Altered States of Consciousness (Sleep/Dreams) 1/3 Flashcards
Consciousness
The awareness of our surroundings.
Subconscious
Memories and stored knowledge (AKA pre-conscious).
Unconscious
Completely theoretical. It affects behaviors and emotions and can’t be accessed by the conscious mind.
Carl Jung
A psychologist who believed we inherit certain knowledge (collective unconscious- ex. inherited fear) and that things like dreams and the unconscious are very important.
Circadian rhythm
24 hour cycle of when you wake up and when you go to sleep.
At what time during your circadian rhythm are you at your highest and lowest points?
Highest with the most energy and focus- 10 am and 7 pm
Lowest energy and focus- Just after lunch (around 12 am) and 3 am.
Entrainment
When you train your circadian rhythm to adjust to a new schedule, like when someone has a night job.
Melatonin
Produced by the pineal gland. It puts you to sleep and its production can be negatively affected by overhead lights/screens closer to bedtime.
Adenosine
It slows down the activity of neurons. Makes you sleepy and builds the longer you stay awake.
Serotonin
Regulates mood, appetite, and sleep. Low levels can cause insomnia, depression, and anxiety.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
It gives a picture of the waves your brain gives off during different stages of consciousness and sleep.
REM sleep
Rapid Eye Movement. The stage of sleep where you’re dreaming and your eyes are reacting to what you see.
How long does each sleep cycle last?
About 90 minutes. Each time it takes less time to reach REM and you spend longer in REM.
Hypnagogic sensations
Hallucinations that happen in stage one of sleep (NREM-1). Ex. Feeling like you’re falling and waking up suddenly while half-asleep.
NREM Stages 1, 2, 3, and 4
1- Light sleep just as your starting to drift off. Only for 5-10 minutes. When you can experience hypnogigic sensations.
2- Light sleep where your body is relaxing.
3- Deep sleep where your brian and body are recovering, healing, and growing.
4- REM sleep
Muscle atonia
During REM sleep your body is paralyzed so you don’t physically act out your dreams (excluding the eyes).
NREM stages
All stages that aren’t REM sleep, standing for Non-Rapid Eye Movement. NREM-1, etc.
REM rebound
If your REM sleep is interrupted or you don’t get enough of it (being woken up during REM, drugs interrupting it, not enough sleep in general, etc.) you will go into REM much faster and spend longer in that stage to make up for previous loss.
Average amount of sleep needed by adolescents-
8-10 hours.
Sleep debt
The difference in how much sleep you need versus how much you get. Your brain keeps track and will try to make up for the loss whenever possible.
Record for the longest time awake
11 days straight set by Randy Gardener. The longest record of staying asleep (not a coma) was also 11 days by the young boy, Wyatt Shaw.
Activation-synthesis
Dreams begin as random electrical activation from the brain stem and are initially meaningless.
Memory consolidation hypothesis
REM sleep consolidates or solidifies material and memory from during the day.
Why do we sleep?
It is the period where we heal and grow, adenosine and melatonin hormones are adjusted, and serotonin is regulated, along with many other hormones and such that are balanced out.
What is the only time we remember dreams?
When we wake up during REM sleep.
What animals experience REM?
All animals experience REM except for reptiles.
Common dream topics-
Trying to repeatedly do something
School, teachers, studying, etc.
Being attacked/pursued
Falling
Least common dream topic-
Killing someone
Lucid dreams
When you’re aware and can control things while you’re dreaming.
What do dreams demonstrate?
Our maturity levels.
Sigmund Freud
One of the first to introduce interpreting dreams and the unconscious. Wrote Interpretation of Dreams.
Manifest content vs latent content
Manifest- The dream’s storyline
Latent- The meaning behind the dream. Not falsifiable.
White noise
Useful when trying to get to sleep because it can help quiet thoughts.
