Conciousness

• Consciousness refers to an individual’s awareness of his unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environments. It is also subjective and unique to everyone
• Sleep is a state marked by relatively low levels of physical activity and

  reduced sensory awareness distinct from periods of rest that occur during wakefulness.
• Wakefulness is characterized by high levels of sensory awareness, thought, and behavior.
• In between these extremes are states of consciousness related to daydreaming, intoxication as a result of alcohol or other drug use, meditative states, hypnotic states, and altered states of consciousness

  following sleep deprivation.
• William James compared consciousness to a stream-unbroken and continuous despite of changes.
• Sigmund Freud said that consciousness may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises.
• Rene Descartes proosed "cogito ergo sum" (I think therefore I am), and suggested that the very act of thinking demonstrates the reality of one's existence and conciousness.
• meditation can be defined a set of techniques that are intended to encourage a heightened state of awareness and focused attention. Also, a consciousness-changing technique shown to have many benefits on well being
• Consciousness is defined the quality or state of being aware especially of something within oneself
• The normal waking state unifies the physical and inner realities which, if one is attentive, allows for the direct experience of events.
• people spend approximately one third of their lives sleeping
• Sleep is distinguished by low levels of physical activity and reduced sensory awareness. It must also include mention od the interplay of the circadian and homeostatic mechanisms that regulate sleep
• Homeostatic regulation is the self-regulating process by which an organism tends to maintain stability while adjusting to conditions that are best for its survival
• sleep rebound refers to the fact that sleep-deprived individual will tend to take longer falling asleep during subsequent opportunities for sleep and an increased amount of sleep a person receives as a result of being sleep deprived or stressed during waking hours
• rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep (has 3 different stages) are the types of sleep
• EEG or electroencephalogram is a test that measures electrical activity in the brain using small, metal discs (electrodes) attached to the scalp.
• brain cells communicate via electrical impulses and are active all the time during asleep, this shoes in the EEG recording.
• Non-REM sleep Stage 1 is the lightest stage of sleep. During this short period (lasting several minutes) of relatively light sleep, eye movement slow and your muscles relax with occasional twitches.
• Non-REM Stage 2 sleep stage is the period where you enter deeper sleep, brain activity slows, muscles relax, and you spend more of your repeated sleep cycles in stage 2 that other sleep stage
• Non-REM stage 3 sleep stage, is the period of deep sleep that you feel refreshed in the morning. It occurs in longer periods during the first half of the night, muscles are relaxed and it may be difficult to awaken you as brain waves became even slower.
• REM sleep stage 4 first occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep. your eyes move rapidly from side to side behind covered eyelids. most of dreaming occurs, your arm and muscles become temporarily paralyzed, which prevents you from acting out your dream
• Sigmund Freud said that the interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.
• Carl Jung says that dreams as the psyche's attempt to communicate important things to the individual, he valued them highly, perhaps above all else as a way of knowing what is really going on. He also said that our dreams are also the dreams of our ancestors
• Carl Jung said that dreams are also an important part of the development of the personality which he called individuation. ]
• Rosalind Cartwright believes that dreams simply reflect life-events that are important to the dreamer
• Allan Hobson suggests that dreaming may represent a state of protoconsciousness. in other words, dreaming involves constructing a virtual reality in our heads that we might use to help us during wakefulness.
• Altered state of consciousness sometimes called non-ordinary states include various mental states in which the mind can be aware but is not in its actual wakeful condition such as during hypnosis, meditation, hallucination, trance, and dream stage.
• Altered state of consciousness have been used by humans for more that 30, 000 years. according to Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of transpersonal Psychology, excessive dancing, meditation, and mind-altering plants were used in ancient civilizations to modulate the activity of the mind
• Pharmacological. These altered states include shortterm changes in the general configuration of one’s individual experience caused by psychoactive substances, such as LSD, MDMA (ecstasy), cannabis, cocaine, opioids (morphine, heroin), or even alcohol. Many of these substances alter the state of consciousness by shifting levels of neurotransmitters in the brain, causing changes in awareness and behavior
• Psychological. Hypnosis, meditation, and even music can lead to altered mental states. For instance, hypnosis can lead to reduced peripheral awareness as well as an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion, and music therapy can enhance relaxation and decrease anxiety. Meditation can be hard to define, but it is used in many religious and spiritual practices to achieve a clear and calm mental state
• Physical and physiological. One of the most common ways to achieve an altered state of consciousness is sleep, where a person dream and dissociate from reality. Two others are fasting and sex. Deprivation from food and drinks over an extended period of time can lead to a perceived dissociation from reality. Yet other physical and physiological inductive methods include sleep deprivation and oxygen deprivation.
• Pathological. traumatic experience causing brain damage can lead to an altered state of consciousness. According to Dr Jeffrey Avner, patients report either a reduced self-awareness and overall awareness, or an increased awareness of the environment. Other pathological sources of altered states of consciousness include epileptic or psychotic episodes
• Spontaneous. Altered states can be spontaneous, such as daydreaming and mind wandering, or when people report a near death experience. Several studies show that it may be the brain’s default setting when the person is not actively engaged in a task, and that the default mode network, which is associated with this default setting, is more active when he is daydreaming.
• Psychoactive, also called psychotropic, is a term that is applied to chemical substances that change a person's mental state by affecting the way the brain and nervous system work. This can lead to intoxication, which is often the main reason people choose to take psychoactive drugs.
• Stimulants. Examples of effects include heightened alertness, greater energy, excitability, improvement in mood that can reach euphoria, and bodily responses such as increased heart rate and blood pressure. Examples of stimulants include caffeine, nicotine, amphetamines, and cocaine
• Depressants. Examples of effects include reduced feelings of tension, relief of anxiety, and muscle relaxation. With excessive use, effects may include clammy skin, slow and shallow breathing, a rapid and weak pulse, coma, and death. Examples of depressants include alcohol and tranquilizers such as benzodiazepines
• Opioids. These are derived from the poppy plant (opiates) or synthetically produced (opioids). Examples of their effects include pain relief, drowsiness, euphoria, confusion, and respiratory depression. Examples include some painkillers, such as codeine, morphine, oxycodone, and the street drug heroin
• Hallucinogens. Examples of effects include paranoia, depersonalization (a sense of not being real), hallucinations, erratic behavior, and increased blood pressure and heart rate. Examples of hallucinogens include psilocybin from mushrooms, "acid" (LSD), ketamine, phencyclidine (PCP), dextromethorphan, and peyote (mescaline)
• Designer Drugs. Designer drugs, formerly known as "legal highs," are chemicals that are produced to mimic the effects of other psychoactive substances such as stimulants, hallucinogenic, sedatives, or a combination. As their chemical composition is often unknown and evolving, they present clear challenges to toxicologists, medical staff, and society.
• excessive use of cocaine may include irritability, mood swings,

  hallucination, heart palpitations, chest pain, and even death.