States of Consciousness
Dreams often share common characteristics. Do your dreams often feature these common events? Share some of the most common dreams you have with other readers.
When was the last time you found yourself drifting off in the middle of a long class lecture or meeting? According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2008 "Sleep in America" poll, 29% of participants reported becoming very sleepy or even falling asleep at work in the previous month alone.
Recent research has linked lack of sleep to a wide range of ailments, including memory problems an…
Hypnosis has been used to treat a wide number of ailments, yet many understand very little about this process. Learn more in this overview of hypnosis.
Dreams can be both fascinating and baffling, which is why they have garnered attention from philosophers, artists, writers and poets for thousands of years. Only fairly recently in history have researchers began to scientifically study the dreaming process. While people still disagree about the exact purpose of dreams and the possible interpretations of dream content, this area remains a topic…
What do your dreams mean? Many different dream interpretation theories have been proposed, but experts still are not sure exactly what dreams mean.
Have you ever wondered why you dream? This question has fascinated people since the beginning of recorded history, but today we still don't fully understand the purpose of dreams. Learn more about some of the most prominent theories of dreams.
Dreams have fascinated artists, philosophers and researchers for thousands of years. However, it was not until fairly recently in history that dreams became the subject of serious scientific study. While dreams can vary considerably, sleep researcher J. Allan Hobson (1988) identified five basic characteristics of dreams:
Consciousness refers to your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, and environment. Aspects of consciousness studied by psychologists include sleep, dreams, hypnosis, meditation and psychoactive drugs.
From the ancient philosophers to modern pop culture, the nature and significance of sleep is an almost inescapable question. Understanding the sleep process as well and why we sleep is a topic of interest for many, while exploring some of the major problems with sleep is a topic of interest to anyone who has ever spent a restless night tossing and turning.
Sleep disorders are a common problem for many people. Learn more about some of the most common sleep disorders.
While the importance of sleep is well documented, scientists are not entirely certain why we sleep. Learn more about the different theories to explain the reasons behind sleep.
Do you ever feel a burst of energy in the morning, but get run down by mid-afternoon? This daily ebb and flow is caused by your body's circadian rhythms. These 'body clocks' have a major impact on your consciousness as well as a wide number of physiological states.
Studies of human sleep have demonstrated that sleep progresses through a series of stages in which different brain wave patterns are displayed. Learn more about the stages of sleep.