[Harri (OP)]

Hi all. What are the differences between being asleep and being unconscious?

Harri

[Bored chemist]

If someone shakes you, and you wake up, you must (at some level) have been conscious of being shaken.

[Harri (OP)]

Thanks for the reply, that makes sense.

I am just amazed that for quite a few hours every single day of our lives we are asleep and havn't got a clue what the heck is going on around us or in the wider world!

harri

[smart]

Sleep is an altered state of consciousness: Specific areas of the brain are shutdown during sleep which alters the processing of informations. Unconsciousness (coma) is the state in which a human is unaware of the surrounding environment and cannot respond to external stimuli.