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Health and medicine
Course: Health and medicine > Unit 9
Lesson 3: Sleep and consciousnessHypnosis and meditation
Created by Carole Yue.
Want to join the conversation?
- How can I train to become a hypnotist?(2 votes)
- Hypnotic college. I think there's one in Arkansas.(9 votes)
- how do we do meditation? when we are sleeping.(2 votes)
- I'm not entirely sure of your question, but if you mean, "how do we meditate when we are sleeping?" then I would point you in the direction of Lucid dreaming, where you can choose to meditate while in a form of sleep. Usually we actively dream multiple times while we sleep, which can be measured using an EEG machine to be different from meditation. If your question is, "How do we do meditation?" then I would suggest setting an alarm for 2 minutes and sitting comfortably while gently notice yourself breathing in and out. Let your thoughts float away or stop and let your eyes close. If your mind starts thinking or imaging then gently smile and let those thoughts or images melt away as you let all the tiny muscles in your face relax. Next time increase the timer a little towards 30 minutes.(3 votes)
- Curiosity question: how closely do the benefits of meditation mirror those of getting (enough) sleep?(2 votes)
- How did that hypnotist on America's Got Talent get Howie Mandel to shake hands with him? He has OCD and doesn't shake hands with anyone, so doesn't that mean he would not consent to shaking hands?(2 votes)
- How is the effects of hypnosis different from placebo?(3 votes)
- If the effects are different from a placebo then hypnosis obviously has an effect (unless its a false positive statistical error)(0 votes)
- can hypnotizing make people do things that the hypnotist want that person do?(2 votes)
- So by meditating, can we increase our ability to study then? Cause if it increases our attention, does that translate to better grades and performance?(1 vote)
- Daily meditation can help with focus, as there is less of a chance that you will be stressed in a situation or be distracted with something. However, keep in mind that every individual is different, and that the same tactics that work for one individual may fail or not be preferred by another (I.E: An individual might not be focusing enough because of a lack of sleep. The solution here would be to get more sleep.).(2 votes)
- Can you retrieve similar increase in attention with light meditation as you would in deep meditation?(1 vote)
- Can meditation also be used to help those with stress or anxiety related disorders?(1 vote)
- From where do the ideas of hypnosis originate?(1 vote)
- Hypnosis also gained popularity in Europe during the Victorian era (think Freud)(1 vote)
Video transcript
Voiceover: So far in this tutorial, we've talked about states of consciousness that occur naturally, meaning you don't really have to try to be awake, or to fall asleep. But there are some states of consciousness that do require some effort. So now I'm gonna talk about a couple induced states of consciousness: hypnosis and meditation. When you think of hypnosis, you might think of the
typical Hollywood depiction of some creepy guy, who
swings a pocket watch in front of people's
faces, and then gets them to start clucking like a chicken, or something else they
would never do normally. But, don't worry, no one
can actually do that do you without your consent. A hypnotist's power rests completely in how open you, or the
person being hypnotized, are to suggestion. And most people are open to some degree of suggestion at least. For example, try this with someone who hasn't seen this video: Get them to stand up,
and close their eyes, and then tell them that
they're swaying back and forth. So don't tell them to sway back and forth, just tell them that,
that's what they're doing. And most people, when
they hear you tell them that they're swaying, will
actually start swaying, if they weren't before. But if they know what's
coming, and don't want to be swayed (ha ha),
then this won't work. It's the same with hypnotism: It usually involves
getting people to relax, and focus on a particular spot, or internal function like breathing, and people become more susceptible to suggestion in this state, but only if they want to. So, as you enter into
that state of hypnosis, an EEG would pick up more
Alpha waves in your brain, indicating an awake, but relaxed state. And some people use hypnosis to try to retrieve memories,
which is kind of dangerous, and not scientific. 'Cause memory is very malleable, and since we don't
record events in our head like a video camera does, sometimes people who
supposedly retrieve memories during hypnosis, can actually
create false memories, that incorporate hypnotizers,
leading questions, or expectations, even
if they don't intend to. And some people also think
that hypnosis helps them refocus their attention,
which is why it can be used to treat pain. For example, there is some evidence that people under hypnosis
have reduced brain activity, in areas that process sensory input, even though the areas that
receive the sensory input, the sensory cortex, are
functioning normally. So this could mean, that
although hypnosis doesn't completely block out sensory input, it might help inhibit our
attention to that input, which enables some people to deal with more painful stimuli
than they normally would. But, again, the bottom line is, that if you think it will
work, it has a good chance of working, but if you think it won't work, then you're stuck with the more traditional
pain-killing techniques. And another induced state of
consciousness is meditation. There are a lot of
definitions of "mediation," but we're gonna focus on the type that involves training
people to self-regulate their attention and awareness. So, meditation can be guided, and focused on something in particular, like breathing oftentimes,
or relaxing muscles, or something like that. But meditation can also be unfocused, when you let the mind wander freely. During light meditation, people
experience more Alpha waves than during normal relaxation. And then during deep meditation, this is the type that
usually only experts achieve, like Tibetan monks, but they have increased
Theta waves in the brain, which also happen during
some sleep stages, but you're still awake. There aren't very many scientific studies on long-term effects of meditation, but some studies do indicate that in people who regularly
get into deep meditation, there's increased activity
when they're not meditating, increased activity in
their prefrontal cortex, right hippocampus, and
right anterior insula, suggesting that those people
have an increased ability to control their attention, which is the goal of
meditation, so that's good. This ability to control your attention could have important implications for people with
attention-related disorders, such as ADHD, or even people who want to avoid some of the attentional deficits associated with natural aging.