this must have been for the rat.

Do you think that dreams have real significance?  Or are dreams simply random events that occur while we sleep? Find out more from this TED Video - Russel Foster: Why do we sleep?

Snippet from BBC news on “National Lottery: Why do people still play?”

Since 1994, the Lotto has been a popular game for the public and even with the price of Lotto tickets doubling to £2 in October 2013, players still keep buying more tickets - but what grabs them every time?

Neal Stewart, a professor of psychology at Warwick University believes the slim prospect of a big event can cloud reason.

"It works in the same way with the probability of bad things happening - such as a person's fear of the plane they're flying in crashing" he said. "People believe that rare events are more likely when there is an emotional context to them. They focus on the emotion and don't acknowledge the chances of it happening. If you don't play the lottery you definitely can't win. If you want to indulge the dream you have to have a ticket.”

Do you know family or friends who play Lotto? What makes them keep buying tickets?  Is it a psychological need and desire to continue testing your luck? 

Read more about it on BBC News - National Lottery

Clothing and Psychology: Revealing the common misconceptions -

Chisato Tsuji 

So you think you know what looks good and what doesn't? Psychology begs to differ...

Which shoe looks smaller to you? (They're both the same size!)

• Black clothes do not make you look slimmer. They show you as your true size by sharpening your outline. 

• Warm colours make you seem less slim. It looks expanded with the blurred outline and makes you seem closer than you actually are. Cool colours make you look slimmer. It seems further away with the clear outline. (This principle is also used in art where things in the distance e.g. mountains are painted with cool colours and objects closer are painted with warm colours. 

• Horizontal lines make people more submissive. Horizontal lines are associated with mental stability and lack of desire to attack. This is may be why many sailors and criminals used to wear horizontal lined clothes. It is also more likely that someone will listen to you without objection when they’re wearing such clothes. 

• Want to look younger? Don’t wear skirts/dresses that show your knees. Showing your knees has the psychological effect of making someone look older, especially if you’re over 30. 

• Short torso? Wear V-necks. 

• Dress against the situation if you want people to be interested. Comedians should wear suits, and if you are going to be serious, wear casual clothing. Wearing formal clothes when talking serious make you seem contrived. A research showed university students took 7 times more interest, when the teacher wore jacket/jeans instead of a suit, despite talking about the same topics. The dissonance of the situation and the clothing creates interest. 

• Research has shown that the T can make you up to 12% more attractive, as it makes the chest look broader and the waist slimmer. For maximum effect, the horizontal bar should be equal or longer than the vertical. The illusion has more percentage increase for chubbier men than those who are already toned.

Psychology exists in our everyday lives

Laura Plumley

What is Psychology? Why does it relevant to me?  

Although most of us never even think of the word ‘psychology’, it is a science that most of us will have to apply in our lives. If we use it carefully, it can make life much easier. For example, I’m sure most of us know at least one person who is always convinced that she/he knows exactly how to spend a free day. They always have a plan ready – something they want to do and the rest of the group are supposed to agree with.  In this situation, if you can manage to introduce your own suggestion , whilst making the dominant one believe she/he had thought of it first, you can usually get at least some of your own way!

Applied psychology is often used even in the ‘lay-out’ of work space: should an office be ‘open-plan,’ for instance, to give the workers the feeling that they are all equal? The choice of colours in work places is also psychologically important, because different colours can have different effects on people’s moods: bright colours having a cheerful effect whilst gentle pastel shades can calm people.

As you can see from these few thoughts on the subject, psychology has an immensely important role in our lives. As the American psychologist William James wrote in 1890 – ‘psychology is the science of mental life!’