Alterations of Consciousness

1
Alterations of Consciousness

• Psychology 2617

2
Introduction

• Basically, sleep and wakefulness and stuff in
  between
• We have a rhythm to this stuff
• Circadian
• We have other rhythms too
• Basically a 24 hr clock

3
Circadian rhythms

• 24 hr clock
• Sleep and wakefulness cycle
• Clock can be set and reset
• Jet lag
• Exercise and sex
• Pineal gland and SCN play a role

4
sleep

• There are rhythms within sleep too
• 90 min or so cycle of dreaming
• Five stages of sleep
• Alpha to delta
• REM

5
REM

• 25 of the night
• Eye movement
• Hallucinations
• Genital arousal
• Everybody dreams
• We need REM

6
Without REM

• Tired
• Immune system depressed
• Creativity drops
• Trouble concentrating
• Slowed performance
• Misperception
• HGH is released during sleep
• So insomnia is a big deal

7
Sleep disorders

• Insomnia as mentioned
• Narcolepsy
• Drop right into REM
• Sleep apnea
• Deprived of O2, less slow wave sleep
• Potentially fatal
• Night terrors
• Stage 4
• Mostly kids

8
Another cool example

• Mutant hamsters
• Martin Ralph
• Tau gene
• TT normal 24 hr cycle
• tt 20 hr cycle
• Tt or tT gives 22 hr cycle

9
Teenage Mutant Ninja Hamsters

• Single Gene effect
• Affects brain development
• SCN specifically
• May be cognitive effects

10
The disorders

• Sleep apnea
• Basically you stop breathing
• Of course, this leads to hypoxia, which we have
  talked about
• Can wake up disoriented, can actually cause
  damage
• May be the cause of SIDS

11
Sleep Apnea

• Obstructive sleep apnea
• Airway collapses
• Central sleep apnea
• Brain stops sending sleep signals
• CPAP and alarms are the treatments

12
Narcolepsy

• Straight to REM outa nowhere
• Symptoms
• Irresistible urge to sleep
• Cataplexy
• Hypnagogic hallucination
• Sleep paralysis
• Can be controlled

13
Night Terrors

• Usually in stage 4 sleep
• Oddly, you should not be hallucinating here
• What causes them
• Dunno
• Usually we grow out of them
• Often manifests itself in older people with sleep
  walking

14
Seizures

• Grand mal
• Petit mal
• Generalized
• Partial
• Aura beforehand
• Prodromal phase
• Postictal phase

15
Of course I sees her, shes right over there

• Really a symptom
• Something is up
• Could be a tumour
• Could be a brain anomaly of some sort
• As varied as people are
• Treatment usually involves drugs or a learning
  type approach