Consciousness is simply the awareness of your mental and physical experiences. The common states of awareness are consciousness and unconsciousness. While unconsciousness can merely be described as a state of lack of awareness, consciousness has many states (Cherry, 2021)
For the past 24 hours, I was engaged in a number of different activities and found myself in various states of consciousness. These states of consciousness and the activities I was involved in seemed to be interdependent. After I went to sleep the previous night at around 9 p.m., the next thing I remember is waking up at 3 a.m. I had no dreams during that time, or at least I did not remember them. Even though the mind is usually active and conscious during deep sleep, the awareness level is always very low. That is why it is hard to remember any dream you had or anything happening in your surroundings. That was my state at the time.
After staying awake for almost 30 minutes, I went back to sleep at roughly 3.30 a.m. I slept up to 9 a.m., but during this round of sleep, I had some very vivid dreams that I can still recount. I had been applying for some scholarships the previous day, and coincidentally, in one of my dreams, I was travelling to the sponsors’ offices to officially register for a scholarship I had won. This was a period during sleep called REM sleep, where you can clearly remember the dreams you had. The brain is usually very active during this period; only that awareness is slightly low (Bayne et al., 2016). In summary, sleep is very crucial to human consciousness and awareness. Getting enough sleep ensures that the body can complete other cycles, such as activeness, concentration, e.tc., without any issues.
When I woke up in the morning, I lay in bed for a while, eyes closed. During this time, I was engaged in deep thinking and felt very self-aware about myself and the issues I was supposed to address in my life. I would call this the hypnosis phenomenon because I was so still, and my awareness was on another level. After this, I got out of bed feeling energetic and conscious, and I could focus intensely on my tasks for the day. In retrospect, this is because I had had enough sleep and had not interrupted my sleeping process in any way. However, I felt I needed a coffee before proceeding to school, as is my routine. Coffee, like any other drug, alters the user’s state of consciousness. As a stimulant, it increases awareness and creates a feeling of euphoria. This is why most people visit the coffee shop first thing in the morning.
Thinking about what happened to my energy and concentration levels during the rest of the day, what comes into the picture is the power of the circadian rhythm, which plays an essential role in human consciousness. During the early morning hours, energy and sugar levels are high, contributing to a human’s high activeness and awareness. Towards the afternoon, I was already feeling a bit low in energy and concentration, which prompted me to have a midday meal to keep myself going. It is crucial at this time to emphasize the importance of understanding the circadian rhythm and how it affects your hormones and biological processes, which in turn affects your consciousness. Once you understand this, you choose the habits that positively impact your awareness, such as eating and sleeping well and during the right time (Feross, 2022).
For the whole afternoon, the energy I had begun the day with kept dipping, and I felt less and less aware, and I could also see I was performing less with my assignments. I decided to leave school earlier and take a walk home. This silent walk, for me, was both a means of exercising and meditation, and honestly, it worked magic. I felt more connected to my environment and aware of myself and my surroundings. This was a feeling of bliss and a level of consciousness that I rarely achieve. In retrospect, I think exercising plays a huge role in our levels of consciousness. It promotes blood flow to all the vital organs of our bodies, such as the brain, which is the master biological clock (Kasos et al., 2022). In turn, these organs ensure that the body performs efficiently and that there is hormonal balance within the body. When I got home after what I can now consider a day of self-discovery, I sat on my balcony, silent in self-reflection. My mind and senses were silent at this time, but I reached the highest point of consciousness for the day. It was a good 30 minutes of meditation, after which I went on to shower and prepare some healthy food early to allow myself to get enough bedtime.
Everybody should try to understand how consciousness works, the levels that there are, and how our day-to-day activities affect our consciousness and vice versa. Once this is done, we will all engage in activities that optimize our consciousness and therefore become more productive and happy and lead fulfilling lives.
References
Bayne, T., Hohwy, J., & Owen, A. M. (2016). Are there levels of consciousness? Trends in cognitive sciences, 20(6), 405-413.
Cherry, K. (2021, October 18). What are some of the different states of consciousness? Verywell Mind. Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.verywellmind.com/lesson-four-states-of-consciousness-2795293#:~:text=Understanding%20Consciousness,a%20person’s%20state%20of%20consciousness.
Feross, A. (n.d.). Chapter 5: States of consciousness – AP psychology Chapter outlines – Study Notes. Go to the front page of StudyNotes. Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.apstudynotes.org/psychology/outlines/chapter-5-states-of-consciousness/
Kasos, E., Kasos, K., Józsa, E., Varga, K., Bányai, É., Költő, A., & Szabó, A. (2022). Altered States of Consciousness during Exercise, Active-Alert Hypnosis, and Everyday Waking State. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 70(3), 300-313.
Pisula, W. (2016). Levels of consciousness. Open Journal of Philosophy, 6(1).
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