SLEEP AND CONSCIOUSNESS

Sleep Stages• Patterns are based on electrical activity in the brain,

measured by an EEG.• You move in and out of various stages through-out the

night

Sleep Stages

Sleep Stages• As you fall asleep, pulse/breathing slow, concentration falls

away.• That sudden jolt awake? Neurons miss-firing (perfectly natural)

• In each sleep stage, the brain waves get wider, deeper• Stage IV is the very deep sleep, most restful and hardest to

waken from.

Sleep Stages: REM• After Stage IV, we drift towards REM (Rapid Eye

Movement) sleep. Deep muscle relaxation (facial/ finger muscles might twitch) & high brain activity• This is when we most often dream!

• Lasts between 15-45 minutes, several times a night.• Also impacts learning, info-processing.

• More sleep, esp. REM, is scientifically proven to improve learning.

Reasons for dreams• Information Processing: the more REM sleep you get, the

better you process the day’s information• Sleep more better test scores in class

• Dreaming as the by-product of random neurons (neural-static) in the brain.• We can poke around your cerebral cortex and have similar,

hallucination-like results

Reasons for dreams• Freud claims it’s our only chance to act on socially

immoral, unconscious desires• Killing people, taboo sex, etc.• Claims many of the objects/situations in our dreams have a secret,

sexual meaning to them• But maybe we dream because it is FUN

• When else can you fly, etc.?

The Importance of Sleep• “Required” sleep times with age:

• Newborns: 16 hours a day• Adolescents: 9-11 hours a day• Retired: 5 hours a day (Denny’s Early-Birds!)

• When you are denied REM sleep (or sleep in general) your body will rebound on the missing sleep when it can.

Sleep Disorders• Insomnia: prolonged inability to get enough sleep

• Edward Norton in “Fight Club

• Sleep Apnea: problems with breathing while asleep• Often leads to restless sleep.

Sleep Disorders• Narcolepsy: suddenly falling asleep, very sleepy during

the day

• Night terrors: disruption in Stage IV sleep, person wakes in terror, often with screaming, sweating, confusion, etc.• Often the subject has no memory of it happening.

Sleep Disorders• Sleep-walking: partial awakens that results in a person

attempting to carry out normal activities while “asleep”• Usually harmless, fairly normal

• Sleep-talking: can occur during REM or non-REM sleep.• Can be one word or longer, often with “conversational” pauses• You can often engage them in conversation• Sleepers have no memory of sleep-talking.