Dreams and Sleep

“To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come”

To be, or not to be (from Hamlet) William Shakespeare

What are dreams? This question has been asked since the beginning of time with no absolute answer. What is known is that dreams are unique to every individual and are made up of the experiences and emotions that we have undergone during our waking hours. These experiences are reduced into representations or metaphors in our dreams, which may be clear, vivid and understandable during the dream but become fragmented and difficult to interpret upon waking. Dreams are part of the human evolutionary process and go towards helping to fulfil the potential of every human, whether they notice it or not.

The unconscious mind

Dreams offer a useful insight into our unconscious mind, people for many centuries have believed that dreams have the power to heal, solve problems and foretell the future and there have been many who have interpreted dreams in a bid to learn the language of dreams and unlock the messages from the unconscious mind. Dreams often bring up issues within ourselves that are conscious minds sometimes do not wish to acknowledge and that we would often ignore to the detriment of our own health. A dream is, in reality a hallucination or psychic experience that lives out our inner fears within our sleep.

Sleeping and mood swings

There is no doubt that everyone needs sleep and evidence shows that when they are deprived of it people suffer from severe mood swings. Sleep releases a growth hormone which renews and repairs tissues and helps us to grow, therefore it is obviously very important that children get sufficient, quality sleep every night to help them to rest, recuperate and develop to their full potential. Other evidence maintains that it is of equal importance to dream as well as to sleep and that those who are deprived of dream time or REM sleep (rapid eye movement) suffer from hallucinations and lack of concentration become extremely moody and irritable and feel very ill.

Stages of sleep

Stage 1. The first stage of sleep is usually very light it may appear that you are not actually asleep at all but merely resting your eyes. It lasts for one to ten minutes and is characterized by a rolling of the eyes. Body temperature, heart and pulse rate all drop slightly. Thoughts, vivid pictures and floating feelings stream through the mind.

Theta rhythm of sleep

Stage 2. In the second stage of sleep the brain slows down still further, sleep becomes much deeper and thoughts, ideas and the beginnings of dreams start to ferment in the mind of the dreamer. The brain frequency level is called the Theta rhythm where sleep is composed of low level electroencephalography (EEG) waves broken by short spasms of EEG intensity. Snoring begins at this stage of sleep and the body slows down even further with a reduction in blood pressure, pulse rate, heart and temperature. Breathing may become shallow and less regular and the body may make sudden jerks or twitches like stepping off a path that isn’t there. The eyes start to roll backwards and forwards under the eyelids. This is the first incidence of REM sleep and it lasts for only a few minutes in this initial stage. A dream may be remembered if you are woken at this stage of sleep.

EEG sleep waves

Stage 3. Stage three is the point at which you are in a deep sleep slow EEG waves known as Delta waves or slow waves produce a deep dreamless sleep. The muscles are completely relaxed breathing is steady and regular and blood pressure and heart rate have slowed. It will be very difficult to wake the sleeper from this state. Delta waves may last for about an hour before going into stage four of the sleep pattern.

REM sleep periods

Stage 4. Stage four sleep is the deepest of the four stages. Initially this is a period of slow EEG waves until gradually we move back into REM sleep, this is when dreams occur and the brain activity increases with an increase in brain temperature and a fluctuating heart rate and breathing irregularities. The growth hormone secretion increases and the rejuvenation of our body takes place. The initial REM period lasts for about ten minutes, we then go back into stage four sleep and then back into REM periodically until the sleeper wakes. The final and longest REM period lasts for approximately an hour and occurs just before we wake.

Sleep dream cycles

The four sleep period cycle repeats itself four or five times during the night about every ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes. When you are dreaming during the REM period, normal senses, smell, hearing, touch cease to work and you become paralysed, so you do not make the movements that you are dreaming about. It is also documented that your survival instincts still work even when you are in the dream state of sleep so that you can utilize these sense in an emergency. Many dream analysts believe that the dreams from our unconscious minds are providing solutions to help solve our problems while we are asleep. The real problem is to remember your dreams on waking and then to interpret the messages in them in an effort to find the answers.