Psych 110 Chapter 4: States of Consciousness

4.1 (what is consciousness), 4.2 (sleep and why we sleep), 4.3 (stages of sleep and dreaming), 4.4 (sleep problems and disorders), 4.5 (substance use and abuse)

Circadian Rhythms

biological rhythm that takes place over the day. “around the day”. roughly a 24 hour cycle

generally regulated by light

ex: body temp

• rises throughout the day, peaks around midnight, drops during sleeping

Why Do We Sleep (not in book)

• to save energy and protect us

• to repair and restore our brain and body

• to strengthen learning and memory!!

• to aid our creativity

• to support our physical growth

Sleep patterns and age

• Human infants sleep about 16 hours a day

• 70 year olds sleep only about 6 hours (not growing their bodies. still growing their brain but not as much as babies)

• infants spend about 50% of their sleep in REM

• young adults spend only 25% of their sleep in REM

BETA waves

awake

stage 1 of sleep

• first stage of sleep

• start breathing slowly

• EEG is somewhat irregular and contains alpha waves and theta waves

• may have some hallucinations (these are not dreams!!). ex: jerking/falling when you are starting to fall sleep

stage 2 of sleep

• Deep relaxation

• EEG contains mostly theta waves

• EEG now includes spindles and k-complexes (only need to know that these are in stage 2, nothing more)

stage 3 of sleep

• deepest stage of sleep

• EEG includes mostly delta waves

• difficult to be roused from stage 3, if you are you feel very groggy

Rapid Eye Movement (REM)

• in REM sleep, you’re eyes move rapidly beneath your closed eyelids

• your EEG resembles that of someone who is awake

• many physiological measures mimic being awake

• muscle tone drops to almost nothing (so you don’t act out your dreams)

• do most of your dreaming during REM sleep

• the most important stage of sleep for learning and memory

Young Adults Sleep Throughout the Night general trends

N3 is the deepest, the most important for recovering

YA spend the first half of the night mostly in N3

in the second half, there is a lot more REM sleep

**so if you average 6 or less hours of sleep at night, you are cheating yourself out of some REM sleep

Older Adults sleep through the night general trends

spend less time in N3 than young adults because they are generally doing less with their bodies. although if they are doing more active stuff they would probably have more

wake up more often during the night

Insomnia

mostly adults

ongoing difficulty falling or staying asleep.

can use drugs as a way to treat but this can lead to tolerance (and also sometimes these drugs can be quite addictive)

Sleep apnea

mostly adults, also mostly older males who are obese. breathing stops while breathing — especially when a person lies on their back and their airway is blocked.

SIDS

babies. occurs overnight. baby stops breathing and dies. sometimes due to suffocation.

narcolepsy

mostly adults. sudden attacks of overwhelming sleepiness. fall asleep randomly in random parts of the day. usually last less than 5 minutes but can happen at dangerous or emotional times. very dangerous while driving.

night terrors

almost exclusively kids. NOT nightmares. wake up terrified, screaming, sweating, talking nonsense. during N3 sleep. then will fall back asleep and forget about it.

sleep talking

any age. can occur during any stage of sleep. brain is basically awake and person is doing normal waking activities like sitting up and talking while asleep.

sleep walking

mostly kids and adolescence. happens in N3 sleep. people get out of bed, engage in normal waking activities while sleeping and then they get back into bed.