Consciousness/Sleep

1. Consciousness/Sleep

2. The brain and consciousness • Consciousness is our awareness of ourselves and our environment. • Examples of States of Consciousness • Some occur spontaneously – Daydreaming, drowsiness, dreaming • Some occur physiologically – Hallucinations, orgasms, food or oxygen starvation • Some are psychologically induced – Sensory deprivation, hypnosis, meditation • Duel processing – the principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks • Selective Attention – the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

3. Selective inattention • Inattentional blindness: failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere. • Change blindness: failing to notice change in the environment.

4. Sleep and dreams • Sleep: periodic, natural, reversible loss of consciousness. • Circadian rhythm: the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (like temperature and wakefulness) that occur in a 24-hour cycle.

5. Sleep and dreams • REM Sleep: rapid eye movement sleep, recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. • Alpha waves: the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state. • Hallucinations: false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus. • Delta waves: the large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep.

8. Effects of Sleep loss • Teens who typically need 8 or 9 hours of sleep now average less than 7 hours – nearly 2 less each night then their counterparts of 80 years ago. • In one survey, 28 percent of high school students acknowledged falling asleep in class at least once a week. When the going gets boring, the students start snoring! • Sleep depravation entails difficulty studying, diminished productivity, tendency to make mistakes, irritability, and fatigue – extreme sleep depravation “makes you stupid.” (Dement, 1999, p. 231) • Sleep depravation can also make you fatter – increases the hunger-arousing hormone ghrelin and decreases its hunger-suppression partner, leptin. It also increases the stress hormone cortisol, which stimulates the body to create fat.

9. Effects of sleep loss • Sleep deprivation can suppress immune cells that fight off viral infections and cancer • Those who sleep 7-8 hours a night typically outlive those who are sleep depraved • Can cause irritability, slowed performance, and impaired creativity, concentration, and communication • Reaction times can be slowed and rooms for error increase • Can be devastating for driving, piloting, and equipment operating.

10. Purpose of sleep • Sleep protects • Sleep helps us recuperate • Sleep is for making memories • Sleep feeds creative thinking • Sleep may play a role in the growth process

11. Sleep disorders • Insomnia – recurring problems in falling or staying asleep • 1 in 10 adults, 1 in 4 older adults • Sleeping pills and alcohol can spur insomnia • Ways to fight insomnia include: • Exercise regularly but not in the late evening • Avoid all caffeine after early afternoon, and avoid rich foods before bedtime. Instead, try a glass of milk, which provides materials to manufacture serotonin, a neurotransmitter that facilitates sleep. • Relax before bedtime, using dimmer light

12. Sleep disorders • Narcolepsy: a sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks. The sufferer may lapse directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times. • Sleeping attacks often last less than 5 minutes but sometimes occur at the most inopportune times • 1 in 2000 people have narcolepsy • Genetic brain disease • Sleep apnea: a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings. • 1 in 20 people have sleep apnea • Apnea means “with no breath” • Associated with obesity, and high blood pressure

13. Sleep disorders • Night terrors: a sleep disorder characterized by high arousal and an appearance of being terrified; unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during Stage 4 sleep, within two or three hours of falling asleep, and are seldom remembered. • Targets mostly children • May sit up, walk around, talk incoherently, experience a doubling of heart and breathing rates, and appear terrified • Sleep walking or sleep talking • Children are more prone to develop • Occurs in Stage 4 sleep

14. dreams • REM dreams – hallucinations of the sleeping mind, a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind. • We spend 6 years of our lives in dreams • 8 in 10 dreams are marked by at least one negative event or emotion • 1 in 10 dreams among men are sexual in nature, whereas 1 in 30 for women have a sexual theme • Manifest Content – the story line of a dream

15. Why we dream? • To satisfy own wishes • Latent Content: underlying meanings of a dream • To file away memories • To develop and preserve neural pathways • To make sense of neural static • To reflect cognitive development

16. Hypnosis • A social interaction in which one person suggests to another person that they feel or carry out certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors. • Hypnotists have no magical mind controlling power, they merely engage people’s ability to focus on certain images or behaviors. The power does not reside in the hypnotist but in the subject’s openness to suggestion. • An authoritative person in a legitimate context can induce people – hypnotized or not – to perform some unlikely acts. (Spanos, 1982) • Hypnosis has been shown to alleviate pain, and have posthypnotic suggestions meaning that afterwards the client has alleviated headaches, asthma, and stress-related disorders.

17. Drugs and consciousness • Psychoactive drug: a chemical substance that alters perceptions and moods. • The odds of getting hooked after trying various drugs • Marijuana: 9% Alcohol: 15% Heroin 23% Tobacco: 32% • Addiction: compulsive drug craving and use, despite adverse consequences. • Tolerance: the diminishing effect with the regular use of the same drug, requiring the user to take larger and larger doses before experiencing the drugs effect • Withdrawal: the discomfort and the distress that follow discontinuing the use of a drug • Psychological dependence: a psychological need to use a drug, such as to relive negative emotions.

18. Depressants • Depressants are drugs such as alcohol, tranquilizers, and opiates that calm neural activity and slow body functions. • Alcohol • Disinhibition: The urges you feel if sober are the ones you will likely act upon when intoxicated • Slowed Neural Processing: Reaction slow, speech slurs, skilled performance deteriorates • Memory Disruption: Disrupts the processing of recent experiences into long-term memories, can shrink the brain • Reduces Self-Awareness and Self-Control: Alcohol lessens impulse control • Expectancy Effects: Causes behaviors to change due to the perception of consumption • Unsafe sex: Can lead to unsafe sex with risks of STIs or unwanted pregnancy

19. Depressants • Barbiturate: Tranquilizers that mimic the effect of alcohol. They can lead to impaired memory or judgment, or even death. More lethal when combined with alcohol. • Opiates: Such as heroine or morphine depress neural functioning. Pupils contract, breathing slows, and lethargy sets in as pleasure replaces pain and anxiety. But for this short term pleasure, people pay a long term price. Larger doses are needing to fix the craving for another fix as tolerance sets in. • With the use of opiates, the brain recognizes the presence of artificial opiates and stops producing its own. If the artificial opiate is withdrawn, the brain lacks the normal level of those painkilling neurotransmitters. Those who cannot or choose not to tolerate this state may die of overdose.

20. Stimulates • Stimulates are drugs (such as caffeine, nicotine, and the more powerful amphetamines, cocaine, and ecstasy) that excite neural activity and speed up bodily functions. • Amphetamines: drugs that stimulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes. • Methamphetamine: chemically related to amphetamine. It is a powerfully addictive drug that stimulates the central nervous system, with speeded-up body functions and associated energy and mood changes; over time appears to reduce baseline dopamine levels.

21. Methamphetamine • Causes 8 hours or so of heightened energy and euphoria by triggering the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. • Men have a higher addiction rate due to their excretion of higher levels of dopamine • Over time the effects of meth are very harmful. • May leave the user in depressed states of mind • Can cause irritability, insomnia, hypertension, seizures, social isolation, depression, and occasional violent outbursts. • Crystal Meth, the crystalized version of meth, is categorized as one of the most dangerous drugs alongside cocaine and heroin.

23. Caffeine • Worlds most widely consumed psychoactive substance. • Found in coffee, tea, soda, fruit juices, mints, energy drinks, bars, and soap. • A mild dose of caffeine can last three or four hours which if taken in the evening can impair sleep • Like other drugs, caffeine used regularly and in heavy doses, produces tolerance, as its stimulating effects lessen. • Withdrawal symptoms of caffeine include fatigue and headaches.

25. nicotine • 250 million packs of cigarettes are sold a day worldwide • Tobacco kills nearly 5.4 million people each year • A teen to grave smoker has a 50 percent chance of dying from the habit • Eliminating smoking would increase life expectancy than any other preventative measure. • Adolescents are the target age group to start smoking – chances are if you make it to college and have not had a cigarette then you never will! • Cigarettes are marketed in a way which provides allure and coolness to teens who may be self-conscious about their appearance

26. nicotine • Tobacco products are as highly addictive as heroin and cocaine • Each year, 1 in 7 smokers who say they plan on quitting actually do so • Withdrawal symptoms include craving, insomnia, anxiety, and irritability. • Nicotine is mood altering, stimulates the Central Nervous System to release dopamine and calm anxiety • The rewards keep people smoking even though they know they are committing slow motion suicide! • Smoking cigarettes leads to higher levels of depression, chronic disabilities, and divorce as opposed to those who do not smoke. • Do not say “I will only try one” as you will become addicted. Just say NO!

28. cocaine • Offers a fast track from euphoria to crash • When snorted or injected, cocaine enters the bloodstream quickly • A rush of euphoria will start as the brain is depleted from all of its dopamine • Within 15-30 minutes a crash of agitated depression follows as the drug’s effects wear off • Cocaine can lead to emotional disturbances, suspiciousness, convulsions, cardiac arrest, and respiratory failure

30. Methylenedioxymethamphetamine • Street name: Ectasy • Is a stimulant and mild hallucinogen • Releases stored serotonin and blocks its reabsorption, leading to an extended feel-good sensation • About a half-hour after taking ectasy, users enter a three to four hour period of feelings of emotional evaluation – “I love everyone” feeling • Causes extreme dehydration, severe overheating, increased blood pressure, and death • Can lead to a permanently depressed mood • Suppresses the immune system, impairs memory, disrupts sleep

31. Hallucinogens • Distort perceptions, and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input • Also called psychedelics • LSD and Ectasy are synthetic whereas marijuana is natural

32. LSD • Is chemically similar to serotonin • Emotions from an LSD trip vary from euphoria to detachment to panic • Can lead to brain damage and self inflicted harm

33. marijuana • Consists of leaves and flowers of the hemp plant • The THC within the plant gives people the hallucinogenic feeling • THC stays within the body for a month or more • The more use, the more likely a person is to develop anxiety, depression, and possibly schizophrenia • In some cases, natural THC has been shown to relieve pain and in some states may be used for medical purposes

34. Biological influences in drug use • Being adopted puts one at a higher risk for alcohol dependence • Having an identical twin rather than a fraternal twin puts one at higher risk for alcohol dependence • Boys who at age 6 are excitable, impulsive, and fearless are more likely as teens to smoke, drink, and use other drugs. • Researchers have identified genes that put people at higher risk to drink and smoke

35. Psychological and social-cultural influences • People who feel their life is meaningless and directionless, a common feeling among school drop-outs, are more likely to drink and use drugs • Females with a history of depression, eating disorders, or sexual or physical abuse are at risk for substance addiction. • Those transitioning to a new school or neighborhood are at higher risk of alcohol or drug use • Most teen drinking and drug use can also be attributed to social reasoning • Religious views can also play a stricter role in prohibiting alcohol or drug use • Demographics also play a role in drug or alcohol use. For example: More common in rural areas, or drug areas in cities • Teens who come from happy families and do well in school typically do not drink or use drugs because they tend not to associate with people that do

36. Near-Death Experiences • An altered state of consciousness reported after a close brush with death (such as cardiac arrest): often similar to drug induced hallucinations • “hallucinatory activity of the brain” • People who have experienced a near death experience typically become more spiritual and more believing in life after death