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Off Topic / Sleep & Dreams Megathread

« on: May 28, 2010, 09:11:47 PM »

Table of Contents

What is Sleep?
How does Sleep work?

Stages of Sleep
Requirements of Sleep

Recommended Hours of Sleep by Age
Recommended Time for People to Sleep
The Issue of Sleep Debt
The Necessities of Sleep

What are the Body Functions that occur during Sleep?
Sleeping Disorder Listings

Parasomnias

What is a Dream?

What causes a Dream to occur?
Dream Phenomena
Do dreams have any meaning or purpose to them?
Sleep FAQ

Lucid Dreaming - Sleep Paralysis

What is sleep paralysis? What causes it?

Sleep paralysis as REM atonia
Sleep paralysis as hypnagogic hallucinations

Why would I want to induce sleep paralysis?
What can I expect in sleep paralysis?
How can I get out of it?
Hypnagogia

Lucid Dreaming - The Fun Stuff

What is Lucid Dreaming?
Why do I want to Lucid Dream?
Required before Lucid Dreaming

Reality Checks
Dream Recall

Lucid Dreaming Methods

MILD
WILD
Increasing Lucidity Chances

Lucid Dreaming General/Advanced Tips

What is Sleep?

There are several definitions by many sources to properly define what exactly is sleep:

While most people aren't scientists or researchers, they know what sleep basically is. However, much is unknown about the nature of sleep; How does the subconscious work? What exactly does the brain do during sleep? Can humans use the mysterious processes of sleep to their benefit? Quite frankly, we don't know. Hopefully, time will tell.

How does Sleep work?

As of right now, we can only tell what goes on during sleep by observations; scientifically examining individuals during sleep. However, after all of the observations, much is still unknown as to how sleep works. For now, we only know the brain uses a unique brain-wave pattern that slowly transgresses into 'awakeness' over the course of time during sleep. This pattern can become malformed if someone has a sleeping disorder, or if a person does not maintain a normal sleeping routine. Sleep is known to be important to your metabolism, immune system, and plays a part in healing wounds. More will be explained later.

Stages of Sleep

There are two essential components that are present when someone is asleep. These are both known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement). The brain's activity alternates between these two components during sleep; switching between REM and NREM repeatedly until you wake up. In REM, the body's muscles are paralyzed and the brain is about as active as it is during daytime (or rather 'awake' time). Sleep Paralysis usually occurs when one wakes up during the onset of REM, or when the body is just exiting REM. NREM varies from REM, in that the body's muscles are not paralyzed, and eye movement is minimal or null. It's been suggested that NREM is responsible for repairing and preparing the body for the next day (But this is only a hypothesis).

The vast majority of dreams occur during REM, which in itself occurs several times in a night. This explains why a person may recall more than one dream at a time. This may also explain strange 'changes' in a dream where one minute you're dreaming you're on top of a building, and the next moment you're in a battlefield (No evidence is present to support this theory however). It has been noted that when you wake up during a period of REM, you are much more likely to remember your dreams than usual. Some have used this to their advantage in attempting to increase dream memory and even to get a lucid dream.

NREM has little to no dreams. This component of sleep comes in four stages; N1, N2, N3, and N4 (Stage N4 has been declared to be a sub-category of N3, but I'll go over N4). Stage 1 is where the body begins to exit REM and enter NREM. Stage 2 is where an individual is completely unconscious (most of the time anyway) and is a period where the brain engages in high amounts of electro-activity. Stage 3 is a transition stage to enter stage 4 (though, most state stage 3 is the last stage, and stage 4 is a later component in stage 3). Stage 4 is where slow-wave sleep occurs. In this stage, long-slow moving brain waves are dominant. Despite the slow moving nature of SWS, the amount of energy put into it is high (Higher than when you are awake, but no one knows what specifically this does or means). Parasomniacs will begin to show symptoms when they enter SWS.

To sum it up, sleep basically goes from N1, N2, N3(-N4), N2, REM, N2, N3(-N4), and so forth until you wake up. (if you want to be technical, at hour 6 of sleep, the body begins to pass stage 3).

As you can see, REM sleep occurs roughly every 90 minutes, with a dream occurring within each REM cycle. If you sleep for six hours, you'll dream about 3 times. As you get older, however, your cycle becomes more fragmented and it drops down to somewhere between 180 to 270 minutes. This, combined with lower amounts of sleep, means that the elderly only dream once or twice a night. (This scares me, as a lucid dreamer. :ohdear:)

Requirements of Sleep

Everybody is different, some are good as baseball, some good at studying, and then there's the lucky ones good at both. Sleep is no different. Some people need more sleep than others, and some will take naps to compensate for lost time. However, studies have been made in an attempt to find out the general optimal amount of sleep required for healthy living. Keep in mind the graph below is only a recommendation. Studies have shown that adults who sleep 6 to 7 hours a day live longer than those who sleep 8 hours a day. It is unknown why, but it's possible the brain exhausts itself if it sleeps too much (Which is possibly caused by the strength of brain waves in SWS; it's possible that over sleeping causes SWS to 'over-shock' the brain, causing damage to it, however, this is only speculation).

Recommended Hours of Sleep by Age

[Age]....................:=:..[Recommended # of hours to sleep]
_____________________________ _________
|[1 - 15 Days].........:=:..[16 Hours].................|
|[3 - 5 Months]........:=:..[14 Hours].................|
|[6 - 23 Months]......:=:..[13 Hours].................|
|[2 - 3 Years]..........:=:..[12 Hours].................|
|[3 - 5 Years]..........:=:..[11 - 12 Hours]...........|
|[5 - 9 Years]..........:=:..[10 - 11 Hours]...........|
|[10 - 13 Years]......:=:..[10 Hours]..................|
|[14 - 18 Years]......:=:..[9 Hours]....................|
|[19 - 30 Years]......:=:..[8 Hours]....................|
|[33 - 45 Years]......:=:..[7 Hours]....................|
|[50+ Years]...........:=:..[6 Hours]...................|
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Note: This Data is from 1966, and that is is only a recommended average for the general public, so your recommended hours may vary.

Recommended Time for People to Sleep

Humans have a set of biological functions and psychological triggers to help prepare the body for sleep. The 'biological clock' is frequently referenced when someone incurs sleep debt or jet lag. This is a phrase used to describe the body's natural cycle during the course of a normal day where the body can tell the time by undergoing a routine or procedure everyday and essentially 'memorizing' the time to go to sleep. The brain, unsurprisingly, helps not only keep track of this, but can make adjustments to a change in a person's schedule as long as a person slowly adjusts to the new change. There really isn't a set time to go to bed, however, the one requirement is that sleep belongs in night time. Humans, for centuries, have basically imbued into the brain that night equals sleep. Disobeying this essential requirement usually bears strange effects on the body's metabolism, hormones, and other bodily effects. Unless of course the person underwent a special training regiment involving meditation, polyphasic sleeping, etc.

The Issue of Sleep Debt

This is one of the unknown aspects of sleeping that scientists have a hard time debating over. Essentially, when you miss some sleep or skip a night of sleep, your body keeps a note of this, and makes an attempt to make-up for the lack of sleep. This is documented in certain studies where individuals who missed sleep had a stronger, deeper SWS than usual. This might indicate that the brain is doing more work on the body to repair and help restore it to normal. It is unknown how much debt the body can hold, but it is certain the more sleep debt an individual carries, the more damage and pressure the individual puts on him/herself.

Sometimes, taking a nap for a set period of time (anywhere between ten minutes to an hour) can help deal with sleep debt. Naps usually enter a period of REM (and sometimes lightly enter a period of NREM) and can help make up an hour or two lost in sleep.

The Necessities for Healthy Sleep

This is the 'obvious' section of the guide. For a good sleep, you need a bed. However, not all beds will provide good comfort. It's possible for individuals to sleep on couches or sofas, and even the floor! However, they might not provide the necessary level of comfort; and may in fact cause you to undergo strange side-effects while sleeping. An example would be me sleeping on a sofa. Whenever I slept on a sofa, I would not get a full night's sleep. But I also noticed I was more susceptible to getting sleep paralysis. This happened almost every time I did not sleep on my bed. But then I would stop getting SP when I slept on my bed. Just an example...

Pillows might sometimes be required for individuals to get sleep. Usually, pillows are more of a posture-related issue during sleep; but the neck and head areas are important. Sleeping with a pillow is more of a learned behavior, so it's not a requirement at all. Basically, it's only necessary if you feel it is.

Sleeping on your side helps with several issues. It usually reduces sinus problems, lowers the risk of SP, and sometimes helps those with sleep apnea. It's also NOT a requirement, but something to make a note of when you're sleeping.

You must try to maintain a normal, circadian sleep schedule! Sleep belongs to the night time. It's common sense, but some people don't have a choice since they have to work night shifts. If you have a night shift, you may want to include a nap into your daily schedule (coupled with a 6 hour sleeping regiment). This isn't written in stone. However, it's very important to keep sleep in the night time.

What are the Body Functions that occur during Sleep?

Sleep has many effects on the body, known and unknown. What is known so far is that healthy sleep helps increase a person's metabolism, and that during a healthy sleep, the body releases high levels of growth hormones. Sleep deprivation will alter the amount of growth hormone produced, and it will affect metabolism. It has been noted REM sleep tends to focus on brain development, and that NREM sleep focuses on developing and recovering the body (with much work done on the nervous system, immune system, and muscular system). Sleep deprivation over a long period does severe damage to not only the body, but the brain as well. As a matter of fact, during WWII national socialist soldiers had conducted experiments on their victims to determine how long a human can survive without sleep. The average time determined in those experiments was 264 hours (11 days).

However, they have been a couple of those who stayed awake longer than that, and have suffered little or no symptoms. Maureen Weston currently holds the record of intentionally not falling asleep for 449 hours. There were a few other individuals who have stayed awake for years, but this was un-intentional, and may be a result of an unknown disorder. However, the body has a built-in mechanism on the occasions where an individual tries to remain awake. Micro-sleep is a variation of sleep that lasts anywhere between a fraction of a second, to several. This can only be noted by an individual when the person notices several seconds have passed unnoticed; otherwise it's missed by the individual.

Sleep deprivation can have detrimental effects on a person's health if they intentionally extend their waking time. Hallucination, behavioral problems, and short memory are usually noted after 3 days without sleep. Sleep deprivation is one of several interrogation uses used in several countries.

List of Sleep Disorders, Sleep Problems, and their Definitions

The following is just a list of disorders that revolve around sleep. This is NOT meant for individuals to diagnose themselves; only a doctor can do that. A disorder isn't permanent, but a symptom of a problem affecting an individual. This list is for educational purposes only.

Parasomnias

Parasomnias are sleeping disorders that occur while an individual is asleep. These disorders are divided into two categories: NREM and REM disorders. NREM Disorders occur during deep-sleep, and are much more dangerous and disturbing than REM disorders.

NREM Disorders

Somnabulism: This is more commonly known as sleep walking. Despite popular belief, sleepwalkers usually do not dream; they simply act out normal routines, and may look awake, but are asleep. Episodes of somnabulism usually last anywhere between a few seconds and over 30 minutes. Their face may make a blank expression, and may talk incoherently. Stress, fatigue, and a heavy addiction to alcohol may trigger sleep walking. Sleep walking isn't the only activity a person may do when they're asleep. They may drive cars, eat, bathe, whistle, dress themselves, urinate, and/or have love. The only way to prevent sleep walking is to properly restrain the individual, or seek medical help.

Pavor Nocturnus: Otherwise known as Night Terror. The sufferer may jolt from bed and scream or gasp for an arbitrary amount of time. The subjects usually have no recall, or can barely describe what happened. Aside from other disorders, night terrors may be caused by stress and fatigue. From a metaphysical point of view, night terrors can be caused by a weak state of mind (via stress or fatigue) undergoing the long, slow waves of SWS, since low frequencies tend to trigger a person to experience negative emotions like fear, hate, and loneliness. In turn, these negative emotions can perpetuate stress or fatigue; becoming a vicious cycle. This may be the case for other parasomnias as well, where a weak mind tends to skip necessary steps in maintaining the body during REM and/or NREM sleep, but this is just more speculation.
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