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Altered States of Consciousness
Lesson 7-1
Objectives
• Describe the research related to sleep and dreams
• List and discuss sleep disorders
Bell Ringer
• Close your eyes and concentrate on listening to your heartbeat for the next minute.
• Did you enter an altered state of consciousness?
Bell Ringer
• What would be lost and gained if the need for sleep were eliminated?
Opening
• Read excerpt on losing sleep p. 183
Sleep
• How important is sleep to humans?
• Sleep is a state of unconsciousness, with brief periods of dreaming.
• Sleep is a state of altered consciousness
Consciousness
• Consciousness- a state of awareness
• can range from alert to not alert
• It is a continuum
Studying Sleep
• Until recently it was very difficult to study
• Was aided by the electroencephlograph or (EEG)
Why do we sleep?• Not exactly sure• restorative- recharge your batteries• recover from exhaustion or stress• primitive hibernation-conserve energy• keep out of harms way at night• clear minds of information• in order to dream.
Stages of Sleep
• At first- body temperature declines, pulse rate drops, breathing becomes even
• If awakened would say you were just drifting
• This is stage I and lasts about 10 minutes
Stage II- Sleep
• Eyes roll from side to side
Stage III- Sleep
• Large delta waves begin to appear
Stage IV- Sleep
• Deepest sleep of all• Difficult to awaken someone in this stage• May feel disoriented• Sleep walking, bed wetting, talking out
loud
Stage IV-Sleep
• Very important to your well-being• If don’t get to stage four you feel unrested• Look at charts on p. 185• Throughout the night you go back and
forth through stages
REM-Sleep
• During this stage eyes begin to move
– REM sleep
– rapid eye movement
– brain waves are similar to a person who is awake.
– REM sleep called active sleep
REM sleep• Each time you enter REM sleep it becomes
longer
• You do not need REM sleep to dream
– studied accident victims
– REM sleep in brain stem
– dreams in frontal lobe
How Much Sleep?
• 1/3 of lives in sleep
• Newborns- 16 hours a day
• Some 16 year olds need 10 hours a day
• College students 8 hours a night
• 70 year olds- five hours of sleep
How Much Sleep
• Are there certain times of the day when you are more alert?
• Body follows a circadian rhythm– biological clock that regulates physiological
responses– occurs with or without light
How Much Sleep
• When you miss sleep, disruption is very apparent– jet lag– usually takes one day for each hour of
change– time changes and accidents
Sleep Disorders
• Insomnia
– a prolonged and usually abnormal ability to get to sleep
– can be caused by anxiety, depression or overuse of alcohol or drugs
Narcolepsy
• A condition characterized by suddenly falling asleep or feeling very sleepy during the day
• affects more than 250,000 people in the United States
Sleep Apnea
• Sleep apnea- causes frequent interruptions of breathing during sleep– certain snoring is a symptom– occurs many times a night– victim is in fact choking– ends when carbon dioxide in blood rises
Sleep Apnea
• Affects 1 in 100 Americans
• feel sleepy and irritable during the day
• can also be caused by enlarged tonsils or obesity
Nightmares and Night Terrors
• Nightmares- unpleasant dreams which a person may remember
• Night Terrors-occur during stage IV sleep involving screaming, rapid heart rate, and usually subjects have no memory of them.
Sleepwalking and Sleep Talking
• A person may or may not remember sleep walking or sleep talking
• has been linked to stress or fatigue• can be inherited• dangerous if they fall or injure themselves
Sleep Walking and Sleep Talking
• You can engage a person in sleep talking
Dreams
• Mental activity that takes place during sleep
• Most people can only recall a portion of their dreams
Dreams
• The first few dreams are usually of the day’s activities
• Later, dreams are longer and more dramatic
• The last dream is usually longest and one person remembers most
Dreams
• Most people dream of commonplace dull things
• Most emotions experienced during dreams are negative or unpleasant
Dream Interpretaion
• Dates back to 5,000 B.C.
• Sigmund Freud- believed dreams contained clues or thoughts the dreamer was afraid to address in their waking hours.
Dream Interpretation
• Freud believed dreams expressed impulses that were unacceptable at the conscious level
• Other argue that dreams mean nothing at all
Day Dreaming
• Dreaming or fantasizing while we are awake
• some believe it is important to creativity and thought processes
• some say it allows us to control our emotions.
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