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Consciousness is defined as our awareness of ourselves and our environment. Throughout any given day we go through different states of consciousness ranging from normal waking awareness to altered states that can happen in three main ways. Some altered states happen spontaneously, like daydreaming or drowsiness, others are physiologically induced, like hallucinations or orgasm, and others are psychologically induced, like hypnosis or meditation.
Even when we’re deeply asleep, our mind is still working. Our bodies have some awareness- like when you move around in your sleep but manage to not fall off your bed. We can tune out certain noises, like the garbage truck, but quickly wake to the sound of our name or a fussy baby. Our bodies operate and synchronize with a roughly 24-hour cycle due to our internal clock, also known as the circadian rhythm. Our body temperature rises and falls according to our circadian rhythm, which also impacts our memory and attention span. Our sleep consists of four sleep stages.
The first three stages are non-REM sleep, also known as NREM. The first stage is NREM-1, where our muscles relax and our brain slows down. Some people experience jerks or the sensation of falling while in this stage. The second stages is NREM-2, our bodies are going a little more into deep sleep. It’s a little bit harder to arouse someone in this state. Our temperature and heart rate start to decrease. Researchers observe what is called sleep spindles during NREM-2. This is where we have brief bursts of brainwave activity. After about 20 minutes we enter NREM-3, this is the deepest non-REM sleep and is the most restorative stage. Our brain waves are slow and our body works to rebuild any damage and clean itself out- more on this soon! Then we enter REM sleep, also known as rapid eye movement. Our body's temperature and heart rate actually increase and our eyes dart about every half minute. This eye movement is actually the start of a dream, even if we don’t remember it when we wake up. Our brain’s motor cortex is active during this stage but our brainstem actually blocks the messages. Our bodies cycle through these stages throughout the night, ranging in length based largely on age.
There are several reasons why we need sleep and all of them are important. The first is that our bodies recuperate while we sleep. Sleep helps restore our immune system and repair brain tissue. Our brains actually prune unused neurons and connections while we sleep. Sleep also provides a time for the body to clean up so to speak. Our brains operate kind of like a waste treatment plant while we sleep, it cleans out toxins and wastes that are hazardous if it builds up.
Sleep also helps with memory consolidation. It helps rebuild and strength weak memories and neural connections. Sleep helps move our memories stored in the hippocampus to permanent storage in other parts of the cortex too.
Studies support that sleep helps aid in creative problem solving. Even basic creative thinking has come from sleep- such as the inspiration for researcher Carl Alving to invent the vaccine patch. People that work on a task and then sleep on it tend to solve the problem more insightfully than those that did not sleep on it.
Finally, sleep aids in the growth process. Our pituitary gland releases growth hormones that are needed for muscle development.
Now that we’ve covered a few states of consciousness, let’s cover some key points. Remember that there are different states of consciousness that we go through in a day. A vital part of our wellbeing is our sleep. We need sleep to rebuild and restore our bodies and help consolidate our memories.
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