CONSCIOUSNESS & SLEEP

WHAT IS CIRCADIAN RHYTHM?      Circadian rhythm is a person’s mental, physical, and behavioral pattern within a 24-hour period. Most living organisms, including animals and plants, have a circadian rhythm. How a person responds to light and darkness largely impacts this area of our lives.  Your circadian rhythm plays a significant role in when you sleep, and when you naturally wake up.      In short, this is your body’s internal clock that works to stimulate you to do something at the appropriate time. A small portion of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus is the part of the brain that controls the internal clock. Your body will respond to darkness. The body senses the lack of light and thinks that it’s nighttime, and it is time to sleep soon. Therefore, as the sun goes down, you may notice yourself become tired.      The main reason for this has to do with light. The sun produces blue light in the morning and blue light signals to your body that it is time to get up. However,

  WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF SLEEP?   When you sleep, your brain goes through natural cycles of activity. There are four total stages of sleep, divided into two phases: Non-REM sleep happens first and includes three stages. The last two stage of non-REM sleep is when you sleep deeply. It’s hard to wake up from this stage of sleep. REM sleep happens about an hour to an hour and a half after falling asleep. REM sleep is when you tend to have vivid dreams.   As you sleep, your body cycles through non-REM and REM sleep. You usually start the sleep cycle with stage 1 of non-REM sleep. You pass through the other stages of non-REM sleep, followed by a short period of REM sleep. Then the cycle begins again at stage 1. A full sleep cycle takes about 90 to 110 minutes. Your first REM period is short. As the night goes on, you’ll have longer REM sleep and less deep sleep. What Is the Sleep Cycle?   Sleep is not uniform. Instead, over the course of the night, your total sleep is made up of several

INTRODUCTION TO SLEEP     Though research reveals that it is much more complicated, the levels of consciousness can be thought of in three components: conscious, preconscious, unconscious, as originally defined by Sigmund Freud.    The conscious state of awareness is classified as being aware of and responsive to one’s surroundings (wakefulness).     T he preconscious mind consists of thoughts that are currently outside of conscious awareness but are available for recall and capable of becoming conscious (Freud & Strachey, 1984).     Unconsciousness is marked by an inability to respond to external stimuli, no awareness of the self and the environment, and no evidence of language comprehension or expression – it is a state of unresponsiveness (Massimini et al., 2009).   A sleeping person, for example, is in a state of unconsciousness. So is an individual in a coma or someone who has fainted. The difference, however, is that a sleeping person can be aroused if the stimulus is stro

 WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?        Consciousness is everything you experience . It is the tune stuck in your head, the sweetness of chocolate mousse, the throbbing pain of a toothache, the fierce love for your child and the bitter knowledge that eventually all feelings will end. For psychology ; c onsciousness refers to your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environments. Essentially, your consciousness is your awareness of yourself and the world around you. This awareness is subjective and unique to you. If you can describe something you are experiencing in words, then it is part of your consciousness.      Your conscious experiences are constantly shifting and changing. For example, in one moment you may be focused on reading this article. Your consciousness may then shift to the memory of a conversation you had earlier with a co-worker. Next, you might notice how uncomfortable your chair is, or maybe you are mentally planning dinner.