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Sweet Dreams Are Made of These
by Lisa J. Binkley
The wheel turns. The sun arcs into the horizon. The stars emerge in the darkening sheet above. The frenzy of life quiets and, gradually, the peace of evening settles its well-deserved mantle on the shoulders of a weary mankind.
Sleep replaces activity. Dreaming replaces thought. Or does it?
Far from being a state of stagnation, human sleep is a period of emotional healing, profound cognation, and physical renewal. Complex mechanisms exist within the body to insure that people submit to drowsiness and allow slumber free rein. The redundancies of these systems imply that sufficient sleep, like adequate nutrition and shelter, is fundamentally necessary to human wellness.
Sleep rebuilds protein-depleted cells. Lessons absorbed during the day are analyzed and incorporated. Damage to egos, injury to psyches, and bruised emotions are undone, healed, and reinforced. Neurons regenerate chemicals and recharge in preparation for another busy day of synaptic turmoil.
Stress is evaporated. Strain is effervesced. Stability is established.
Human habits encourage daily routines, setting meal times, alarm clocks, and bedtime rituals. 'Zeitgebers' or external time clues, such as responding to the chirp of birds, the passing of the early train, or the peal of a church bell, are introduced early in childhood and regulate the average person's day. By nature, people seek structure and one of the reasons may be to provide adequate periods of sleep.
During the day, adenosine accumulates causing drowsiness. As a person sleeps, the levels drop until the next period of wakefulness. The body conspires to lull the wakeful, sending wave after wave of sleepiness to overcome the strongest willed, even when bolstered by large amounts of caffeine and other stimulants.
Denying sleep results in physical disorders and psychological deterioration. Like an overdrawn bank account, the body and mind require repayment and the penalties for delay increase dramatically.
Fighting the established circadian rhythm is fraught with other consequences. Changing sleep patterns, even in the rare instance when enough rest is achieved, is hazardous. Shift workers suffer more heart disease, stroke, gastric disorders, and accidents than their daytime counterparts.
The human body has been elaborately designed for rotation from activity to sleep, and, like a wheel within a wheel, phases exist within these separate states. During sleep, brain activity varies from the level characterized by rapid eye movements to deep sleep where probes record primarily delta waves. Each of the four levels and REM sleep are defined by electroencephalograph (EEG) tracings of characteristic spikes and curve patterns. Chemicals called neurotransmitters trigger these stages and others end them.
Over sixty neurotransmitters and neuro-active hormones have been identified that wax and wane in cycles that roughly correspond to the 24-hour clock.
Some of these are responsible for keeping the brain alert and permit thoughts to become actions without voluntary effort.
Walking, reaching, writing, and all the other normal awake activities happen while humans think about their destination and who might wait there, the frozen dinner and how it will taste, the string of words making sense and how a teacher will grade the paper. The neurotransmitters that enable this satisfactory disassociation switch off when a person falls asleep, preventing dreams from initiating similar movement.
The same sequence of nerve response, synapse generation, and choice deliberation occurs during sleep but, instead of physical manifestations, the process is reversed and images are invoked. Dreams are born.
In the case of sleepwalking and talking in one's sleep, residual traces remain or the switch off was incomplete.
A separate but related issue arises when the transmitters are switched off before a person is entirely asleep. There is some evidence that sleeper's paralysis is the basis for claims of demonic possession and alien abduction. People in this state may experience 'waking dreams' or hallucinations while clearly and accurately remembering the inability to move.
Throughout history and by every culture, the bizarre by-products of sleep have been analyzed, recorded, and interpreted. Cults have arisen based on inspired wisps of midnight madcap. Strategies formulated. Epics conceived. Inventions conjured.
A hundred years ago, Sigmund Freud hypothesized that dreams were the granting of unfulfilled wishes, wants, and sexual desires. Forty years ago, Dr. Alan Hobson and Dr. Robert McCarley claimed that dreams were the peculiar artifact of partial images caused by random brain function during the REM stage of sleep.
Recent studies indicate that, while dreams experienced during REM sleep are more easily recalled, people dream throughout all the stages of sleep. Brain damage in certain areas, while eliminating REM sleep, has no effect on the quality or quantity of dreams. Other injures and some drugs cause people to stop dreaming but retain REM sleep. Based on these findings, scientists are now searching for other explanations for dreams and the purpose of sleep stages.
Advancement in the technology to measure and record isolated brain functions has sparked new interest in the study of sleep and its related disorders. Cures for insomnia, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea, and the horrific nightmares associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are being sought and found.
Few things can start a day as badly as a poor night's sleep. There is almost no problem that can't be better solved after a good one. Sleep is a safe refuge from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Dreams grant wishes, if temporarily, and sleep provides the energy for another try at permanent fulfillment.
Whether a lucky accidental combination of chemicals or an intentional gift of grace and wonder from God, sleep will always be a warm cradle, a bed of healing, and a hammock of imaginative escape.
So snuggle down, close your eyes, and let the wheel spin. Sweet dreams.
Tips for Good Sleep
Stick to a schedule. Set bedtimes. Get up at the same time - even on weekends.
Exercise regularly but not right before bedtime.
Avoid caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and stimulants. These interrupt REM sleep or prevent the progression to deep sleep.
Establish a relaxation ritual. Baths, sex, music, reading are commonly successful.
Use bright lights/ strong daylight as part of your morning routine.
If unable to fall asleep, quit trying. Get out of bed and do something relaxing. Anxiety about sleep actually makes falling asleep more difficult.
Adjust the environment. Sleepers lose the ability to regulate body temperature. Make the room as comfortable as possible. Noise, movement, and extraneous light disrupt the shallow stages of sleep and interrupt the cycle that is necessary for greatest benefit.
See a doctor. Sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, which contribute to sleep problems, are under-diagnosed but very easily treated.
References
McConnell, Harvey Prazosin Calms Combat-Related Nightmares in Veterans
American Psychoanalytic Association Current Ideas about REM Sleep, Dreams and Dreaming
NIH Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
National Sleep Foundation
When You Can't Sleep: The ABCs of ZZZs
Arnot, Robert
"Turning Back the Clock"
Goode, Erica New
Clues to Why We Dream The New York Times, November 2, 1999 reprinted
at pschoanalysis.org.uk.
International College of Applied Kinesiology Brain Chemistry: Reason We Feel Like We Do
Society for Neuroscience REM
Sleep Brain Briefings, September 1994
Backer, Alejandro To
Sleep, Perchance to Dream, Harvard Undergraduate Society for Neuroscience, 1994
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