Stages of Consciousness

Sleep

- Sleep is a state of consciousness.

- We are less aware of our surroundings.

3 Reasons why people daydream:

1. They can help us prepare our future events

2. They can nourish our social development

3. Can substitute for impulsive behavior

Fantasy Prone Personalities- someone who imagines and recalls experiences with lifelike vividness and who spends considerable time fantasizing

Biological Rhythms

Annual Cycles- seasonal variations (bears hibernation, seasonal affective disorder)

28 days cycle: menstrual cycle

24 hour cycle: our circadian rhythm

90 minute cycles: our sleep cycles

Circadian Rhythm

-Our 24 hour biological dock

- Our body temperature and awareness changes throughout the day

- It is best to take at est or study during your circadian peaks

Sleep

There are 5 stages of sleep.

- It takes about 90- 100 minutes to pass through the 5 stages

- The brain's waves will change according to the sleep stage you are in.

- The first 4 stages are known as NREM sleep

- The 5th stage is called REM sleep

Stage 1

- kind of awake and kind of asleep

- only lasts a few minutes, and you usually only experience it once a night

- eyes begin to rolls slightly

- your brain produces Theta Waves (high amplitude, low frequency (slow))

Stage 2

- this follows Stage 1 sleep and is the "baseline" of sleep

- this stage is part of the 90 minute cycle and occupies approximately 45-60% of sleep

- more theta waves that get progressively slower

- begin to shows sleep spindles... short burst or rapid brain waves

Stage 3&4

- slow wave sleep

- you produce delta waves

- if awoken you will be very groggy

- vital for restoring body's growth hormones and good overall health

- last 15-30 minutes a night

- it is called "slow wave" sleep because brain activity slows down dramatically from the "theta" rhythm called "delta" and the height or amplitude of the waves increases dramatically.

REM Sleep

- rapid eye movement

- often called paradoxical sleep

- brain is very active

- dreams usually occur in REM

- body is essentially paralyzed

- composes 20-25% normal night sleep

- breathing, heart rate and brain wave activity quickens

- vivid dreams can occur

- from REM, you go back to sleep

How muck sleep do we need?

- We all need different amounts of sleep depending on  our age and genetics

- We sleep about 25 years on average

Sleep Disorders

Insomnia: persistent problems falling asleep affects 10% of the population

Narcolepsy: suffer from sleeplessness and may fall asleep at unpredictable or inappropriate times

- Directly into REM sleep

- Less that .001% of the population

Sleep Apnea: a person stops breathing during their sleep

- wake up momentarily, gasps for air, then falls back asleep

- very common, especially in heavy males

- very fatal

Night Terrors: sleeping disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified.

- occur in Stage 3, not REM stage, and are not often remembered. 

Sleepwalking (Somnambulism): sleepwalking is a sleep disorder affecting an estimated 10% of all human at least once in their lives

- Sleepwalking most often occurs during deep non-REM sleep (stage 3 and 4) early in the night.

Dream

- a sequence of images, emotions, and though passing through a sleeping persons mind

Manifest content: the remembers story line of a dream

Latent Content: the underlying meaning of a dream

Why do we dream?

Freud wish-fulfillment Theory:

- dreams are the key to understanding our inner conflicts

- ideas and thoughts that are hidden in our unconsciousness

- Manifest and latent content

Information processing theory: dreams act to sort out and understand the memories the you experience that day

- REM does increase after stressful event

Activation synthesis Theory: during the night our brain stem releases random neural activity, dreams may be a way to make sense of that activity.