States Of Consciousness Essays - Sleep, Neuroscience, Nervous System

States Of Consciousness States Of Consciousness Numerous factors determine when and why you feel tired, full of energy, and hungry. A person's state of consciousness and awareness varies throughout the day and depends on a person's activity, environment, and time clock. As a human we have what is called circadian rhythms, which simply explains our daily highs and lows. An example of your basic up and down rhythm would be the sleep/wake cycle. Sunlight regulates the sleep/wake cycle by causing the suprachiasmatic nucleus to decrease its production of melatonin in the early morning and increase it in the evening. Melatonin is a hormone that if increased in blood levels makes an individual drowsy or tired and if decreased will make them more alert. Certain individuals will experience that their biological clock is often out of sync. This can be explained sometimes from either jet lag, working the night shifts or graveyards, and Monday-morning fog. Sleep in itself has its own biological patterns and rhythms. Hans Berger introduced the electroencephalograph to us so that we would be able to measure the patterns and rhythms of sleep through a record called an EEG. Two different patterns of sleep are REM sleep and NREM sleep. The NREM sleep actually has four stages involved in it. During the first stage a person becomes slightly drowsy because of the mixture of alpha and theta brain waves. At the second stage, an individual tends to have bursts of brain activity for a short time, which in terms are called sleep spindles. The second stage also involves theta brain waves and the beginning of delta waves. The third and fourth stages of NREM sleep are often referred to as slow-wave sleep. Both of these stages are measured by the amount of delta brain wave activity. During REM sleep, the sleeper is unconsciously active. His eyelids may flutter, he may have increased heart rate, and occasional muscle spasms. The two basic sleep theories are the evolutionary and restorative theories of sleep. The evolutionary theory of sleep suggests that our sleep patterns are based on or defined by evolution. The second theory simply offers that sleeping restores and rejuvenates the body through physiological processes. Sleeping disorders have a variety of effects on a person. Insomnia simply disallows an individual to actually fall into deep sleep and feel rested in the morning. Sleepwalking and night terrors are much more common in childhood then in the adult life and occur during the deepest stages of NREM sleep. When a person repeatedly stops breathing during his sleep it is called sleep apnea. This sleeping disorder usually tends to occur in older more heavy weight men. Another sleeping disorder is narcolepsy, which sends an individual in an instant phase of deep REM sleep regardless of where they are and whom they are with. Dreaming is yet another state of consciousness. A dream is simply an unfolding episode of mental images that involve characters and events. Dreams usually tend to occur during REM sleep but can occur during NREM sleep as well. We dream on a variety of topics, subjects, and individuals. No dream can be exactly interpreted or defined, therefore people have always been fascinated with what, why, and how we dream. An unpleasant and almost terrifying type of dream is a nightmare. This is a very vivid, almost real like state that produces quick anxiety and a sense of helplessness in the situation. Another type of dream would be the lucid dream in which the dreamer knows he is dreaming and can often guide the course of his dream. Hypnosis is a very controversial state of awareness because of its changes to an individual's perception, memory, and behavior. Not everyone can be hypnotized. The most susceptible people are those who approach it with a positive attitude. When subjects are deeply hypnotized they have said to experience detachment from their bodies or extreme relaxation which changes their subjective experience of consciousness. When a posthypnotic suggestion is made during hypnosis the subject will act on that for a short time after being hypnotized and sometimes up to a couple of days after the session. Ernest Hilgard suggested that while hypnotized a person experiences dissociation that splits consciousness

Using the French Expression Avoid la Frite

Using the French Expression Avoid la Frite Expression: Avoir la fritePronunciation: [a vwar la freet]Meaning: to feel great, be full of energyLiteral translation: to have the French fryRegister: familiarNotes: The French expressions avoir la frite and avoir la patate mean exactly the same thing: to feel great. Patate is an informal synonym for the head and by extension so is frite, thus saying that you have the potato or the French fry means that you have the (proper) head - in other words, your head is in a good place and you feel great. Examples   Ã‚  Ã‚  Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais depuis mardi, jai la frite  !I dont know why, but Ive felt great since Tuesday!Elle avait la frite jusquau coup de tà ©là ©phone de sa banque.She was feeling great until the bank called.Tu nas pas lair davoir la frite.You dont look well, You dont look like you feel very well.Pauvre Thomas, il na pas la frite aujourdhui.Poor Thomas, hes not feeling too great, hes a bit down today.Avoir indicates a current status; you can substitute other verbs to indicate a change or continuation.Quest-ce quon peut faire pour lui donner la frite  ?What can we do to cheer/perk him up?Jespà ¨re quil va garder la frite quand il entendra les nouvelles.I hope hell still feel good when he hears the news. Synonymous Expressions à ªtre dattaque - literally, to be on attackà ªtre en forme - to be on formà ªtre en pleine forme - to be on full formà ªtre plein dà ©nergie - to be full of energyavoir la pà ªche (informal) - to have the peachavoir la pà ªche denfer (informal) - to have the peach from hellavoir mangà © du cheval (informal) - to have eaten some horseavoir mangà © du lion (informal) - to have eaten some lionà ªtre dans son assiette (informal, usually used in the negative) - to be in ones platepà ©ter le feu (familiar) - to be bursting with firepà ©ter les flammes (familiar) - to be bursting with flames Warning: The Collins-Robert Dictionary gives the alternate British translation to be full of beans for avoir la frite and some of the synonyms. However, in American English, that means to talk nonsense, which in French is dire nimporte quoi or dire des bà ªtises. Related Expressions à ªtre une frite - to be sickly, puny (literally, to be a French fry)faire une frite quelquun (informal) - to slap someone on the bottom (literally, to do a French fry on someone) More Expressions with avoirMost common French phrasesFrench foodFrench-English-French dictionaries

The Punjab Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Punjab Conflict - Essay Example These have a history of resisting central control, and with historical ties to the territories, they occupy (Chenoweth and Lawrence 222). The problems experienced in Punjab mainly root from aspects that are associated with religion in the area. These attempted to separate the Shikhs from other ethnic communities in the area, for political gain. In the 20th Century, conflicts erupted when various new ideologies were developed among the Sikhs. These therefore, had required that the central government meets their demands, which were both religious and political. When the central government failed to meet their demands, tension built up in the 1980’s among Sikhs in Punjab and those in New Delhi. The Shikhs had sought a greater autonomy; for fear that, they were being assimilated into the greater cultural Indian and Hindu (Chenoweth and Lawrence 226). This led to massive violence, with detention of some Shikh leaders, as well as hundreds of the Sikhs. More than 3,000 civilians were killed, including troops, priests, and pilgrims. Sacred buildings were destroyed and political assassinations increased. The killing of Indira Gandhi by the Shikhs led to massive killings in New Delhi, claiming more than 2,000 lives. However, in 1985, a peace agreement was reached between the Indian government and the Shikhs. There followed a dismissal of the state government, and Punjab was put under president’s rule, which lasted up to 1992, when Beant Singh won the elections (Chenoweth and Lawrence 230). The Punjab violence of the 1990’s began when approximately 80 people were killed in two incidences of train bombings in 1991. In addition, the assassination of Beant Singh, the senior... This paper stresses that in the 1990’s during the new governance, the level of participation in conventional politics increased remarkably. The voter turnout for the municipal elections in September 1992 increased by 50 percent. In addition, voter turnout also was also high for gram panchayats in January 1993, and exceeded 70 percent. Generally, violence in Punjab declined during the years that followed. This report makes a conclusion that the government plays a critical role in different types of violence in a country. The involvement of the government in a conflict might result in either positive or negative consequences. The outcome of government intervention can only be positive, if it aims at ensuring fairness and equality of the involved parties. If fairness and justice is denied to either party, it is probable that the violence will escalate. In the case of Punjab conflict, there are two instances, where the government intervened differently. In the 1980’s conflict, violence was high because the central government denied the Sikhs their political rights. The government then resorted to an inappropriate way of solving the issue by killing the Sikhs, with some of their leaders. This led to increased violence. However, in the 1990’s when a new government took office, people were allowed to vote, unlike the 1980’s. In addition, the political participation of p eople was increased in various ways. Although elements of unfairness toward the Sikhs were still present, this could not compare to the 1980’s. Therefore, this quite fair involvement by the central government in the 1990’s led the level of violence to decrease in Punjab.