Thread: How is it possible? conscious yet asleep

People often think of sleeping as a necessarily unconscious state, even so much as to refer to a sleeping person as 'unconscious', the words 'sleep' and 'unconscious' being used almost synonymously. The answer to your question comes simply upon recognizing that this isn't true. Sleep consists of strange brainwaves and other strange things happening in our bodies. It usually involves a lack of awareness of our waking life, but it doesn't have to. If you're defining consciousness as our awareness of waking life, this is the answer I'd give.

But, I'd also argue that we are conscious during sleep, even while not lucid. We simply lack awareness of waking life. We have minds, we think, we're aware, during dreams.