Lucy+nightmares

1. What does it mean to be "gainfully" employed (line 3)? 2. Look up the word "Damoclesian". What does it mean that the knife dangled with "Damoclesian contempt"?
 * It means he was a respectable, reliable employer.
 * Full time job
 * making a pay check

3. What did the patient fear at night (2 things)? 4. How did Dr. Leving help this man? 5. When is the last time you had a nightmare you remember? Do you mind sharing it? If not, please do so here... 6. What does she mean when she calls nightmares a "sensorily rich nocturnal roundhouse staffed with characters so persuasive you want to ... strangle them, before they can strangle you."? (paragraph 4) 7. What percentage of dreams are bad dreams? 8. What is REM sleep? (You may need to look this up.) What does it stand for? What happens during REM sleep? How much REM sleep do we get in a typical night's sleep? 9. How much time do we spend dreaming each night? 10. How does the frequency of nightmares change as we age? (Be specific with ages and number of nightmares) 11. Which parts of the brain are active during dreaming (Be specific, name the parts and their function)? 12. What is the possible function of bad dreams? And why are nightmares disfunctional?
 * He feared a women breaking into his house and that ere was a knife hanging from a ceiling fan above his head
 * he urges the patient to reframe the dream and to rehearse alternatives for the swinging blades and forzen fear untll the nightmares "abated" and the man could regain his footing.
 * 5th grade
 * There was a man who robbed my house, broken in in the middle of the day and was only interested in getting jewelery, electronics and money. So I tip-toed out of the house but as i got to the door, he saw me and began to chase after me. I opened the day to run away but i could move. It was like I was running in place. I was trying to hard to get away but i just couldn't move. I woke up when he tried to grab my arm.
 * She means that there are real things in reality that we dream about and how our mind can construct these images.
 * 25 %
 * 3 quarters are considered bad dreams
 * REM- rapid eye movement
 * Rapid eye movement sleep. REM sleep occurs in brief spurts of increased activity in the brain and body. REM is considered the dreaming stage of sleep. It is characterized by the darting of the eyes under the eyelids.
 * we spend about 2 hours in this stage
 * 60-70%
 * 25% of children aged 5-12 are awakened by bad dreams once a week
 * people 55 of age have 1/3 the number of nightmares as a 25 year old
 * Girls and women have more nightmares than boys and men
 * The limbic system becomes really active when we are dreaming
 * The limbic system is the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex (aka "the axes of fear")
 * the prefrontal cortex is for rational thoughts and critical reasoning is taking a break which is why we can have dreams where something has 4 heads and 12 legs
 * The primary visual cortex makes visual signals from the outside world. The secondary visual cortex helps process and interpret those signals remains alert.
 * The brain scrambles, detoxifies and discards old fearful memories because this is a way to move on from those fearful thoughts. The brain learns quickly what to e afraid of.
 * Nightmares will allow you to escape prematurely. Bad dreams are functional, nightmares are dysfunctional