I read about someone sleep walking it got me wondering how this works. How can someone be walking around, talking, eating, and not remember a thing? If the brain is conscious enough to tell your body to do these things, how does it completely forget about them? Something is a creepy about it, like they are mindless.
In: Biology
Yeah this is the weird thing about consciousness; it feels like we’re in charge way more than we actually are. Quick answer would be that all those brain processes like walking are still very much available, even when we aren’t aware of it.
Most brain processess happen on a subconsvious level, and consciousness is like the tip of a very, very big iceberg. Our consciousness isn’t in charge of pretty much anything we do, even though it intuitively feels like the opposite.
There’s no unified definition of consciousness, most of them have to do with the ability to create and access memories. And here’s the important bit: your brain doesn’t go blank when you sleep, it’s very much still active and going through all sorts of processess, it’s just not creating any new memories about it. It’s like you’re “conscious from moment to moment” but as soon as the moment disappears you become unconscious about it.
Consciousness is a hella complicated subject though, and to really delve into it we’d have to talk extensively about psychology and philosophy. If you want to learn more about how memories define our consciousness, google Clive Wearing. His case is super fascinating but also heartbreaking.
When you fall asleep, there’s a switch your brain flips that stops it from moving your body while you dream. If it didn’t, we’d all be sleepwalking constantly. People that move a lot while asleep or sleepwalk have something interrupting this natural switch (reasons can vary, from drugs to stress to genetics, etc.).
Interestingly, it’s been speculated that because your brain and body talk to one another constantly, the body registering that it’s not moving might be the reason fast actions in dreams often feel like your underwater (can’t run away from the monster fast, dream punches feel weak and lack power, etc.).
When this switch is stuck the other way, you get sleep paralysis, which is where a person is partially or fully awake but can’t move their body. I’ve had it happen three times in my life, and it is absolutely terrifying.
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