Consciousness Awareness of yourself and
the environment. The experience of conscious
behaviors can include thoughts, sensations, and memories
“Stream of Consciousness”
Conscious experience is continuous and constantly changing, without
pause and without breaks. Thoughts, emotions, actions,
sensations, memories, etc. blend seamlessly together. All the while, though, we are aware that this is
happening.
Levels of Consciousness
Levels of Consciousness Consciousness – current
level of awareness Nonconscious – body
processes that we are not aware of, but are active
Levels of Consciousness Preconscious – information
out of awareness, but memories are easily accessible
Subconscious – information out of awareness, memories aren’t easily accessible
Levels of Consciousness Unconscious – information out of awareness, no actual memories may even exist, though behavior is still affected
Biological Rhythms - natural life cycles that help to guide our levels of awareness and our behaviors
Biological Rhythms Annual Cycles – Seasonal
changes affecting moods, appetite, sleep patters
Twenty-Eight Day Cycle – Female Menstrual Cycle
Biological Rhythms Ninety-Minute Cycle – Sleep
Cycle Twenty-Four Hour Cycle –
Daily cycle of levels of alertness, hormones, body temperature, etc. also known as…
Circadian Rhythms
A cycle or rhythm that is roughly 24 hours long. The cyclical daily fluctuations in biological and psychological processes.
Circadian Rhythms IE.
Peak Mental Alertness at 9:00 AM and 9:00 PM
Low Mental Alertness at 3:00 AM and 3:00 PM
Peak Physical Strength at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM
Peak Sensations at 3:00 AM and 6:00 PM
Peak Sensitivity to Pain at 3:00 AM and 5:00 PM
Peak Degrees of Sleepiness at 3:00 AM and 3:00 PM
…so why does school start at 7:30???
The Sleep-Wake Cycle At night, the pineal gland releases melatonin,
Causes sleepiness and reduced activity level
During the day, melatonin levels decrease and conscious awareness level increase
When there are increased levels When there are increased levels of light, melatonin levels of light, melatonin levels decrease and conscious decrease and conscious awareness level increasesawareness level increases
Free-Running Circadian Rhythms• Experiments in which all environmental
time cues are removed – no clocks, and light is artificially controlled
• Two important findings:– The body creates its own sleep-wake
cycle that is roughly one-hour off of normal sleep and wake times
– Systems that are normally synchronized lose their connectedness
Jet Lag SymptomsJet Lag SymptomsCrossing time zones, disrupt circadian Crossing time zones, disrupt circadian
rhythms, and produce:rhythms, and produce:
Sleep disturbancesSleep disturbances Initiating and maintaining sleepInitiating and maintaining sleep
Daytime fatigue and sleepinessDaytime fatigue and sleepiness
Physical complaintsPhysical complaints Gastrointestinal distressGastrointestinal distress HeadachesHeadaches General malaiseGeneral malaise
Jet Lag Symptoms – cont.
•Cognitive difficulties– Reduced decision making, concentration, forgetful, slowed reaction time
• Poor psychomotor coordination
• Mood disturbance– Depression, apathy, lethargy
•Recovery?
Jet LagJet LagVariablesVariables
• 25-30% of people are minimally affected25-30% of people are minimally affected
• Equal number highly susceptibleEqual number highly susceptible
• Morning types (larks) more affected Morning types (larks) more affected than night types (owls)than night types (owls)
Shift Work“Blue Collar Jet Lag”
55% night shift workers report nodding off or falling asleep at work at least 1 time/week
>30% report such incidents occur more than 3 times/week
SLEEP !!!!!SLEEP !!!!!• On average, humans On average, humans sleep 22 years of their sleep 22 years of their
lifetime.lifetime.
Why do we sleep? Restorative Theory of Sleep
Sleep promotes physiological processes that restore and rejuvenate the body and the mind
NREM = bodily restoration and REM = mind restoration
Why do we sleep?Adaptive Theory of SleepSleep patterns evolved over time to promote survival and adaptation.
Adaptive Theory of Sleep
IE. The fiercest and strongest sleep the most, and at their convenience
The weakest and most vulnerable sleep in shorter bursts and for the least amount of time.
2 different types of sleep:
REM Sleep: rapid eye movement & dreaming occur; voluntary muscle activity is suppressed
NREM Sleep: quiet, typically dreamless sleep in which rapid eye movements are absent
Stages of Sleep Pre-Sleep:
As you go from wakefulness to sleep you may experience hypnagogic hallucinations and/or myoclonic jerks
Hear a loud crash, hear someone call your name, feel a sensation of floating, smell something burning, see a variety of colors
Involuntary muscle spasms
4 Stages of NREM Sleep
STAGE 1: ALPHA Transition stage: awake to sleep First 5-10 minutes of sleep Disengage from surrounding world
Able to easily regain consciousness
Some hypnagogic experiences continue here
4 Stages of NREM SleepStage 2: THETA
15-20 minutes Breathing becomes rhythmical Small muscle twitches Brain activity slows down Sleep Spindles - Quick bursts of brain activity that last for a second or two
4 Stages of NREM SleepStages 3 and 4: DELTA
Replenishing chemicals, growth hormones released, fortifying the immune system
Heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing drop to their lowest levels
4 Stages of NREM Sleep
… by Stage 4: the sleeper is oblivious to the outside world
May take 15 minutes or more to regain consciousness
4 Stages of NREM Sleep
Stage 4: It is possible to carry conversations, answer the phone, walk in this stage and never remember it
Most sleeping disorders occur during this time
Stages of Sleep – back again
When a sleeper reaches Stage 4, they have been asleep for about 60 minutes
After Stage 4, the sleeper cycles back from Stage 3 to Stage 2 in a matter of minutes and enters REM Sleep.
Stages of SleepREM Sleep:
Brain becomes more active & makes small, fast brain waves
Visual & motor neurons fire during this stage, but voluntary muscle movements are suppressed (paralysis)
REM (Rapid Eye Movement)
Recurring sleep stage Vivid dreams The first REM stage lasts about 15 minutes – the first sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes total
REM Sleep is often referred to as Paradoxical Sleep
Muscles are relaxed, but other body systems are active
Heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration increase,
muscles twitches, heightened sexual arousal
REM Rebound SleepThe less time we spend in REM sleep one night, the longer amount of time we will spend in REM sleep the next night
Beyond the first 90 minutes Sleepers cycle between
NREM and REM sleep throughout the night
Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes
Just before and after REM sleep, you typically change
body positions
As the night progresses, Stages 3 and 4 get shorter and REM sleep increases, up to 40 minutes at a time
Electroencephalagram (EEG)
Measures electrical activity in the brain Visualized as brain waves
Stages of Sleep: Brain Waves
Awake brain generates Beta Waves
As you prepare for sleep, brain generates Alpha Waves
After you begin to sleep, the brain generates Theta Waves
The deepest parts of sleep are characterized by Delta Waves
When is someone dreaming?
See if you can tell…
Click on the weird dream to enter the experiment! Once you are in the simulation, check
out slides 10 through 14 to figure out what’s going on or just jump right to slide 15 and enter the experiment!
Sleep DYSFUNCTIONS
Sleep Disorders Insomnia
A person is unable to fall asleep, to stay asleep, or to feel adequately rested by sleep.
Sleep Disorders
Sleepwalking (somnambulism) Within the first 3 hours of sleep
The sleeper can move around objects, but poorly coordinated
Sleep Apnea
Carbon-dioxide builds up in the blood,
Causes a momentary awakening, during which the sleeper snorts or gulps for air
Person repeatedly stops breathing during sleep
Though narcoleptics can fall asleep at any time, arousals usually trigger sleep – laughter, anger, surprise, sex
Narcoleptics instantly lose muscular control, and enter REM sleep. The dreams are often terrifying.
Narcolepsy Characteriz
ed by excessive daytime sleepiness and lapses into sleep throughout the day
Night Terrors Occur within 2 or 3 hours of falling asleep, usually during Stage 4
Appearance of being terrified Right back to sleep – usually no memory of the event
Nightmares Occur towards morning During REM sleep
More Sleep Disorders
Sleep Bruxism –
Enuresis– Bed Wetting
Sleep Deprivation
8 hours is suggested for adults, but the typical adult sleeps less than 7 hours a night.
9 hours is suggested for teens, but the typical teen sleeps about 6 hours a night.
Effects of Sleep Loss Fatigue Impaired concentration Immune suppression Irritability Slowed performance
Accidentsplanes autos and trucks
Dreams 25% of a night’s sleep spent
dreaming (about 2 hours) (6 yrs of your life)
Sleep Thinking – much more common Vague, uncreative thoughts about real-life events
Dreams A sequence of images,
emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind. Notable for their hallucinatory imagery, discontinuities, and delusions
DreamsDreams are unfolding
episodes of mental images
(story-like)
5 Basic Characteristics
–Intense Emotions
–Content/organization are illogical
–Bizarre sensations
–Bizarre detail is accepted
–Dream images are difficult to remember
Remembering Dreams
We dream every night but often don’t remember.
We remember dreams that occur close to waking.
Sleep and Dreams
Lucid Dream recognizing that one is dreaming, enabling more control over the content and quality of the experience.
Dream TheorySigmund Freud (1900)
The Interpretation of Dreams Wish fulfillment Get rid of unacceptable feelings
Sex and Aggression
When is a cigar just a cigar?
Manifest Content the storyline & events that occurred
Latent Content the interpretation of unconscious drives, wishes, and desires that created the dream (the symbolism)
Activation Activation SynthesisSynthesis
1973- 1973- Allan HobsonAllan Hobson & & Robert McCarleyRobert McCarley created another theorycreated another theory
Dreams are from Dreams are from neural activity that neural activity that spreads upward from spreads upward from the brainstem.the brainstem.
Dreams are the Dreams are the brains attempt to brains attempt to make sense out of make sense out of random neural random neural “static”“static”
Information Processing & Information Processing & Memory ConsolidationMemory Consolidation
Rebuilds neural connectionsRebuilds neural connections
Dreams may help sift, sort, and Dreams may help sift, sort, and fix the day’s experiences in our fix the day’s experiences in our memorymemory IE. It was found that on average, student who IE. It was found that on average, student who
get A’s and B’s sleep 25 minutes more a night get A’s and B’s sleep 25 minutes more a night than lower achieving studentsthan lower achieving students
Dream InterpretationDream Interpretationhttp://www.myjellybean.com/http://www.myjellybean.com/astrology/dream/e_dreams.hastrology/dream/e_dreams.h
tmtm
http://http://www.dreammoods.com/www.dreammoods.com/
dreamdictionary/dreamdictionary/