Consciousness – our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

States of Consciousness

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…

The most common form of consciousness is when we are awake and aware… but there

are altered states…

States of Consciousness

Spontaneous:

1. Daydereaming

2. Drowsinesss

3. Dreaming

Physiological (physically) created:

1. Hallucinations

2. Orgasm

3. Food or oxygen starvation

Psychologically (mentally) created:

1. Sensory deprivation

2. Hypnosis

3. Meditation

3

Rhythm of SleepCircadian Rhythm: 24-hour cycle includes sleep and wakefulness

• Melatonin: sleep-inducing hormone

• Light triggers melatonin decrease in morning

• Increases at night, helps aid sleep

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http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/otherendo/pineal.html

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