Altered States of Consciousness Meditation, Sleep, Dreams, Drugs

Sleep Biological Rhythms o Rhythms controlled by internal “biological clocks.” 1.Annual cycle o Geese migrate, bears hibernate, and humans experience seasonal variations in appetite, sleep, and mood. o Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder people experience during dark winter months.

2.Menstrual Cycle o Operates on an approx. 28 day cycle 3.24 Hour Cycle – Circadian Rhythm o Humans experience 24-hour cycles of varying alertness (sleep), body temperature, and growth hormone secretion Minute Cycle o In sleep, we go through various 90 minute stage cycles

What causes these cycles? Biological Clocks o Brain structures that schedule rhythmic variations in bodily functions by triggering them at the appropriate times. o Light in the environment play a critical role in helping our brains synchronize these biological clocks o Jet Lag throws off your biological clock by changing the signals (light, temperature, etc.) BBC Biological Clocks

Consciousness The subjective (personal experience) awareness of internal and external events

Reactions of Events

o VSauce Consciousness

Brain Waves 1.Alpha Waves o Pattern of brain activity in someone who is in a relaxed state, with their eyes closed. (Meditation) 2.Beta Waves o Pattern associated with active, busy, or anxious thinking and active concentration. 3.Delta Waves o Pattern of brain activity observed in stage 3 and stage 4 sleep; synchronized slow waves

About every 90 minutes, we pass through a cycle of five distinct sleep stages. Most adults will have 4-5 cycles. With each 90-minute cycle, stage 4 sleep decreases and the duration of REM sleep increases.

Stage 1 Sleep: Time of drowsiness or transition from being awake to falling asleep. Brain waves and muscle activity begin to slow down. Image may appear. May experience sudden muscle jerks, and a falling sensation. Stage 2 Sleep: Light sleep. Brain waves become slower, with occasional bursts of rapid waves called sleep spindles. Heart rate slows and body temperature decreases. Sleep Stages 1 - 4

Stage 3 Sleep: Transition into deep sleep Stage 4 Sleep: (Deep Sleep) Delta Waves Breathing slows, body temperature drops even lower. No eye movement. Very difficult to be awakened during deep sleep. People who are awakened during these stages of sleep may feel groggy or disoriented when the wake up. Bed wetting, sleep talking, sleepwalking and night terrors may happen during this stage.

After reaching the deepest sleep stage (4), the sleep cycle starts moving backward towards stage 1. Active period of sleep marked by intense brain activity  Beta Waves. Breathing becomes irregular, eyes move rapidly in various directions. Limb muscles become temporarily paralyzed. Heart rate increases. Vivid dreams occur. REM - Rapid Eye Movement

The Right Mix of Sleep How many hours do individuals from 14 to 17 need? 8-10 hours (14-17: Adolescents); 7-9 hours (18-25: Young Adults); Getting the quantity of sleep is just as important as the quality; the right mix of REM and DEEP SLEEP. Deep Sleep (Stage 4) is a restorative or healing sleep. This is the time when the body does most of its’ repair work and regeneration. REM Sleep is important for processes such as learning, memory, mood and the ability to concentrate.

1. Sleep Protects: Sleeping in the darkness when predators loomed about kept our ancestors out of harm’s way. 2. Sleep Recuperates: Sleep helps restore and repair brain tissue. 3. Sleep Helps Remembering: Sleep restores and rebuilds our fading memories. 4. Sleep and Growth: During sleep, the pituitary gland releases growth hormone. Older people release less of this hormone and sleep less. Sleep Theories

As a table: a)(1) Provide a short description of the disorder/phenomenon (2) Why does it happen? (3) How many people are affected? (e.g. 1 in 20,000) b)Research a second disorder/phenomenon to share with the class: (1) Description, (2) Why does it happen? (3) How many people are affected? Sleep Disorders & Phenomenon 1.Somnambulism 2.Nightmares 3.Night terrors 4.Narcolepsy 5.Sleep Apnea 6.Insomnia 7.Sleep Paralysis

Somnambulism Nightmares Night Terrors Narcolepsy Sleep apnea Insomnia Sleep Paralysis

Dreams 1.Wish Fulfillment (Freud) o Freud believed dreams (when interpreted) could help serve as a “royal road to the unconscious.” o Dreaming was a means to wish fulfillment; to satisfy wishes and desires (especially sexual ones) o Hyper-sexualized many objects – “guns, cigars, tunnels, or doorways” It was important for Freud to distinguish between a dream’s Manifest Content (the things seen and experienced by the dreamer) and the Latent Content (those hidden desires too disturbing to be confronted directly).

2.Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis o Proposes that dreams are random activities in the brain o During REM sleep, for unclear reasons, cells in the hindbrain spontaneously activate the higher centres of the brain as a way to give the brain some “circuitry exercise.” o As such, the brain tries to make sense of out these signals that it’s receiving, which gives us crazy/random dreams. 3. Other possibilities? Problem-solving  dreams help us to focus some attention to troubling problems for potential solutions Simulating threats  evolutionarily helping us to think about our response to a potential threat Watch: Why Do We Dream (Vsauce)

Sleep Deprivation 1.Fatigue 2.Impaired concentration. 3.Emotional irritability. 4.Depressed immune system. 5.Greater vulnerability.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation & Meditation

Drugs & Altered States Stimulants o Increases nervous system activity by enhancing neural transmission Depressants o Decreases nervous system activity by depressing the ongoing transmissions Hallucinogens o Disrupts normal mental functioning and produces distorted perceptions Opioids o Reduces anxiety and lowers sensitivity by depressing nervous system activity

Marijuana In 2014, 28% of Canadian youth between the ages of admitted to having used cannabis during the year. o 23% in United States (some states have legalized) o 17% in Netherlands (cannabis is decriminalized) As much as 10% of Grade 12 students in Canada use cannabis every day. In the 1960s, Marijuana contained approximately 1% of the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) Today from10% to as high as 30% (Health Canada 2014)

The debate: To Criminalize or Decriminalize 1.Criminalize o Allowing the recreational use of marijuana has greater impact on the health and social aspects (brain development, a “gateway” drug, or potential gang involvement) than any possible benefits. Criminalization inhibits the “normalization of drug abuse” 2.Decriminalize o By having greater regulation (similar to that of alcohol) on marijuana, decriminalization would allow (a) youth and adults to be pushed away from criminal activity and (b) decrease convictions of possession so as to access a higher socio- economic spectrum, reducing further progression of abuse and consequently crime.

Effects on the young brain How does cannabis impact the brain? o Marijuana works by inhibiting neuroreceptors and neurotransmitters from synaptic activity – stops the release, exchange and passing of information The adolescent brain is developing 3 distinct and important processes in the brain: 1.Learning and working memory 2.Motivation 3.Mood and emotions o Effects on the brain

Effects on the young brain Comparatively in the brain, those who use marijuana have brains that work harder than those who do not. o In tasks designed to measure impulsivity, working memory, visual-spatial processing and sustained attention, those who used marijuana had to engage more brain resources to respond accurately. o Higher abnormalities in emotional intelligence and reward processing in the brain of those who used marijuana.

Effects on the young brain A long term study in New Zealand of 1,037 (1972) followed the long term IQ. o The earlier and more long term the use of marijuana in adolescence, the greater the IQ loss at age 38. o Those who heavily used marijuana in their adulthood did not show high losses in IQ o Including socio-economic factors, there was still an association between adolescent use of marijuana use and IQ decline; none in adulthood use Cannabis use in adolescence increases the risk of schizophrenia by up to six-times

Hallucinogens In history, hallucinogens have been used for hundreds of years to induce altered states for religious or spiritual purposes. They act by disrupting the neural circuits in the brain that use the neurotransmitters serotonin o Primarily in the prefrontal cortex o Mood, cognition, perception The drug activates with minutes of ingestion, and can have lasting effects up to 12 hours

25I-NBOMe

Xanax

Bath Salts

Cocaine

Crystal Meth

LSD

Marijuana

Mushrooms