States of Consciousness

sleep – dreams – hypnosis - drugs

 Consciousness
• What does it mean to be “conscious”?
Consciousness is AWARENESS of ourselves and our
environment.
• Our conscious attention is selective.
We can choose to focus on something in particular, like
our breathing, a phrase (mantra) or the scenery that you
pass as you drive home.

50% of people
fail to see the
gorilla when
concentrating on
counting the
passes

consciousness experiments
 Sleep
• Why do we need sleep?
Sleep protects us

Sleep helps us recuperate (repair tissue & build-up our immune system / fight infection)

Sleep improves cognitive functioning (accidents are more likely when one is sleep deprived)

Sleep helps us grow

Sleep helps us cope emotionally

• How much sleep do we need? (according to the National Institutes of Health-2007)

newborns kids teens adults elderly

18 hours 10-12 hours 9 hours 7-8 hours 5-6 hours
10 reasons not to skimp on sleep
Scheduling a good night's sleep could be one of the
smartest health priorities you set. It's not just daytime
drowsiness you risk when shortchanging yourself on your
seven to eight hours. Possible health consequences of
getting too little or poor sleep can involve the
cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems.

Source: US News & World Report - Sarah Baldauf - Oct 16, 2008
1) Less may mean more.
For people who sleep under seven hours a night, the
fewer zzzz's they get, the more obese they tend to be,
according to a 2006 Institute of Medicine report. This
may relate to the discovery that insufficient sleep
appears to tip hunger hormones out of whack. Leptin,
which suppresses appetite, is lowered; ghrelin, which
stimulates appetite, gets a boost.
2) You're more apt to make bad
food choices.
A study published this week in the Journal of Clinical
Sleep Medicine found that people with obstructive
sleep apnea or other severely disordered breathing
while asleep ate a diet higher in cholesterol, protein,
total fat, and total saturated fat. Women were
especially affected.
3) Diabetes and impaired
glucose tolerance, its
precursor, may become more
likely.
A 2005 study published in the Archives of Internal
Medicine found that people getting five or fewer hours
of sleep each night were 2.5 times more likely to be
diabetic, while those with six hours or fewer were 1.7
times more likely.
4) The ticker is put at risk.
A 2003 study found that heart attacks were 45
percent more likely in women who slept for five or
fewer hours per night than in those who got more.
5) Blood pressure may increase.
Obstructive sleep apnea, for example, has been
associated with chronically elevated daytime blood
pressure, and the more severe the disorder, the more
significant the hypertension, suggests the 2006 IOM
report. Obesity plays a role in both disorders, so
losing weight can ease associated health risks.
6) Auto accidents rise.
As stated in a 2007 report in the New England
Journal of Medicine, nearly 20 percent of serious car
crash injuries involve a sleepy driver--and that's
independent of alcohol use.
7) Balance is off.
Older folks who have trouble getting to sleep, who
wake up at night, or are drowsy during the day could
be 2 to 4.5 times more likely to sustain a fall, found a
2007 study in the Journal of Gerontology.
8) You may be more prone to
depression.
Adults who are chronically sleep deprived report more
mental distress, depression, and alcohol use.
Adolescents suffer, too: One survey of high school
students found similarly high rates of these issues.
Middle schoolers, too, report more symptoms of
depression and lower self-esteem.
9) Kids may suffer more behavior
problems.
Research from an April issue of the Archives of
Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that children
who are plagued by insomnia, short duration of
sleeping, or disordered breathing with obesity, for
example, are more likely to have behavioral issues
like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
10) Death's doorstep may be nearer.
Those who get five hours or less per night have
approximately 15 percent greater risk of dying--
regardless of the cause--according to three large
population-based studies published in the journals
Sleep and the Archives of General Psychiatry.
 Biological Rhythms and Sleep
Circadian Rhythms occur on a 24-25 hour cycle and include sleep
and wakefulness.

Termed our “biological clock,” it can be altered by artificial light.

Morning
Light triggers the suprachiasmatic
nucleus to decrease
Illustration © Cynthia Turner 2003

melatonin from the pineal

gland

Evening
Fading light triggers the
suprachiasmatic nucleus to
increase melatonin.

Doctors and researchers are reporting an increase in illness related to decreased

melatonin production – why do you think this might be happening?
As our body prepares for sleep,
our body temperature changes

Goes down as we go to sleep

Goes up as we wake up
 Sleep Stages
Measuring sleep: About every 90 minutes, we
pass through a cycle of five distinct sleep stages.

Hank Morgan/ Rainbow

 90-Minute Cycles During Sleep
With each 90-minute cycle, stage 4 sleep
decreases and the duration of REM sleep increases.
•Light sleep – easy to awaken REM
stage 1
•Hypnagogic jerks
•Dreaming
•Theta waves
•Rapid eye movement
•Paradoxical sleep

•Slightly deeper sleep

•Sleep spindles stage 2 2

•Deeper sleep
•Delta waves stage 3 3
•Sleep talking
•Wetting the bed
•Deepest sleep •Night terrors

stage 4 4
•Delta waves
•Sleep walking
 Sleep Disorders
1. Insomnia: A persistent inability to fall
asleep.

2. Narcolepsy: Overpowering urge to fall

asleep that may occur while talking or
standing up.

3. Sleep apnea: Failure to breathe when

asleep.
 Sleep Disorders
Children are most prone to:

 Night terrors: The sudden arousal from sleep

with intense fear accompanied by physiological
reactions (e.g., rapid heart rate, perspiration)
which occur during Stage 4 sleep.
 Sleepwalking: A Stage 4 disorder which is
usually harmless and unrecalled the next day.
 Sleeptalking: A condition that runs in families,
like sleepwalking.
 What We Dream
Manifest Content: A Freudian term meaning
the story line of dreams.

1. Negative Emotional Content: 8 out of 10 dreams

have negative emotional content.
2. Failure Dreams: People commonly dream about
failure, being attacked, pursued, rejected, or
struck with misfortune.
3. Sexual Dreams: Contrary to our thinking, sexual
dreams are sparse. Sexual dreams in men are 1
in 10; and in women 1 in 30.
 Why We Dream
1. Wish Fulfillment: Sigmund Freud suggested that
dreams provide a psychic safety valve to
discharge unacceptable feelings. The dream’s
manifest (apparent) content may also have
symbolic meanings (latent content) that
signify our unacceptable feelings.
2. Information Processing: Dreams may help sift,
sort, and fix a day’s experiences in our
memories.
 Why We Dream
3. Physiological Function:
Dreams provide the
sleeping brain with
periodic stimulation to
develop and preserve
neural pathways.
Neural networks of
newborns are quickly
developing; therefore,
they need more sleep.
 Why We Dream
4. Activation-Synthesis Theory: Suggests that the
brain engages in a lot of random neural
activity. Dreams make sense of this activity.
5. Cognitive Development: Some researchers
argue that we dream as a part of brain
maturation and cognitive development.

All dream researchers believe we need REM sleep. When

deprived of REM sleep and then allowed to sleep,
we show increased REM sleep called REM Rebound.