Levels of Consciousness Unit 5

Levels of Consciousness - Focused Awareness - State of heightened awareness of the task at hand - Typically you will shut out all of the other “ stuff ” going on around you - Drifting Consciousness - Your mind will begin to wander to other things outside of what it is that you were focusing on - Daydreaming : A wakeful state where your mind wanders to dreamy thoughts or fantasies Consciousness : A state of awareness of ourselves and of the world around us

- Divided Consciousness “ Multi - tasking ” - You can perform two or more tasks at the same time. As if your mind has been divided -“ How did I get here ” when you ’ re driving and talking at the same time - Unconsciousness : Lack of ones awareness of what is going on around you - Examples : Sleep, dreams, coma, head trauma, anesthesia, death

Altered Levels of Consciousness - Awake, but not fully awake, somewhere in between - Daydreaming - Drugs - Meditation - Hypnosis - Repetitive activity

Stages of Sleep Importance of getting your zzzzsss…. Stage 1 ( about 2-5 minutes ) - Brain waves become small and irregular - Easily awakened Stage 2 ( about 20 minutes ) - Bursts of brain activity : sleep spindles - Deeper sleep but still easily awakened - Spend about half of your time in each sleep cycle in this stage

Stages of Sleep Importance of getting your zzzzsss…. Stage 3 & 4 ( about 30 minutes ) - “ Delta Sleep ” deepest stage of sleep - Brain waves very slow. Difficult to awaken REM (30-45 minutes ) - Eyes dart about under closed eyelids - When we typically dream - Brain activity increases - Also called Paradoxical sleep : increased brain activity but muscle activity is nearly gone - Amount of time spent in REM sleep increases with each sleep cycle Sleep Cycles typically are 90 minutes long

Influence of Drugs Drug dependence : A sever drug - related problem, sense that you need the drugs in your body to function Physiological dependence : Repeated use changes the chemical make - up of the body Withdrawal : Symptoms associated with abrupt end of drug usage Tolerance : Repeated use requires increased amount of drugs to achieve the same results Drug Addiction : Dependence on a drug – physical and psychological Drugs and Consciousness

Stimulants : heighten action of central nervous system ( CNS ) - Amphetamines - Cocaine - MDMA ( Ecstasy ) - Nicotine - Caffeine – Most addictive drug Depressants : slows the central nervous system ( CNS ) - Alcohol - Barbiturates - Tranquilizers - Opiates

Drugs and Consciousness Hallucinogens – alter your sensory perceptions and distort your visual, auditory and sensory abilities - LSD “ acid ” - PCP - Marijuana

The Theories of Dreaming Cognitive Theory of Dreaming – Apply logic to analyze meaning of dreams – Proposes that we think, create memories in the same manor as we would if we were awake – Problem is that dream brain activity isn ’ t the same as wakeful brain activity…that ’ s ignored Activation - Synthesis Theory – Dreaming is the result of your brain trying to make sense of the random firings of neurons as you sleep – It creates a story to connect the memories

- In ancient times, dreams were believed to be messages sent from the Gods - Why do we dream? No one really knows for sure - Possibly to sort out issues and find solutions - Attempt to make sense of the random firing of neurons while we sleep : activation - synthesis hypothesis - Way to deal with the socially unacceptable urges and desires we have 1. Manifest content : Events that occur in your dreams 2. Latent content : Underlying messages in your dreams, what the manifest content represents - Lucid Dreams : dreamer is aware that they are dreaming

Sleep Issues - Insomnia : difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep - slows reaction time - impairs memory and concentration - health issues : more apt to become ill - Most common sleep disorder Narcolepsy : “ Sleep attacks ”: sudden unexplainable sleeping Sleep Apnea : Temporarily stop breathing while sleeping - Can be life threatening - Commonly snore loudly - Most common in middle - aged overweight men

Nightmare disorder : Pattern of frequent disturbing nightmares - Nightmares usually happen in REM sleep ; stressed, high fevers, or sleep deprived Sleep Terror disorder : Repeated episodes of intense fear during sleep causing physical reactions : talking, sudden sitting up or yelling, sweating, crying, thrashing ect… - Usually happen during stages 3 and 4 of sleep, not REM