Consciousness: Darren J. Gonzales Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences

CONSCIOUSNESS
DARREN J. GONZALES
Faculty, College of Arts and Sciences
Class Objectives
 What is consciousness?
 What are the stages of sleep?
 How does sleep deprivation effect us?
How would YOU define
consciousness?
  Consciousness is a state of awareness and responsiveness
  Events in the environment
  Your own mental processes and inner awareness
  Example: Your knowledge of your feelings, thoughts, and

memories.
Is consciousness a black or
white state?
  No, Consciousness is a spectrum that ranges from low to
high levels of awareness.
HIGH
Very Alert
Awake
LOW
Unconscious
Feeling Sleepy?
How many hours do you sleep
a night?
What do you know about sleep?
True or false?
1.  Teens who fall asleep in class have are just lazy.
False! Teens need at least 8.5 – 9.25 hours of sleep each night, compared to
an average of seven to nine hours each night for most adults.
2.  Health problems such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and

depression are unrelated to the amount and quality of a person's
sleep.
False!
3.  The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep you need.
False!
4.  During sleep, your brain is very active. True!
5.  If you wake up in the middle of the night, it is best to lie in bed,
count sheep, or toss and turn until you eventually fall back asleep.
False!
Did you know?
Did you know that we spend about 1/3 of our lives
asleep. If you live to be 75 years old you will have
slept about 25 years!
An average 20 year old student has

spent about 6 years asleep!
Researchers have
established what
happens during sleep,
but not why we sleep.
One theory is that we sleep because we are tired. In other

words, sleep has a restorative function, like rebooting a
computer.
Is it important to
maintain a regular bed
and wake time?
Biological Clock
  Humans and other animals have an internal
biological clock called the circadian rhythms
  These patterns vary over approximately a 24-hour

cycle and occur even in the absence of normal
cues about whether it is day or night
  Responsible for body functions including:

  Hormone levels
  Sleep and wakefulness
  Blood pressure
  Body temperature
The Brain’s Control of
Circadian Rhythms
  Generated by the
suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)
Pineal Gland
  Regulates the pineal gland’s
secretion of the hormone –
melatonin
  Increases in melatonin produce

drowsiness Hypothalamus
(SCN)
Can your clock get out of whack?
  Yes, problems can occur if someone works through the
night and sleeps during the day
  Also experienced with jet lag

  We are awake when out circadian rhythm cries “SLEEP!”
  To speed up resetting your biological clock after a long flight

– spend time outdoors
  Bright lights help reset our biological clocks
Morning People versus
Evening People
  Morning people awaken early and full of energy – doing
their best work before noon
  Most people over 65 are morning people
  Evening people take longer to warm up in the morning –

doing their best work in the afternoon or evening
  Most young people are evening people
Isn’t sleep all the same?
  No, the use of the EEG shows variations in brain waves
which determine different stages of sleep.
  There are 5 Stages of sleep

  (4) Non REM and (1) REM
  During an 8 hour period, people typically progress through

all 5 full cycles,
  Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes

Non REM Sleep
  When awake, brain waves show a high frequency, low
amplitude pattern
  NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep involves

increasing bodily relaxation
  Slower EEG activity occurs
  The heart rate and respiration are slower during NREM
Non-REM Stages of Sleep
  NREM brain waves are of low amplitude and are fast, with
mixed frequencies
  Brain activity changes with each stage
  People become more difficult to awaken as they progress

through the four stages of NREM sleep.
Awake
Neural activity unsynchronized
Start of longer, slower brain activity

(beginning to synchronize)
Neural activity more synchronized

(delta waves)
Neural activity highly synchronized

(delta waves)
Neural activity unsynchronized

Non-REM Sleep
Sleepers take about 30 to 40 minutes to go
through the four stages of NREM sleep
Fall asleep
Non-REM Stage 1
Non-REM Stage 2
Non-REM Stage 3
Non-REM Stage 4
REM Sleep
  Rapid eye movement (REM)
  This stage of sleep is characterized by high-

frequency, low-amplitude brain wave activity
  Occurs only after people go through first 4

stages of NREM
REM Sleep
  REM is difficult to distinguish from being awake on the basis
of physiological measures
  During REM sleep breathing and heart rate increase

  The same rate as if we were awake
Function of REM Sleep
  Memory storage- REM Helps consolidate memories
  Brain areas that are active during the learning of the task
become active again during sleep
  Performance on tasks usually improves if you test someone

a day after they’ve learned the task
  As long as they get at least 6 hours of

sleep
  REM dreams tend to be longer, more vivid, and involve
more detail and movement.
  However, dreaming occurs during all sleep stages.
  Paralysis of muscles occurs so we cannot act out our

dreams.
What Happens When We
Don’t Get Enough Sleep?
Do YOU Get Enough
Sleep?
Sleep Deprivation Quiz
Sleep Deprivation
  The longer people go without sleep – the sleepier
they get and the worse their performance becomes
  A fatigued, sleep deprived person may experience:

  Impaired concentration diminished productivity
  Tendency to make mistakes
  Irritability
  A depressed immune system
  Greater vulnerability to accidents
Sleep Deprivation
  Research on total sleep deprivation with humans is not
possible
  However, rats totally deprived of sleep die
  lose inability to regulate body temperature

  lose weight
Chapter 5-Sleep
Disorders
CLASS OBJECTIVES-
What are Sleep Disorders?
Narcolepsy
Insomnia
Sleep apnea
Night terrors
Sleep walking
The EEG is used to help diagnose
sleep disorders
Sleep disorders quiz…True or False?
True
  Approximately 70 million people in the United States are affected by a sleep problem.
True
  If you regularly doze off unintentionally during the day, you may need more than just a
good night's sleep.
True
  If you snore loudly and persistently at night and are sleepy during the day, you may have
a sleep disorder.
True
  Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder marked by "sleep attacks.”
True
  The primary cause of insomnia is worry.
Sleep Disorders are
divided into two major
diagnostic categories:
Dyssomnias and Parasomnias
Approximately two-thirds of adult suffer from sleep problems,
and about 25% of children under the age of 5 have sleep
disturbance
What is Narcolepsy?
Sleep Disorders
  People who experience sudden, uncontrollable episodes of
sleep have Narcolepsy.
  Main symptoms:
  Fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly
  Excessive daytime sleepiness and
  Abnormal REM sleep.
Sleep Disorders
  Sleep apnea causes airflow into the lungs stop for at least
15 seconds.
  The sleeper stops breathing, chokes, then wakens briefly.

Rather than choking awake, some choke and die (Skatrud
&Pappard, 2004).
  People with this disorder can have as many as 100

episodes per night.
Consequences of Sleep Apnea
  People with sleep apnea get poor-quality sleep
and feel extremely sleepy during the day.
  The person may have:

  Memory loss
  Suffer from severe headaches or work-related
accidents.
  Sleep apnea may also lead to high blood pressure,

heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
Who’s effected by this sleep
disorder?
  This disorder is fairly common, 33% of the population
experience symptoms of sleep apnea.
  Middle-aged, overweight men are at risk, but even children

can have this disorder.
Can it be treated?
  Several effective therapies have been
developed, including minor surgery or the use of
a machine that affects airway pressure.
I just CAN’T sleep!!
Insomnia is the most common
dyssomnia effecting as many as
one in ten people each year!
Insomnia
  Insomnia involves problems in going to sleep or maintaining
sleep.
  10% of the population experience insomnia at sometime

and is often associated with anxiety or depression.
  People with insomnia may actually sleep as much as norm,

but quality of sleep tends to be poor and don’t feel rested
(Dement, 1999).
Insomnia
People with insomnia tend to be listless and tired
during the day, which often leads to the use of sleep
medications.
Drugs are not a preferred treatment due to a high

link to dependence on sleeping pills and other
drugs.
Behavioral treatments for insomnia include

relaxation training, cognitive therapy, and self-
hypnosis.
Insomnia
Parasomnias include
abnormal disturbances
during sleep
These include nightmares, night terrors, sleep walking and
sleep talking
Night Terrors
  Night Terrors is a sleep disorder in which a person
experiences symptoms of a panic attack
  The child can usually be seen sitting upright in state

of sheer panic.
  Scream, breathe rapidly appear awake- yet person is not fully
conscious
  This disorder is most common in children between

ages 3-8 and disappears as the child grows older.
Are these just BAD
nightmares?
 NO, they are not nightmares and
they occur in NREM sleep, usually
stage 3 or 4.
Sleepwalking
  Sleep Disorder characterized by walking or other activity
while seemingly still asleep.
  Sleepwalking is common in children 6-12 years old. It may

occur at any age and it appears to run in families.
  Sleepwalking affects approximately 1% to 17% of children

and is more frequently seen in boys.
  The incidence of sleepwalking decreases with age.
Sleepwalking
TRUE or FALSE?
False!
  Sleepwalkers are acting out dreams
False!
  It is dangerous to wake a sleep walker
Sleepwalking
  Sleepwalkers are NOT acting out a dream-brainwave
activity of sleepwalkers indicate that they are in stage 4
sleep.
  There is no danger in waking a sleepwalker. most likely you

cannot because they are so deeply asleep.

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CONSCIOUSNESS

 Events in the environment

 Your own mental processes and inner awareness

 Example: Your knowledge of your feelings, thoughts, and

2. Health problems such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and

4. During sleep, your brain is very active. True!

An average 20 year old student has

One theory is that we sleep because we are tired. In other

 These patterns vary over approximately a 24-hour

 Responsible for body functions including:

 Increases in melatonin produce

 Also experienced with jet lag

 To speed up resetting your biological clock after a long flight

 Evening people take longer to warm up in the morning –

 There are 5 Stages of sleep

 During an 8 hour period, people typically progress through

 Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes

 NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep involves

 Brain activity changes with each stage

 People become more difficult to awaken as they progress

Neural activity unsynchronized

Start of longer, slower brain activity

Neural activity more synchronized

Neural activity highly synchronized

Neural activity unsynchronized

 This stage of sleep is characterized by high-

 Occurs only after people go through first 4

 During REM sleep breathing and heart rate increase

 Performance on tasks usually improves if you test someone

 As long as they get at least 6 hours of

 Paralysis of muscles occurs so we cannot act out our

 A fatigued, sleep deprived person may experience:

 However, rats totally deprived of sleep die

 lose inability to regulate body temperature

What are Sleep Disorders?

 The sleeper stops breathing, chokes, then wakens briefly.

 People with this disorder can have as many as 100

 The person may have:

 Sleep apnea may also lead to high blood pressure,

 Middle-aged, overweight men are at risk, but even children

 10% of the population experience insomnia at sometime

 People with insomnia may actually sleep as much as norm,

Drugs are not a preferred treatment due to a high

Behavioral treatments for insomnia include

 The child can usually be seen sitting upright in state

 This disorder is most common in children between

 Sleepwalking is common in children 6-12 years old. It may

 Sleepwalking affects approximately 1% to 17% of children

 There is no danger in waking a sleepwalker. most likely you

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  Events in the environment

  Your own mental processes and inner awareness

  Example: Your knowledge of your feelings, thoughts, and

2.  Health problems such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and

4.  During sleep, your brain is very active. True!

  These patterns vary over approximately a 24-hour

  Responsible for body functions including:

  Increases in melatonin produce

  Also experienced with jet lag

  To speed up resetting your biological clock after a long flight

  Evening people take longer to warm up in the morning –

  There are 5 Stages of sleep

  During an 8 hour period, people typically progress through

  Each cycle lasts about 90 minutes

  NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep involves

  Brain activity changes with each stage

  People become more difficult to awaken as they progress

  This stage of sleep is characterized by high-

  Occurs only after people go through first 4

  During REM sleep breathing and heart rate increase

  Performance on tasks usually improves if you test someone

  As long as they get at least 6 hours of

  Paralysis of muscles occurs so we cannot act out our

  A fatigued, sleep deprived person may experience:

  However, rats totally deprived of sleep die

  lose inability to regulate body temperature

  The sleeper stops breathing, chokes, then wakens briefly.

  People with this disorder can have as many as 100

  The person may have:

  Sleep apnea may also lead to high blood pressure,

  Middle-aged, overweight men are at risk, but even children

  10% of the population experience insomnia at sometime

  People with insomnia may actually sleep as much as norm,

  The child can usually be seen sitting upright in state

  This disorder is most common in children between

  Sleepwalking is common in children 6-12 years old. It may

  Sleepwalking affects approximately 1% to 17% of children

  There is no danger in waking a sleepwalker. most likely you