C3: States of Consciousness

• Consciousness is our awareness of ourselves and our environments
• Circadian Rhythm is a biological clock that has regular bodily rhythms, occurring on a 24 hour cycle
• Circadian Rhythm can be affected by age and experience, altering our 24 hour clock
• Sleep is the periodic and natural loss of consciousness that is broken down into 4 stages that we rotate through every 90 minutes
• The 4 stages of sleep is NREM-1, NREM-2, NREM-3, REM
• There are two types of sleep, REM and Non REM (NREM)
• Waking Beta is an alert and walking state
• Waking Alpha is an awake but relaxed state
• NREM-1 goes from Alpha to beta waves
• NREM-1 lasts for 5 to 10 minutes
• Hypnagogic Images are the hallucinations involving moving shapes, colours and images
• Hypnic Jerk is the feeling of falling or floating during our sleep, causing us to awake
• Breathing and heart rate is regular during NREM-1; Brain temperature and blood pressure decreasing
• During NREM-1, the body has little to no body movement at all
• NREM-2 consists of beta waves and lasts for around 20 minutes
• Body temperature decreases during NREM-2
• Sleep talking can occur during NREM-2
• Age affects the amount of K complexes one has, decreasing as we grow older
• NREM-3 produces delta waves
• NREM-3 is 50% of our sleep time, lasting for 30 minutes
• During NREM-3, sleep walking occurs
• The body is active during deep sleep for NREM-3
• Any outside stimuli fails to awake someone during NREM-3
• REM (Rapid Eye Movement) produces beta waves, having irrational, emotional and vivid dreams
• All mammals have REM
• Paradoxical sleep is the paralyzation of ones limbs and the inability to move
• Acetylcholine increases as serotonin decreases during REM
• During REM, snoring will stop as our eyes move and our genitals get aroused
• Breathing is irregular and rapid, the blood flow to our brain increasing during REM
• The sleep cycle repeats every 90 minutes, NREM-3 decreases each time while REM and NREM-2 increases
• Sleep loss can effect ones brain, immune system, fat cells, joints, heart, stomach and muscles
• The brain can lose focus and have short-term memory due to sleep loss; has an increased risk of depression
• The immune system can suppress immune cell production, increasing the risk of infections such as colds due to sleep loss
• Fat cells increase production and has a higher risk of obesity from the lack of sleep
• Joints have increased inflammation and arthritis with sleep loss
• The heart has an increased risk of blood pressure from sleep loss
• Stomach has an increased hunger-aroused hormone and decreased hunger hormone-suppressing hormone due to sleep loss
• Muscles decrease in strength and have a slower reaction time and motor learning due to sleep loss
• Insomnia is the recurring problems of staying or falling asleep
• Narcolepsy is the uncontrollable sleep attacks that last less than five minutes