The Five Levels Of Consciousness

Have you ever found yourself thinking about the different levels of consciousness? Consciousness is "the state or quality of awareness you have of your surroundings both internally and externally, and the understanding of what is happening to you." However, that is not anything I had considered previously, but it was just taken for granted. Professor of Psychology and Authors, Max Velmans and Susan Schneider, wrote in The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness: "Anything that we are aware of at a given moment forms part of our consciousness, making conscious experience at once the most familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives." Research also shows that consciousness can be separated into two major levels, wakefulness and sleep. There
are many levels of consciousness that each person goes through, these levels can occur while you are asleep; others while you are alert and concentrating on a task, and some while you are daydreaming. While asleep there are five stages of consciousness that you go through.
While you are awake and alert, responses occur in a more rapid and timely manner, and while you are in the daydreaming state, you become detached from your surroundings at that moment, which causes slower response times and less awareness. All of these stages of consciousness occur daily for each individual. Also in medicine, physicians can observe a patient's responsiveness and categorize their state of alertness and comprehension. For instance, a few of the categories are; severely ill, comatose, anesthetized and impaired. With regards to consciousness, in the past twenty-four hours I have experienced several different levels of consciousness and below I will describe what I encountered along the
way.

As a matter of fact, there are two major levels of sleep, N-REM (non-rapid eye movement) and REM (rapid eye movement). As mentioned previously, there are five stages of consciousness that one goes through while sleeping, these stages are 1, 2, 3, 4, which are considered N-REM (non-rapid eye movement) and REM (rapid eye movement). Of course, the different stages are determined by brain activity and behavior while awake and asleep. The only stages of these that I am aware of occurring to me are stage 1 of N-REM and REM. As I start to fall asleep I enter the N-REM level of sleep, which is stage 1. I am aware of this every night when I start to relax and doze off. Before bed I usually lie down and play a game on my phone to help me relax. While I am in the middle of playing I will drift off to sleep. After falling asleep, I go through stages 2, 3, and 4 without being aware of it. These stages occur when your body continues to relax and prepares for deep sleep. In stage 2, your heart rate and body temperature drop, while in stage 3 and 4 is when the deep sleep starts in and your brain waves start to slow. Next, the REM cycle starts, then I am in a deep sleep, my eyes begin to move and my brain waves pick up and I start to dream. Upon waking up in the morning, I am usually able to recall the dreams I have had, this is how I am aware that I entered the REM cycle. During the REM cycle you are at your deepest sleep in which sleep walking can occur, or when you can sleep through loud noises such as thunderstorms or barking dogs. While in the different stages of sleep your brain waves fluctuate while alternating between N-REM and REM throughout your 7 or 8 hours of sleep. The different brain waves that can be detected by an EEG include Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta. An EEG is a test that can measure the brain waves through sensors attached to your head. Beta brain waves occur when you are most alert, and Alpha brain waves occur when you are relaxed or daydreaming. Theta brain waves are when you are in the N-REM stages of sleep, and lastly, Delta brain waves occur when you are in REM sleep.

In the morning, after hopefully getting at least 7 hours of sleep, I begin to wake up slowly on my own or by my pesky alarm clock. Unfortunately, it may take me a little while to become fully awake but, I eventually become fully alert. Until I fully wake up and become alert, I am groggy, slow and grumpy. Being alert is the state of consciousness that I am in throughout the majority of my day, especially while working. At this time when I am fully alert my brain waves are in the Beta category. I am employed at a nursing home, so I have several tasks that are given to me and I need to maintain my focus so that I can have quick response times. I am only able to achieve this focus if I am in the alert stage of consciousness. If I were not alert while working, I would be unable to get all of my duties completed, or may forget to do some of them. Several of the residents have their call lights going off frequently when they need my assistance. For instance, upon arriving to work yesterday one of the residents had pushed her call light. I quickly responded thinking she needed my assistance for something, but she just wanted to talk to me. To say the least, we had a great conversation which made both of our days better. If I am not alert it could upset the resident, or be harmful to both me and the resident. There are several people at work that depend on me to be alert and respond quickly to a variety of different scenarios. Being alert is a very important stage of consciousness for me to be in. Likewise, another area in which being alert is very important is school. If I am unable to focus and listen to what the instructors are saying, I will be unable to clarify things I do not understand, and less able to retain the information that is being presented to me. Tragically, this could lead to issues accomplishing my future goals, and could also lead to issues with my current career and any future career I decide to pursue.

Additionally, another form of consciousness is daydreaming, at this time brain waves are in the Alpha category. This occurs when your mind detaches from your surroundings. Surprisingly, one of the most common places I enter this state is while I am driving due to lack of distractions and, I am comfortable. My mind wanders and I begin thinking about something else, arriving at my destination without being aware of my travels. Once at my destination I become aware again and realize that I was in the daydreaming state. While on my break at work I go to a quiet, secluded place and daydream. I sit in the chair with my feet propped up on the table, close my eyes and daydream. My mind will wander and I will be unaware of my location until another call light comes on and pulls me back into the alert stage of consciousness. There are times during my day that I become both physically and mentally exhausted, at this time it becomes increasingly hard to stay alert and I can easily slip into daydreaming. Also, I also find myself daydreaming at the end of the day when it is getting closer to time for bed, it is my body's way of preparing for sleep.

In conclusion, through the course of my day I found that I experience several different stages of consciousness and I transition through them daily.
These conscious states are very important, even if we are unaware that they are occurring at times. From the lowest level of consciousness, which is REM or Delta brain waves, to your most alertness, which is Beta brain waves, they are all so important and needed daily. Most importantly, everyone needs REM sleep, which is the deepest sleep stage, so that they can be alert when it is needed. Consequently, sleep deprivation leads to lack of awareness, and the inability to accomplish everyday tasks. When you are daydreaming, in which your brain waves are in the Alpha stage, you are able to let your mind relax without actually being in a state of sleep, which is helpful to recover from being exhaustion. If one spends the majority of their day in either a sleep deprived or daydreaming state, nothing good can become of it. It would be likely that you would not be able to remember several of the occurrences from the day, which could cause harm to not only you, but others as well. Therefore, no matter what state of consciousness you are in at any given time, it is important that it is occurring and needs to be recognized. So in closing, in the words of 17th century French philosopher Rene Descartes, "Cogito Ergo Sum" ("I think, therefore I am"), the idea that one's thinking proves their
existence.