Dreaming: The Altered State Of Consciousness

Sleep is a state of altered consciousness, characterized by certain patterns of the brains activity and inactivity. An altered state of consciousness is when a person is not completely aware of their surroundings. Some researchers believe that we sleep to clear our minds of useless information. Other people believe that it is a type of primitive hibernation: we sleep to conserve energy.

“Why do we sleep?” is a very popular questions that many humans ask today. Sleep is very sufficient to the human body. If it was not important, then God would not have designed for a third of our life to be occupied by sleep. During this time period, many people are interested to know what is a good amount of sleep and what are the harmful effects to not getting enough sleep.

Dreaming, although a substantial component of our nighttime lives, remains somewhat of an enigma due to the fact that it occurs while we are unconscious. The inaccessibility of the unconscious mind weakens full analysis and comprehension of dreaming which researchers have been attempting to accomplish. However, over the years many researchers have elucidated many mysteries about dreams, such as when we dream, why we dream, and what we dream about, in order to bring forth an understanding of dreams as well as identify

Everyone knows what sleep is but do they know what it really is? Sleep by definition is the process in which humans and other animals periodically rest, with greater or lesser degrees of unconsciousness and decreased responsiveness to the surrounding world. With the mentioning of consciousness, it is known that our brain is still active while we sleep and has its own biological rhythm. This rhythm includes four distinct stages that repeat

Sleep is commonly referred to as a global state, one which engages the entire nervous system. The states of sleep and wakefulness are highly interconnected and share common physiological mechanisms; however, there are distinct differences in the neurochemical pathways that underlie them. The notion that sleep is a global state is supported by evidence that the interrelated states of sleep and wakefulness engage a multitude of neuronal pathways and components. These networks of neuronal transmitters and receptors extend throughout the brain; from the brainstem to the basal forebrain, thalamus, hypothalamus, and cerebral cortex. The onset of sleep and wakefulness is known

I know that personally, I take sleep for granted. Having the ability to lie down after a long day and close my eyes, knowing that in the morning I will wake feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, is something that I haven’t really thought twice about. From reading this chapter, I have learned that many individuals are not so lucky. Sleep-wake disorders can affect a person’s life in tremendous ways. This broad category is broken down into two more specific categories – Dyssomnias and Parasomnias.

Consciousness is your awakened state of mind in which you are cognizant of and are able to distinguish between realities while also being preemptive to one’s thoughts, emotions, and feelings through the establishment of the fundamental aspect of student-object relationships in which one is not only aware and mindful of his surroundings, but oneself as well at any given moment as the present renders sentiments of familiarity, presumably rectifying preconceived notions that consciousness is merely an illusion and is rather more so a universal force and a collective body of existence and self-realization.

The average human spends about 25 years of their life sleeping. That is equal to one-third of a person’s life. So if sleep is vital and common among every single human, what do you know about it? What happens when we sleep (Attention Grabber)? Before the 1950s, scientists believed that the brain would just “shut off” when we would go to sleep. It wasn’t until the discovery of the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) state that scientists really looked into what happens in the brain while we are asleep. Studies have found that we go through a cycle of stages during sleep, and it is important for our health (Orientation to Topic). Today, I am going to inform you about what really happens when we sleep, and some issues that are found among it (Specific Purpose). In order to really understand this worldwide commonality, you need to know some background on sleep, the stages in the cycle, and some common disorders (Central Idea). I have taken a year long psychology course that went into depth on sleep psychology, and I have done extensive research on the topic to better grasp it (Statement of Credibility). I want to inform you on sleep so you can understand what happens when you close your eyes every night, and so you can detect any irregularities in your sleep pattern (Statement of Goodwill). First, I will give a background of why and how we know to sleep, then I will explain the stages in the sleep cycle, and finally I will tell you about some common disorders (Preview).

Research has found that REM sleep has evolved to become part of the dreaming process otherwise known as REM sleep-dreaming. Sleep with electroencephalographic evidence of the brain shows that a human’s brain is awake during sleep because involuntary eye movement occurs. This occurs during the dreaming consciousness every human possesses which is part of the secondary consciousness every human has. There is also non-REM sleep which is sleep that occurs without the rapid eye movement. The importance of REM sleep and dreaming has been studied for many years and has gradually become more informative. REM sleep is important for a human because it allows for developmental brain growth which furthers the evolution of humans.

normal counterparts. These findings have led to a robust exploration in the science of sleep

Sleep is one of the unavoidable daily-living activities and it is one of the most important factors contributing to a person’s health. A quality sleep is essential for the physical, cognitive and psychological well-being of a person. Learning, memory processing and maintenance of the brain are among the most important functions of sleep. In addition to maintaining the brain, sleep has important roles in controlling the

Sleep is undoubtedly one of the most essential requirements for the human body to function properly. It plays a very important role in ensuring the wellness of the human body both physically as well as mentally. In fact, the importance of sleep is clear from the fact that it helps you in maintaining a good lifestyle throughout our entire lifetime. Not only does it help maintain our physical and mental health; rather it also helps in maintaining a decent and healthy lifestyle along with ensuring safety from a number of fatal diseases. It is usually said that the mood in which you wake up is largely dependent on the type of sleep you have been in. This in itself is a big proof of the importance of sleep in our lives. While sleeping, our body finally gets its share of rest and it also gets ample time in rejuvenating from all the wear and tear that it went through during the entire day. Not only this, the body is in its own working condition when we are sleeping as this is the time when it supports the healthy functioning of the brain as well as physical attributes of our body.

Our awareness of the complexity of sleep expanded in 1953 with the discovery of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep by Aserinsky and Kleitman. Sleep was no longer considered a homogenous state, but rather a dynamic process of cycling between two distinct states, non-REM and REM sleep. Under normal circumstances the boundaries between non-REM, REM and wakefulness are well declared. Dissociative sleep disorders involve a breakdown of these boundaries (Mahowald and Schenck 1992), and provide a unique window on the neurophysiological mechanisms responsible for each state. Narcolepsy, a disorder of the boundary between wakefulness and REM sleep, is probably the most studied disorder of this nature. The following is a review of another recently

In Module 9 on the topic of Sleep and Dreams, was an interesting topic that was discussed in class as many people normally question why and how we dream. There isn’t a specific reason in how dreams are functioned but there are different interpretations and stereotypes that people think have meanings and others that don’t.

 Sleep is not uniform activity, but one produced of different brain waves throughout the night.