 Sleep and Dreams  Hypnosis  Drugs and Consciousness  Near-Death Experiences

“Even though this unit does not encompass a large portion of the AP Exam, the concepts are certainly important and interesting to students. While you may not spend a lot of time on this unit, you should emphasize to students that any content can show up on the AP Exam, making this content fair game for multiple- choice or free response questions.”

“There are those times when consciousness seems to split. Reading Green Eggs and Ham for one of my preschoolers for the upteenth time, my obliging mouth could say the words while my mind wandered elsewhere. And if someone asks what you’re doing for lunch while you’re texting it’s not a problem. Your fingers complete the message as you suggest eating tacos.”

What is consciousness?

Some concepts in science are very difficult to define. For example, in physics, the words matter and energy don’t have a simple or easy definition. Some say consciousness is like the speedometer on your car. It doesn’t make it go, but it reflects what is happening.

Simply put… Consciousness is our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

In addition to normal, waking awareness comes to us in altered states, including daydreaming, sleeping, meditating, and drug induced hallucination.

Neuroscience does support the notion that brain activity is related to sleeping, dreaming, and other mental states.

Think of some things such as riding a bike that when you first did you needed to focus intently and now you can do with much less conscious effort.

“I love to sleep. Do you? Isn’t it great? It really is the best of both worlds. You get to be alive and unconscious.”

How out of it are we when we sleep?

1) We move around in bed but don’t fall out. 2) The occasional roar of passing vehicles may leave your deep sleep undisturbed but a cry from a baby’s nursery quickly interrupts it. 3) So does the sound of your name. 4) EEG recordings confirm that the brain’s auditory cortex responds to sound stimuli even during sleep. And when we are asleep, as when we are awake, we process most information outside our conscious awareness.

 All of the following statements are false: 1) When people dream of performing some activity, their limbs often move in concert with the dream. 2) Older adults sleep more than young adults. 3) Sleepwalkers are acting out their dreams. 4) Sleep experts recommend treating insomnia with an occasional sleeping pill. 5) Some people dream every night; others seldom dream.

Our bodies roughly synchronize with the 24 hour cycle of the day and night through a biological clock called circadian rhythm. On the average, body temperatures rise as morning approaches, peak during the day, dip in early afternoon (siesta time) and then drop before we go to sleep.

When we pull an all-nighter we feel most tired around 4 am but start to perk up after our usual wake-up time comes around.

At about age 20 in males and SLIGHTLY earlier in females, we begin to shift from being evening energized “owls” to being morning- loving “larks.” Most older adults are larks, with performance declining as the day wears on. Retirement homes are typically quiet by mid-evening; in university dorms the day is far from over.

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep: A recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep because the muscles are relaxed (other than minor twitches) but other body systems are active.

 Stage 1 Sleep: some hallucinations  Stage 2 Sleep: sleep spindles, brain activity  Stage 3 Sleep: Delta Waves begin  Stage 4 Sleep: Delta Waves continue  REM Sleep  Stages 1-4 are called “NREM Sleep” (non-REM sleep)

REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep: A recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur. Also known as paradoxical sleep because the muscles are relaxed (other than minor twitches) but other body systems are active.

Paradoxical because when dreams are vivid and elaborate, the body is the most still. When we at our most relaxed physically we are experiencing our most active times mentally.

 NO, or a better way of answering would be by saying “not necessarily.”  Newborns spend 2/3 of their day sleeping.  Some people need less sleep than others.

Randy Gardner, a high school student in 1969 attempted to stay awake as long as possible. He stayed awake for 11 days, but he experienced frightening symptoms as a result. He developed a heart murmur, slurred his speech, and couldn’t attend to a conversation for more than a few moments.

He hallucinated that street signs were people, and he believed that he was an African American football star though he was not African American nor did he play football. When people confronted him with the truth he called them racist. Once he started sleeping again, his symptoms disappeared. He was back to his regular sleep pattern within 3-4 days.