States of Consciousness
Consciousness – our awareness of ourselves and
our environment.
Consciousness is the CEO of the mind. It is nature’s
way of keeping us from thinking and doing
everything at once, because we can only provide our
conscious attention to one new task at a time.
Try desk tapping routine…
States of Consciousness
The most common form of consciousness is when
we are awake and aware… but there are altered
states…
Physiological
(physically) created:
Psychologically
(mentally) created:
1. Daydereaming
1. Hallucinations
1. Sensory deprivation
2. Drowsinesss
2. Orgasm
2. Hypnosis
3. Dreaming
3. Food or oxygen
starvation
3. Meditation
Spontaneous:
Rhythm of Sleep
Illustration © Cynthia Turner 2003
Circadian Rhythm: 24-hour cycle includes sleep and
wakefulness
•Melatonin: sleep-inducing
hormone
•Light triggers melatonin decrease in
morning
•Increases at night, helps aid sleep
3
Sleep
• Sleep is a state of consciousness.
• We are less aware of our
surroundings.
• We go through 5-stage cycle every
90 minutes
• Circadian Rhythm
• An EEG machine is used to measure
stages of sleep
The Sleep Cycle:
The Sleep Cycle: Stage 1
• Kind of awake and kind of asleep.
• Only lasts a few minutes.
• Produces mild hallucinations
(sensory firing, with no stimuli),
like a feeling of falling (why your
body might slightly jerk).
The Sleep Cycle: Stage 2
• Lasts about 20 minutes
• Begin to show sleep spindles
• Short bursts of rapid brain waves
Recent research by Matthew Walker and his research team at the University of California Berkley shows that
sleep spindles are associated with refreshment of our ability to learn. This research showed that the greater the
number of sleep spindles produced by napping participants, the more they were refreshed to perform on a
learning task. Further, the brain areas most involved were the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex. These are
areas that are critical for learning.
The implications of this research are significant. For example, getting too little sleep and cutting off a portion of
spindle activity may result in decreased ability to learn. It also has implications for the effects of early school start
times on students' ability to learn at an optimal pace - a topic I have addressed in the past and will again in my
next post.
The Sleep Cycle: Stages 3 and 4
• Really large and slow waves (on EEG) of
sleep.
• Hard to awaken and you will be very
groggy.
• Vital for restoring body’s growth hormones
and good overall health.
• You are asleep, but brain still processes
stimuli: can hear truck and will sleep, but respond to
crying infant. Will sleep in bed, but not fall out
• We still process information, although we
are not consciously aware
From stage 4, your brain begins to speed up and you
go to stage 3, then 2….then ……
REM Sleep
• Rapid Eye Movement
• Brain is very active.
• Dreams usually occur in
REM.
• Body is essentially
paralyzed.
– Brain is working, but the
signals are being blocked
(by brainstem) from
reaching your body