Description
The biology of dream sleep was first described in 1953 and yet dreams, and dream sleep remain a mysterious state. We know that we all dream and must dream during brain development, and REM sleep has a role in memory processing. But it is only recently that the latest advances in functional imaging have started to provide overarching theories for why we might need to dream.
Greater understanding of the pathophysiology of dream sleep disorders including nightmares, REM sleep behaviour disorder and narcolepsy have led to increasingly effective therapies for many patients.
Throughout history, literature and art, dreams have assumed a special significance beyond the scientific. Many have used hallucinogenic drugs over the years to induce a dream like state. Therefore the role of dreams and the dream state within art and literature will also be explored.
This one day conference will include speakers from neurology, psychiatry, experts in functional imaging but also artists who explore sleep and dreams within society.
The current understanding of REM sleep and REM sleep disorders, novel insights within functional brain imaging, the treatment of depression using dream inducing psychedelic drugs and the impact of sleep and dreams in art and literature will be covered.
topics include:
The biology of REM sleep and the current theories for it’s role in brain development and memory
A review of the potential relevance of hallucinogenic drugs in treatment of conditions such as depression
REM sleep disorders including nightmare disorder and REM sleep behaviour disorder
The cultural and social relevance of dreaming through art and literature
key speakers:
Professor Karl Friston FMedSci FRS, Wellcome Principal Research Fellow and Scientific Director, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging
Professor Friston is a world famous neuroscientist and one the UK and worlds most cited academics. Professor Friston is a theoretical neuroscientist and authority on brain imaging. He invented statistical parametric mapping (SPM), voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and dynamic causal modelling (DCM).
Professor Friston has received a Golden Brain Award from the Minerva Foundation in 2003, and the Weldon Memorial Prize in 2013.
Christopher Timmermann, Neuroscientist, Imperial College London
Christopher Timmermann obtained a BSc in Psychology in Santiago, Chile and a MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Bologna in Italy. He is currently completing a PhD in Imperial College London, leading a project focusing on the effects of DMT in the brain and consciousness. He is interested in the use of methods bridging the relationship between phenomenology and changes in brain activity by studying the effects of psychedelic compounds in human participants.
Dr Paul Reading, Consultant Neurologist and Sleep Specialist, Regional Sleep Service, James Cook University Hospital, Middleborough
Dr Paul Reading graduated in 1987, undertaking his training at Cambridge, London, Edinburgh and Newcastle. He completed a PhD in the behavioural assessment of embryonic neural grafts in models of Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.
Currently based at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, Dr Paul Reading has developed an academic and clinical interest in sleep medicine and is a past president of the British Sleep Society. His interests include narcolepsy, abnormal sleep in neurodegenerative disease (particularly parkinsonian syndromes) and parasomnias.
student essay prize: call for abstracts
Sleep Medicine Section: Student essay prize
Submission deadline: Monday 27 August 2018
Meeting date: Tuesday 23 October 2018
The title of the essay this year is ‘Should Healthcare professionals be concerned about the quality of sleep their patients have?’
Prizes:
First prize: £200 + certificate
Second prize: £100 + certificate
Third prize: £50 + certificate
Open to: Medical (pre-clinical and clinical) and dental undergraduate students
Apply here arrow
*Following registration you will be contacted appropriately by email with; your booking confirmation, feedback survey and attendance certificate. For full details of the RSM privacy policy, click here.
agenda
Session 1
9.00 am
Registration, tea and coffee
9.30 am
Introduction and welcome to the day
9.45 am
The biology of REM sleep – how we dream
Dr Paul Reading, Consultant Neurologist and Sleep Specialist, Regional Sleep Service, James Cook University Hospital, Middleborough
10.30 am
To sleep, perchance to scream. 50 years of REM sleep behaviour disorder
Dr Kirstie Anderson, Consultant Neurologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Newcastle Regional Sleep Service Freeman Hospital
Session 2
11.15 am
Tea and coffee break
11.45 am
Psychedelic phenomenology and associated brain activity as a model for dreaming
Dr Christopher Timmermann, Psychedelic Research Group, Imperial College London
12.30 pm
Lunch
1.15 pm
Nightmares – causes and cures
Dr Laura Madeley, Consultant Clinical Psychologist Guy’s and St Thomas’ Sleep Centre, London
2.00 pm
Plenary lecture: REM sleep and dreaming – a functional account
Professor Karl Friston, Wellcome Principal Research Fellow and Scientific Director, Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging
Session 3
3.00 pm
Tea and coffee break
3.30 pm
Sleep and dreaming in literature
Mr Henry Nicholls, Science Teacher, Woolwich Polytechnic School, Journalist and Author of Sleepyhead: Narcolepsy, Neuroscience and the Search for a Good Night
4.15 pm
Questions
All speakers
4.30 pm
Student sleep essay prize presentation
4.45 pm
Close of meeting