Consciousness
Did you know...
 World Record – Longest period of time a human
has intentionally gone without sleep (no
stimulants)
 Randy Gardner (1964)--17 years old
 264 Hours (11 days)
 Held Press Conference on last day – spoke without
slurring
 Health was monitored – negative cognitive & behavioral
changes were reported
 After falling asleep – slept 14 hours, 40 minutes.
I. Introduction
What is consciousness?
How does it work?
Levels/Types of consciousness
Consciousness refers to different levels of
awareness of one’s thoughts and feelings
• Alertness to nonalertness
• Not completely aware = altered state
• i.e. sleep
A. Consciousness
 An organism’s awareness of what is
happening inside and outside the self.
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I. This concept has come a long way.
II. Weight of a soul.
D. Levels of Consciousness
 i. Aware
 ii. Subconscious
 Just below our level of awareness
 subliminal messages
 iii. Unconscious
 Information that we have no direct
knowledge of and cannot access (Freud)
E. Types of consciousness
i. Awake/alert
ii. Sleeping
iii. Dreaming
iv. Hypnosis
v. Under the influence
of drugs or alcohol
 vi. Daydreaming
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II. Clocks/Cycles– the unseen forces
What type of clocks and cycles affect
us?
A. Biological Clock
 The chemical unit
that controls regular
cycles in different
parts of the body.
 Example: body
temperature
 Example: fetus
B. Free Running Clocks
 i. Clocks that are under their own
control and ignore the environment.
 Example: The kidneys
 Example: Newborns
 ii. Entrainment: altering a free running
cycle.
 Example: newborns sleep pattern
 Example: 25 hour natural clock
C. Circadian Rhythm
 Your 24 hour sequence of events.
 i. All living things have one.
 ii. This is how we know when it is time to
sleep and when it is time to be awake.
 Iii. What happens if we fight this clock?
 Increased accidents:
 example pilots, truck drivers
CIRCADIAN RHYTHM
24-hour biological clock; genetically
programmed; regulates physiological
responses
Disrupting the circadian rhythm causes problems
Sleep is regulated by environment/industrial clock, NOT your circadian rhythm
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS?
Problems that can result from disrupting the
circadian clock
– Accidents (body prepared for sleep, trying to stay
awake to drive, alertness decreases)
– Jet lag
– illness
III. Sleep
Types of sleep
Sleep cycle
REM sleep
Your circadian rhythm for body temperature influences
your sleep preferences
A. Types of Sleep
 i. Twilight: relaxed state just before you fall
asleep.
 a. lasts about 5 minutes
 b. information is not recorded to memory
 ii. NREM (non-REM): non-dreaming sleep
 a. Still have partial thoughts
 b. Sleep cycle is NREM
 iii. REM: dreaming sleep
 a. most important part of sleep
 b. helps restore the body
SLEEP
B. Sleep Cycle
 i. A cycle that repeats itself every 90
minutes throughout the night.
 Discovered in 1980’s.
 Based on changes in brain waves during
sleep.
Sleep cycle graph…
NREM NREM NREM NREM
C. NREM Stages of Sleep
 i. Awake/relaxed
 Brain waves: beta
 Only in this stage once during the night,
unless you become fully awake.
 ii. Stage One Sleep (NREM)
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Brain waves: alpha
Lasts about 10 minutes
Easy to awake
Only enter once unless fully awakened.
C. Continued…
 iii. Stage Two Sleep (NREM)
 Brain Waves: Theta
 Between 10-15 minutes per time
 Sleep spindles: bursts of brain activity
 Feelings of falling, sleep walking, sleep talking occur
in this stage.
 iv. Stage Three Sleep (NREM)
 Brain Waves: Theta/Delta Mix
 Only about 5 minutes per time
 Transition stage
C. Continued…
 v. Stage Four Sleep (NREM)
 Brain Waves: Delta
 First Time: about 40 minutes
 You stay in this stage less and less as the
night goes on.
 Get to this stage 3-4 times during the night.
 Deepest level of NREM Sleep
 Repeat the Cycle
 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, REM
There are two (2) major types of sleep
REM sleep, a stage of sleep characterized by rapid
eye movements, a high level of brain activity, a deep
relaxation of the muscles and dreaming
This is the time when we will dream.
“Active sleep”
15 minutes (beginning of night) to 45 minutes
(end of night)
Your voluntary muscles are paralyzed.
D. REM Sleep
 i. Dreaming sleep
 Eyes dart around in the head
 ii. Body movement is paralyzed
 iii. Heart rate and breathing are rapid
 iv. Increases as the night goes on.
 First
visit: about 5 minutes
“Quiet
sleep”
“Quiet sleep”
 At around 7 hours about 40 minutes
NREM sleep. This stands for non-rapid eye
movement and is the other type of sleep.
Where we spend the majority of our sleep time
Divided into 4 stages (first four)
Decreases in length as nights’ sleep
progresses.
“Quiet sleep”
HOW MUCH SLEEP DO I NEED?
WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T GET
SLEEP?
• It can affect immune system
• It can cause you to hallucinate
• You will have less energy
• Your cognitive performance can be affected
Texting and sleep
2010 Research – Average teen sends more than 100 texts
per day
Major cause of sleep deprivation in teens
Texts may awaken you and decrease sleep
Playing games on your phone before bed can prevent sleep
Study showed that 77.5% of teens that text or surf web at
night have trouble falling asleep
Can cause mood, behavior, and cognitive problems during
the day including ADHD, anxiety, depression
Treating Circadian Problems
– Melatonin - supplements have been proven to
help people sleep
Sleep Disorders
Insomnia
Sleep
Apnea
Narcolepsy
Definition
Associated with
Failure to get enough sleep at night
Daytime - fatigue, impaired
concentration, memory difficulty, lack of
well-being
Daytime - exhausted; chances of
Repeated periods during sleep when a
developing increases when overweight,
person stops breathing
use alcohol or sedatives
Suddenly falling asleep or feeling very
sleepy during the day
Daytime – sleep attacks accompanied
by REM sleep
Am I Sleep Deprived?
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I need an alarm clock in order to wake up at the right time.
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It’s a struggle for me to get out of bed in the morning.
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Weekday mornings I hit the snooze button several times.
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I feel tired, irritable, and stressed-out during the week.
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I have trouble concentrating and remembering.
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I feel slow with critical thinking, problem solving, and being creative.
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I often fall asleep while watching TV, in meetings, in class, after heavy meals, while
relaxing after dinner, within five minutes of getting into bed.
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I often feel drowsy while driving.
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I often sleep extra hours on the weekends.
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I often need a nap to get through the day.
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I have dark circles around my eyes.
How Good Are My Sleep Strategies?
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I go to bed at different times during the week and on weekends, depending on my schedule and social life.
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I get up at different times during the week and on the weekends, depending on my schedule and social life.
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My bedroom is warm and often noisy.
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I never rotate or flip my mattress.
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I have caffeine after 6 pm (including chocolate).
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I do not exercise on a regular basis.
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I smoke (you’d better not!).
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I regularly take over-the-counter or prescription meds to sleep.
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When I cannot fall asleep or remain asleep I stay in bed and try harder.
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I often read frightening or troubling books or articles right before bed.
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I do work or watch the news in bed just before turning out the lights.
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My bed partner/ room partner tosses and turns or makes noise in his/her sleep.
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I argue with family/roommates before bed.
IV. Dreams
Why do we dream?
How a dream occurs
Dream content
A. Why do we dream? (3 theories)
 i. To Restore Chemicals
 a. brain has to replace used
neurotransmitters/hormones.
 b. The brain must be active to do this
 ii. Work out Problems
 a. we go to bed with an issue and wake up with a
solution (ex. angry)
 When we are stressed we need more sleep
 iii. Sort through Memories
 a. decide what needs to be kept and what can be
thrown out (cleansing process)
B. How a dream occurs
 1. Electrical impulse begins in the brain stem.
 This repeats itself every few minutes
 2. Impulse goes up through cerebral cortex
 Limbic system: adds emotion to dreams
 Visual cortex: adds images
 Ex. Jumping from one image to another
 Memory: usually about familiar things
 70% is about your everyday life.
C. Dream Content
 i. Sigmund Freud
 Popularized dream analysis (pg. 170 ex.)
 1. Manifest Content: story line of dream
 2. Latent Content: underlying meaning of dream
 ii. Strange Happenings in dreams
 Can dreams predict the future?
 Why are dreams so bizarre?
 Why do people have reoccurring dreams?
 iii. Scientific Look
 Dreams are a reflection of our daytime concerns
appearing at night.
DREAMS
Everybody dreams
Often incorporate everyday activities into dreams
FREUD (Dream interpretation): Dreams have hidden
meaning/reveal the unconscious
MANY DREAM THEORIES:
• problem-solving theory
• mental housecleaning/clean brain
• extending waking life
Common Dreams
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Chased or pursued, not injured
•
Sensing a presence vividly
•
Sexual experiences
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Failing an examination
•
Falling
•
Being physically attacked
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School, teachers, studying
•
Being frozen with fright
•
Arriving too late (e.g., for a train
•
A person now dead as living
•
On the verge of falling
•
Being a child again
•
Trying to do something repeatedly
•
A person living as dead
•
Flying or soaring through the air
Dream Interpretation
 Being chased could
symbolize avoidance, closemindedness, running away
from yourself, fear, and
anxiety
 Chasing someone/something
else could mean drive or
ambition, or it could mean
you are falling behind in
some aspect of your life
 Falling could symbolize
insecurity, reckless behavior,
loss of control, or lacking
discretion
 Could be the result of a
myoclonic jerk
 On the other side, flying
represents control, freedom,
spiritual connections,
escape, and an inflated
sense of self
C. Nightmares
 Frightening dreams
that occur during
REM sleep.
 Most of us have
these infrequently
 They occur more
when REM is missed.
A. Night Terrors
 Horrible dreams during NREM sleep.
 Increased heart rate, breathing, sweating,
screaming, etc.
 Usually hard to wake up
 Typically don’t remember what the dream
was about.
 Decline with age
NIGHTMARES & NIGHT TERRORS
Nightmares – unpleasant dreams occur during REM
Night terrors – sleep disruptions in stage IV; involve
screaming, panic, confusion; often no memory of it
SLEEPWALKING
Most common in young children – will outgrow it
Linked to stress, fatigue, drug use
V. Changes/Problems in Sleep
Age changes
REM rebound
Nightmares
A. Changes
 i. Age Difference
 Example: infants need more than adults
 ii. Social Aspect
 Example: parties, dating, homework, etc.
 iii. Individual Needs
 Average person needs 7-8 hours
 Some need less others need more
 Example: Guinness book of World Records
B. REM Rebound
 An increase in
dreams after being
deprived of REM
sleep.
VI. Sleep Disorders
Night Terrors
Insomnia
Narcolepsy
Sleep Apnea
B. Insomnia
 Problems falling or staying asleep.
 10% of adults claim to have insomnia.
 They are probably sleeping more than they
think.
 Prevention tips
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Avoid TV at night (in dark)
Exercise early in the day
Don’t eat before bed
Participate in relaxation
if all else fails: aim for less sleep!
C. Narcolepsy
 Person instantly falls asleep during
random times
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Usually triggered by emotion
Person typically goes to REM sleep
Lasts from 2-10 minutes
Medication is mandatory
D. Sleep Apnea
 Person stops breathing while asleep.
 Happens many times during the night.
 Person doesn’t fully wake up, so they don’t
know that they have it.
 Their partner typically reports that they
snore heavily.
VII. Hypnosis
What is hypnosis?
Age regression
Post hypnotic suggestion
Claims of hypnosis
A. Hypnosis
 A state of relaxation in which attention
is focused on certain objects, acts, or
feelings.
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Heightened state of suggestibility.
Anton Mesmer
It cannot make you act against your will.
Controversial: a lot of people believe it
doesn’t work.
B. Age Regression
 A claim that through hypnosis, you can
relive early childhood.
 This doesn’t really work
 Examples: handwriting and vocabulary
differences.
C. Trance
 A deep state of relaxation during
hypnosis.
 This is what the hypnotist hopes you will
achieve.
D. Post Hypnotic Suggestion
 A suggestion made while under hypnosis,
to be carried out after the person is
awake and alert.
 Examples: quitting smoking, weight loss
E. Claims of Hypnosis
 For:
 Can help you block
out certain
information.
 Ex. smoking
 Can help access
blocked memories
 Ex. therapy
 Can help cure minor
ailments
 Ex. warts, birthing
 Against:
 Believe that people
are pretending.
 Memories that are
remembered while
hypnotized are often
later proven false.
VIII. Other States of Consciousness
Meditation
Déjà vu
Psychoactive Drugs
A. Meditation
 A form of self control in which the
outside world is blocked from awareness.
 Comes in many forms
 Works for some, but not for everyone.
B. Déjà vu
 Already Seen
 Not really a phenomenon
 Is actually a combination of what is
currently happening and old but similar
memories. So it seems like it has already
occurred.
C. Psychoactive Drugs
 Chemicals that alter your moods and/or
behaviors
 Categories of Drugs
 Stimulants: speed the body up
 Depressants: slow the body down.
 Hallucinogens: see, hear, or feel, things that
aren’t real.
 Narcotics/opiates: pain killers
B. Construct
 A concept that can’t be seen or touched,
but seems to exist.
 i. must believe in it.
 ii. Hard to prove
 iii. Example: rock rolling down a hill
C. How does it work?
 I. Three step process
 1. receive stimulation
 2. analyze it
 3. act upon it
 II. Mental Map
 Constantly creating memory images
 Combining current circumstances with past
events.