ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Consciousness - our awareness of ourselves and our environment

Try this: circle your right foot counter clockwise while writing the number 3 several times in a row

Our conscious mind works best when it is focusing on only 1 task at a time

Daydreaming

shift your focus from external world to internal world

the most common (frequent) altered state

What is your circadian rhythm?

What is your circadian rhythm?

it is your rhythm of activity and inactivity lasting approximately one day (a little over 24 hours)

When are you most alert and active?

your environment can effect your circadian rhythm

light (artificial or natural) can affect your production of melatonin (a sleep inducing hormone)

Sleep

relaxed and awake--alpha waves

Stage 1

erratic, theta waves; about 2 minutes

drifting off, brief images, twitching, maybe a falling feeling or a big jerk of the body

Stage 2

sleep spindles (bursts of brain activity) and K-complex waves; about 20 minutes

first stage of real sleep, but can still be awakened easily

body temp starts dropping and heart rate starts slowing down

Stage 3

transitional stage between light sleep and deep sleep

delta waves begin (large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep

Stage 4

delta sleep; 30 minutes

hard to awaken

sleepwalk, talking in sleep, bedwetting

sleepwalking -- associated with stress, fatigue and sedatives; mostly children

After Stages 1, 2, 3, and 4, we go back up through Stages 3, 2, then...

REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement) 1952!

for about 10 minutes

breathing becomes irregular

eyes dart around

twitching can occur, but large muscles are “paralyzed”

brain is like someone who is awake

dreams mostly occur during REM

The cycle continues back down to stages 2, 3 and 4, then back up again to REM

The sleep cycles last about 90 minutes

Stage 4 gets shorter and disappears and REM gets longer

lucid dreaming - when you know you’re dreaming (body is asleep; mind is awake)

a certain amount of dreaming each night is necessary

alcohol and some sleep medications disrupt REM sleep

Do you think most dreams contain positive emotions or negative emotions?

Do you think most dreams contain positive emotions or negative emotions?

negative (80%)

REM sleep increases after stressful experiences or intense learning periods

REM rebound--the tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation

mammals experience REM and REM rebound, but not other animals

SO, WHY DO WE DREAM?

1. To satisfy our own (repressed) wishes/desires

manifest content - the remembered storyline of a dream...straightforward

latent content - the underlying meaning of a dream...must be interpreted

WHY DO WE DREAM?

2. Information and memory processing

REM sleep helps memory

high achieving secondary students with high grades average 25 minutes more sleep a night and go to bed 40 minutes earlier than their lower-achieving classmates

WHY DO WE DREAM?

3. May help to develop and maintain neural pathways

infants, whose neural networks are fast developing, spend a great deal of time in REM

WHY DO WE DREAM?4. activation-synthesis theory

dreams are our way of trying to make sense of random neural activity that occurs during the night (increased activity in the amygdala)

WHY DO WE DREAM?

5. cognitive theory

dream content reflects dreamers’ cognitive development

we tend to sleep/dream more during periods of increased learning

“A form of consciousness that unites past, present and future in processing information from the first two, and preparing for the third” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sleep-newzzz/201502/why-do-we-dream

What are your recurring dreams?

Who requires less sleep, the old or the young?

Who requires less sleep, the old or the young?

the old -- senior citizens require less sleep

nightmares

occur during REM, usually during the morning hours

person wakes up with movie-like memory of bad dream

night terrors

occur during the first few hours of sleep in stage 4

mostly children

may have only a fleeting memory of fear when they awaken

are inconsolable and might seem to be looking straight through you

IF YOU DON’T GET ENOUGH SLEEP:

impaired creativity and concentration

increased risk for illness/disease

slight hand tremors

irritability

hallucinations

possible link with obesity

may increase the aging process

SLEEPING DISORDERS

insomnia - recurring problems in falling or staying asleep

Guinness Record holder for longest period a human has not gone to sleep intentionally without the use of stimulants was Randy Gardner in 1965. (Scientific American)

How long do you think it was?

11 Days!!! He did not seem to suffer any adverse effects.

Guinness does not record this any longer for fear of the health repercussions of staying awake too long.

A man in China also stayed awake 11 days straight and then died in his sleep. He was attempting to watch every single game in the European Championship of soccer. It is reported that he drank and smoked during the entire time. (TIME)

suggestions to help with insomnia:

relax before bedtime

avoid caffeine and rich foods after late afternoon

maintain a regular sleeping schedule

exercise regularly

don’t take naps

SLEEPING DISORDERSnarcolepsy - uncontrollable sleep attacks in which the sufferer lapses directly into REM sleep

can stay asleep for a few minutes to a few hours (usually 5-20 min.)

woman scuba diving

firefighter going up a ladder

SLEEPING DISORDERSsleep apnea - lapses of breathing during sleep followed by a “snort” of air

can happen hundreds of times a night

more common in

1. males

2. people who are overweight

3. people over age 65

Hypnosis

a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts or behaviors will spontaneously occur

a state of consciousness in which a person becomes highly suggestible and does not use critical thinking; inhibitions are lessened

subject must be able to tune out external stimuli

20% are highly susceptible -- people who become completely absorbed in fiction/imagination

posthypnotic amnesia - inability to recall what was experienced during hypnosis

age regression - supposed “reliving” of earlier experiences

hypnosis is not a truth serum -- confabulation can occur

this is why testimony obtained under hypnosis is not admissible in court in most states

posthypnotic suggestion - suggestion during hypnosis to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized

posthypnotic suggestion has been used for:

headaches

asthma

(drugs, alcohol and smoking)

+weight loss

psychosomatic skin disorders

*has not proven any more effective than positive statements and thinking

hypnosis can reduce pain

10% of the population could go through surgery without anesthesia

2 theories of “how”:

dissociation - a split in consciousness (your mind focuses on the part of the consciousness that does not allow feeling of pain—you are aware of it, but do not acknowledge that it’s painful)

selective attention - you do not notice pain because you are distracted, like an athlete during a big game

2 THEORIES ON HOW HYPNOSIS WORKS

1. social phenomenon

subject is “playing a role”

2. divided consciousness

split awareness

a hypnotist tells you to do something and you are not fully aware of what you are doing (like when you drive a car somewhere and don’t remember doing it)

3. Psychoactive Drugs - chemicals that change perception and mood

Depressants

reduce neural activity and slow down body functions

DEPRESSANTSalcohol

reactions slow, speech slurs, skilled performance deteriorates, inhibitions lessened

reduces self-awareness

exaggerates emotions

depressed sympathetic nervous system

disrupts processing of memories from short-term to long-term (disrupts REM sleep)

alcohol

long term use can cause shrinking of the brain

the toll on women who drink heavily is greater than on men

become addicted easier

smaller amounts cause more damage to lung, brain and liver

alcohol

“Annually, almost 100,000 deaths are alcohol-related...” National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.

these include falls, fires, homicides, overdose, and health related illnesses

“Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver.” Centers for Disease Control

alcohol

U of I Survey:

before sexual assaults, 80% of male assailants and 70% of female victims had been drinking

(About 18% of women have been raped during their lifetime)

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/219181.pdf) (December 21, 2011

DEPRESSANTS

barbituates

similar to alcohol

impair memory and judgment

especially lethal with alcohol

used to induce sleep/reduce anxiety

(also for epilepsy and for some migraines)

DEPRESSANTSopiates

morphine, heroine

can cause lethargy, reduces pain and anxiety

the brain stops producing natural opiates

causes extreme withdrawal pain and physical dependence

Stimulants

excite neural activity and speed up body functions

(caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, methamphetamines)

STIMULANTStobacco

stimulates the nervous system, lessens pain and anxiety, diminishes appetite and attention span (4 minutes)

more than 480,000 deaths annually (including second hand smoke) Centers for Disease Control

nearly 900 infant deaths annually from second hand smoke University of California in San Francisco 2012 study

slow motion suicide!

STIMULANTScocaine/crack

sniffed or smoked

craving diminishes after a few hours but can return in a few days

emotional disturbance, suspiciousness/paranoia, convulsions, cardiac arrest, stroke, increased aggression

blocks the reuptake of dopamine (pleasure neurotransmitter) so that there is an excess of dopamine in the synapse

Ecstasy

can also be a mild hallucinogen

releases serotonin and blocks its reabsorption

can damage serotonin-producing neurons which could lead to a permanent depressed mood

suppresses the immune system

impairs memory and other cognitive functions

STIMULANTS

Hallucinogens

distort perception and can evoke hallucinations

HALLUCINOGENSLSD

first “trip” taken by a chemist in 1943

synthetic drug

small amount can have a large effect

single use may cause flashbacks years later

panic, anxiety attacks, can harm self

use may speed the onset of schizophrenia and psychosis

HALLUCINOGENSmarijuana

similar to alcohol, but also may amplify sensitivity to colors, sounds, tastes and smells

disrupts memory and critical thinking, even days after use National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

increased risk for anxiety, depression, schizophrenia

THC is the mind altering chemical in marijuana

long term study showed that regular use during early teen years caused an 8 point drop in IQ National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

CONCLUSION…for all psychoactive drugs

negative after effects get stronger and stronger with continued use

this leads to consumption of larger and larger doses to produce the desired effects (tolerance)

which leads to more severe withdrawal

which leads back to consumption