1. States of Consciousness

2. Consciousness is a state of alertness or awareness. We are all in some state of consciousness at any given time. Fully alert Non-alert

3. Sleep as a state of Consciousness We cannot ask a sleeping person about their experience while sleeping therefore we use an EEG to measure brain wave changes during sleep. Electroencephalograph

4. The purposes of sleep Most researchers agree that sleep is restorative and helps us clear out minds of useless info. Researchers have identified several stages of sleep.

5. Stage I In stage one of sleep our muscles relax, breathing becomes uneven. If we are awakened in stage one we would say that we had “drifted”. Stage I lasts about 10 minutes. Brainwaves in stage one are low amplitude and high frequency.

6. Stages 2 and 3 During Stage 2 sleep our eyes roll slowly from side to side. This stage lasts about 30 minutes. Stage 3 shows slight changes in brainwave activity and last for a very short period.

7. Stage 4 Stage 4 is where the deepest sleep occurs. Stage 4 sleep is most important for our physical and mental well-being. In stage 4 we have experiences such as sleep walking and sleep talking. 75 % of our sleep occurs in stages 1-4.

8. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep After Stage 4 sleep we enter REM. During REM you will experience rapid eye movement, irregular breathing. Adrenaline and sex hormones increase in the blood.

9. REM During REM your eyes and fingers twitch but your arms and legs are paralyzed. Almost all dreaming occurs in the REM stage. REM sleep lasts 15-45 minutes. The entire sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes. In each cycle stage 4 takes less time and REM is longer.

10. How much sleep do we need? Newborns sleep about 16 hours per day. Teenagers sleep about 10-11 hours per day. Persons age 25-30 sleep about 8 hours/ day. 70 year olds only sleep about 5 hours per day. We are asleep for about 1/3 of our lives.

11. Freud’s view of Consciousness

12. Dream Theory Sigmund Freud believes that dreams contain cues about what a person is afraid to confront while they are conscious. Dream Analysis Theory Nathaniel Kleitman believed that there us no significance to dreams and that they are the result of the stimulation of certain parts of the brain.

13. More Dreams Robert McCarley (1978) Believed that dreams are our way of problem solving while we sleep. Known as Activation Synthesis theory Rosalind Cartwright (1993) – Dreams are a way to review the problems of our day while we sleep. Mind-Body theory

14. Francis Click- Dreams are a way of house cleaning for your brain. Dreams help us forget the problems of the day.