Consciousness
by Vithurshaa Sangarapillai
1. More dreams
2. What is Consciousness
2.1. Our subjective experience of the world, our bodies, and our mental perspectives
3. Self-Awareness
3.1. Emotional Intelligence makes us great social creatures
3.2. Can bargain with time (sacrifice now and have a better life later)
3.3. Consciousness causes awareness of existence and mortality
3.4. Artificial Intelligence does not know how to replicate self-awareness
3.5. Theory of Mind is understanding your own and others' thoughts and feelings
4. 4 States of Consciousness
4.1. Awake and alert: beta waves (15-30 Hz)
4.2. Daydreaming, calm, and meditation: alpha waves (9-14 Hz)
4.3. Drowsiness and deep relaxation: theta waves (4-8 Hz)
4.4. Deep dreamless sleeping: delta waves (1-3 Hz)
5. Biology of Sleep
5.1. Circadian rhythm is the cyclical biological changes that happen approximately on a 24-hour basis
5.2. There are changes in hormone release, brain waves, drowsiness, and body temperature
5.3. Melatonin triggers sleep
5.4. Sleep is important for your health, consolidating memories and immune system functioning
6. How Much Sleep?
6.1. Everyone needs 7-10 hours of sleep daily
6.2. If you have a gene mutation called DEC2, then you only need 6 hours
6.3. University and college students need 9 hours of sleep
6.4. Newborns need 16 hours of sleep
7. 5 Stages of Sleeping
7.1. Stage 1 (NREM): Light sleeping, hallucinations, and theta waves
7.2. Stage 2 (NREM): Harder to wake up, sleep spindles and K-Complexes
7.3. Stage 3 and 4 (NREM): Deep sleep, sleep walking and delta waves
7.4. Stage 5 (REM): Pardoxical sleep and dreaming
8. NREM Dreams
8.1. Shorter
8.2. Thought-like
8.3. Repetitive
8.4. Daily/mundane tasks
9. REM Dreams
9.1. Emotional, illogical and nonsensible
9.2. Plot shifts
9.3. Biological crucial
10. Dream Theories
10.1. Psychoanalytical View
10.1.1. Our dreams are symbolic of our unconscious deepest desires
10.2. Cognitive View
10.2.1. There is no hidden meanings in our dreams, it is just a continuation of waking cognitive processes
10.3. Activation Synthesis Theory
10.3.1. Dreams are the brain's attempt to make sense of random neural signals during REM
10.4. Evolutionary View
10.4.1. Dreams allow a person to rehearse situations, so they can deal with it better in real life
11. Things to do to Beat Insomnia
11.1. Hide clocks
11.2. Sleep in a cool room
11.3. Have a regular sleep schedule
12. Things not to do to Beat Insomnia
12.1. Do not drink caffeine
12.2. Do not take naps in the middle of the day
12.3. Do not read in bed
12.4. Do not watch TV or use your laptop before sleeping
13. Altered States of Consciousness
13.1. Drugs and Hallucinations
13.2. Meditation
13.3. Out-of-body and near-death experiences
13.4. Neurological and psychological disorders
14. Drugs
14.1. Anti-psychotics
14.2. Stimulants
14.3. Depressants
14.4. Hallucinogens
15. Alcohol
15.1. Most used and abused drug
15.2. Is a depressant
15.3. Drinking comes from genetic and environmental factors
15.4. It decreases the release of GABA
15.5. If taken in high doses, it can induce sleep or cause death
16. Cocaine
16.1. A psycho-stimulant
16.2. Increases alertness, decreases fatigue and stimulates sexual arousal
16.3. Blocks dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake channels
16.4. Highly addictive as you build a tolerance
16.5. Tolerance
16.5.1. Progessive insensitivity to repeated use and dosage of the same drug