Investigating Altered States of Consciousness Essay

Sleep is a very important part of our everyday lives, theories state that sleep helps our body recover from all the work it preformed while we were awake. Sleep is the time for healing and growth of our nervous, muscular, skeletal, and immune systems. Experiments have shown that sleep can increase production of certain hormones and brain proteins. More than 40 million Americans experience chronic, long term sleep disorders every year. The result of sleep deprivation cam interfere with work, driving,

Sleep effects every living organism on the world, whether it is positive or negative it has an impact on everyone. There are many different stages of sleep and each containing its own purpose. Sleep isn’t as simple and unnecessary as many believe it to be; sleep has the power to cause many different disorders and can even cause death if a person is deprived from sleep for too long. Sleep can also effect the brain and how the brain functions on a daily basis. Sleep is an important factor of life that should not be over looked. If enough sleep occurs there are many advantages that can make one’s life more healthy and beneficial.

Of the many automatic functions that the human mind is hardwired to perform, from blinking, to breathing, sleep is by far one of the most imperative. A process that allows mind and body alike to rest, recuperate, and repair, sleep is something that is truly essential for our continued survival, to an extent, as more than a day or two without it can have adverse and potentially crippling side effects. Without sleep, our brain operates at a far less advanced level, struggling to process and internalise information, and making less intellectually sound decisions as a result, demonstrating why a reasonable amount of sleep per night is something that everyone must strive to achieve, so that one can stay on top of the day to day challenges that life so frequently poses. However, as universal as the idea of sleep may be, there is one aspect of the process that is often

 Many benefits are emerging of sleep on cognition and health, supporting the importance of sleep on waking state functioning. From a cognitive perspective, sleep has been implied in for example improving memory consolidation, supporting future memory encoding and generating sleep-related insights over waking state problems (Talamini, Nieuwenhuis, Takashima, & Jensen, 2008; Van Der Werf et al., 2009; Wagner, Gais, Haider, Verleger, & Born, 2004). From a health perspective, sleep has been linked to improved immune system, metabolism and endocrine functioning and better cardiovascular health (Dinges, Douglas, Hamarman, Zaugg, & Kapoor, 1995; Spiegel, Leproult, & Van Cauter, 1999; Knutson, 2010). The discernible

Sleep is a behavior universal to all people, yet it remains largely a mystery. Chronic sleep deprivation has become rampant throughout western society, for a number of reasons. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of sleep deprivation, with major objectives being to identify what sleep is, and the reasons for sleep. An emphasis is also placed on the effect, symptoms, causes and ways to combat sleep deprivation. These areas are of particular interest to those seeking to investigate sleep deprivation, or individuals who suffer from sleep deprivation by investigating the symptoms, causes and strategies to combat sleep deprivation.

About: The actual definition of sleep is “a condition of body and mind such as that which typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the nervous system is relatively inactive, the eyes closed, the postural muscles relaxed, and consciousness practically suspended:” Research consistently demonstrates that sleep is a significant component of physical and mental health, as well as overall well-being. Sleep is important for optimal cognitive performance and physiological processes, emotional regulation and quality of life. It is one of the most important but least understood aspects of our life, wellness, and longevity. Within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions.

Sleep is very important in a person’s day to day activities. Sleep allows a person to be more aware of their surrounding and allows one to use their minds to the highest potential. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people due to their jobs or even by their own choices are sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation can affect one’s behavior and their cognitive functions in different ways. Goel pointed out that “deteriorate effects have been shown to involve vigilance, executive attention, working memory, language, divergent thinking, and creativity (Maccari 2014).” Much research has been done on how sleep deprivation effects brain functions and behavior. Many are not aware to what extent the brain is effected by sleep deprivation and how one’s behavior can drastically change.

Sleep is one of our most basic physiological needs and getting enough of it is paramount to keeping our bodies and minds functioning at optimal performance. The amount of sleep needed varies and decreases by age. From 12-18 hours needed by a newborn to 7-9 hours needed by a health adult. The basal sleep need varies by individual with some people requiring more or less sleep than others (Czeisler 2014). When an individual does not get enough sleep they enter a state of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation elicits a wide range of negative physiological effects, most notably sleep deprivation adversely effects cognition. Unfortunately insufficient sleep is a wide-spread phenomenon. A study by Hublin (2001) found sleep deficits in one fifth of

Sleep is a natural state of unconsciousness and is one of the most important human needs. Sleep is also an active process which affects all parts of the body and cannot be replaced by anything else. There are some conditions which have to be fulfilled to differentiate sleep from unconsciousness – for example sleep occurs periodically and can be interrupted at any time. People also sleep one third of their lives and we can be awakened up by stimulation from sleep by stimulation. Similar to animals, the human body, is not capable of 24 hours of continuous activity. Sleep has also many functions. During sleep, the brain recovers its functions. It is essential for anabolic and somatic reparation processes and immune system repair as well as the proper functioning of memory (during the REM phase). During sleep, our body temperature decreases, our breathing slows down, muscles repair and blood pressure declines. If we don’t have enough sleep we can have physical and psychological problems. Sleep affects how we feel, look and how we performer on a daily basis.

Sleep is defined by researchers as two different things. One being a Discrete State, a state of reduced responsiveness to external stimuli, and an altered state of consciousness from which a person can be aroused if the stimuli is of sufficient magnitude. Two, a Continuous Clinical Change, which is the physically inactive part of the circadian sleep-wake-activity cycle, and is characterized by clinical charges in the electroencephalogram (EEG) and other psychological parameters. (1)

Sleep is vital process to keep the body functioning properly. These processes involve the immune system, growth and healing happen while the someone is asleep. Sleep is an active physiologic process that is fundamentally necessary for well-being and optimal functioning (Blachowicz & Letizia, 2006). There

Lack of sleep causes major changes in physiology and brain function, and can even change brain tissue (Luce 94). A man once went through multiple days of no sleep to figure out the exact effects. After 160 hours of no sleep, the man would forget what he did moments before. He would become distracted by small noises, and he could not perform simple tasks without a lot of struggling (Kastner 93). “At 220 hours, Michaels could barely talk and had to be held up when he walked.”...“After fourteen hours of sleep, he awoke refreshed and feeling normal” (Kastner 93).The predictable course of deterioration that follows when an individual stops sleeping, shows the exceptional importance of sleep.

Therefore, the brain plasticity theory was created and so widely accepted by experts within psychology and other respectable related fields of science. However, there are other functions that occur during sleep that aren’t fully explained by the brain plasticity theory, purposes that become highlighted by the restoration theory.

The focus of this paper is sleep deprivation. Concepts necessary to understanding sleep and sleep deprivation are the difference between sleep deprivation and sleep deficiency, sleep-control mechanisms, stages of sleep, the different types of sleep deprivation, and required amount

Sleep deprivation can have lasting effects on the human body. Including the central nervous system, immune system, respiratory system, digestive system and cardiovascular system. Just like air and water, the body must sleep to function. It is during sleep that the body heals and restores these systems. Eventually, if the body is deprived of the time to heal, it will be vulnerable to all kinds of illnesses and long-term diseases. In addition, the person’s mental well being is called into question as they stop making rational decisions. In fact, those that sleep less than the recommended hours each night, are increasing their chance of an early death. The following signs are the most obvious of that of a sleep deprived person: excessive sleepiness, constant yawning, irritability, anxiety, lack of concentration and daytime fatigue.