Psych 1301

Wa#4
Ch. 4:
1. Write a 500 word description of our sleep cycle. You will want to include a description of each of the stages of sleep as well as REM sleep.

2. Discuss 2 of the disorders of sleep and then describe any personal experience you have had with any.

3. Discuss what four things/ways one might alter their consciousness. Be very descriptive in your answer.

4. Describe signs of drug abuse/addiction.

1. Sleep is a very essential part of the human lifestyle, humans spend up to one third of their life sleeping. Our body functions on the "biological clock", this is called the circadian rhythms which is dictated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), this allows our body to get into a rhythm, giving our body a timeline so to speak. This is what makes us feel hungry around noon because our body is used to lunch and it also is what makes us sleepy at night time. When our body feels this need to sleep, we begin our phases of sleep. "Going to sleep" is when you lose all awareness of what is around you. The beginning stage the "going to sleep" or "twilight' stage us really just an extreme state of relaxation, compared to what your brain is like when laying on the beach. After this initial stage the body then goes into Stage 1. Stage 1 has very tight brain waves that are very low in height very much like those of someone who is alert and excited, however when someone is alert and excited their muscles are normally tense, their pulse is rapid and eyes are open and alert. In stage 1 the muscles are relaxed, the pulse is slowed and there is most always the lateral movements of the eyeballs. This stage is very short lived and can be disturbed very easily, sometimes if a person is awakened from stage 1 they may not have even realized they were asleep. Stage 2 and 3 are deeper stages of sleep. Brain activity in Stage 2 is sporadic and has things