Introduction

What if you didn’t need sleep? What all could you do if you didn’t need to reserve a third of every day for rest? How important is sleep to you anyway?

Research shows that sleep is vital to mental health. Most people think of sleep as a state of unconsciousness with brief periods of dreaming but sleeping is really a state of altered consciousness. If altered consciousness is defined as patterns of brain activity and inactivity, then what is consciousness? Consciousness is a state of awareness and it includes a person’s feelings, sensations, ideas and perceptions. A person who is not completely aware is in a different level of consciousness- an altered state of consciousness. Sleep is one example of an altered state of consciousness. Hypnosis and drugs are also examples of altered states of consciousness. In this lesson we will take a brief look at all three.

man sleeping

 

Following successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • Compare various states of consciousness including the process of sleeping and dreaming
  • Explain stages of sleep throughout an average night’s sleep, including NREM and REM
  • Describe the circadian rhythm
  • Evaluate the importance of sleep to good performance
  • Compare different theories of dreaming
  • Evaluate the phenomenon of hypnosis and its possible uses

The above objectives correspond with the Alabama Course of Study: Psychology: Objective(s): 11.

 

 

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