• I was in a kitchen. I remember it had really bright colors and a lot of sunshine, and I saw a bug on the table, and I heard it say, "Hamburger, hamburger.“

• There were two lanes, so it was a normal motorway, apart from the fact that all the cars had no people in them.

• I'm holding a big glass of milk, and there's a head of lettuce in it.

• I was walking down this really bizarre hallway, and every time I would open a door, there would just be this blinding light.

• It's dark outside; kind of raining; very, very scary; ominous. And all the water puddles, if you touch them, you catch on fire.

Dreams and Consciousness

Question• Do you believe that love and hate ‘exist’? • (Can you prove it? Can you provide evidence that they exist?)

• Love and Hate are constructs: a concept requiring a belief in something that cannot be seen or touched, but that seems to exist.

What is Consciousness • Consciousness is also a construct• It cannot be measured…

Consciousness

Consciousness • Consciousness: the organism’s awareness of, or possibility of

knowing, what is happening inside or outside self.

• Consciousness is believed to involve our making a map of where we are in space and then more or less seeing ourselves in this map…

• All day long we combine millions of brief memory images of ourselves with our current images of the world, and we call this consciousness.

Levels of Consciousness• We are not necessarily “conscious” of everything we do…

• Subconscious: consciousness just below our present awareness

• Unconscious: thoughts or desires of which we have no direct knowledge

Consciousness • The mind could be divided into three systems: the conscious

mind, the subconscious mind, and the unconscious mind.

The consciousness mind is you awareness at the present moment.

The subconscious mind consists of accessible information. You can become aware of this information once your direct your attention to it. Think of this as memory recall. (You walk down the street to your house without consciously needing to be alert to your surroundings.)

The unconscious mind, consisting of the primitive, instinctual wishes as well as the information that we cannot access.

The Nature of Sleep and Dreams• It may seem that we simply get tired and go to sleep, however,

it does not happen like this…

Sleep Cycle

Sleep Cycles• REM sleep: Stands for Rapid Eye Movement. A stage of sleep

characterized by rapid eye movements, a high level of brain activity, a deep relaxation of the muscles (sleep paralysis).

• NREM (non-REM) Stands for non-rapid eye movement

During the night we actually go in and out of REM sleep multiple times over. Usually on average this will occur somewhere around 4-5 times during a night. REM cycles that we experience towards the beginning of our sleep are a lot shorter and as the night goes on REM sleep cycles become longer and longer.

What is REM sleep?• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA4n1_U_XlE

How much sleep?• Most adults need 7-8 hours of sleep.

If you do not get enough sleep? • It can affect you immune system• It can cause you to hallucinate • Less energy • It can affect your cognitive performance

Texting and Sleep• 2010 research—the average teen sends more than 100 texts

per day• Major cause of sleep deprivation in teens• Texts awaken you and decrease sleep• Playing games on your phone before bed can prevent sleep• Study showed that 77.5 % of teens that text/surf the web at

night have trouble falling asleep • Can cause mood, behaviour, and cognitive problems during

the day including ADHA, anxiety, depression.

What are Dreams?• Dream: a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring

in a person's mind during sleep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TsWg0pwbAU STOP AT 6:20 !!!

Why do we dream?• Dreams are used to get the brain re-organized after a days

work of thinking and dealing with problems. • The brain cannot remain inactive, so dreams keep the brain

busy. • Dreams are designed to help workout unsolved problems from

the day. • Dreams are a means for us to prepare for the future

(nightmares).

What are Dreams?

• This is a terrific documentary on dreams, packed with specifics on the science of sleep. • If you've ever wondered about sleepwalking, why we

dream, or why sleep is necessary, this is the documentary for you! • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i539ynXmh-c

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GGzc3x9WJU• Great clip for after the documentary