Investigating Altered States of Consciousness Essay

Investigating Altered States of Consciousness â€Å"The question of what consciousness is, is one that has intrigued psychologists.† (Hayes, N Orrell, H, 2000, page 116.) ‘The term altered states of consciousness refers to significant change in what is considered a normal waking awareness’ (Crisp, T, 2003, Altered states of consciousness, http://www.homepages.tesco.net/~waves/asoc.htm) An altered state of consciousness takes many forms such sleep, dreams, hypnosis, coma and the effects of psychoactive drugs. Learning about these altered states of consciousness helps us learn why we have these different altered states and how and why we benefit from it. Altered states of awareness can be caused†¦show more content†¦Sleep is an important altered state of consciousness without we lose out on many things according to Oswald, he quotes â€Å"the purpose of sleep is to restore depleted energy reserves, eliminate waste products from the muscles, repair cells and recover lost physical abilities. (Mcliveen, R Gross, R, 1996, Biopsychology, Hodder Stoughton, page 101.) There has been many studies where people have deprived themselves of sleep, Randy gardener conducted a famous study, he deprived himself of 11 days and12 minutes hours of sleep. Gardner did experience lack of coordination, hallucination, blurred vision, muscle tremors, slurred speech, memory lapses and concentration difficulties as a result of lack of sleep. Lack of sleep therefore is not a light matter although Gardner did not suffer from any long term effects from conducting this study. The relevance of sleep to the human body cannot be over emphasised. From this study we can learn that sleep is important and with out it we could not properly function in our day to day lives. Sleep deprivation studies has taught as these important factors. Rechtschaffert supports that sleep is important he conducted a study using rats, placed them on a disc that was in water, EEG monitors were attached to the head to monitor brain activity, when the rat fall asleep disc rotated therefore the rat had to move to avoidShow MoreRelatedUnderstanding The Complexity Of Consciousness2247 Words   |  9 Pagesfully understand the complexity of consciousness, it must be defined. However there is no universal accepted definition due to the concept is looked at from many different positions and in different terms. In this essay which will explore altered states affecting consciousness, the definition which will be used is ‘One is aware of surroundings, and is able to make decisions and the ability to apply different experiences to different situations’. 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