+Sleep, Zzzzz

Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than being in hibernation or a coma. Sleep is also a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular systems. It is observed in all mammals, all birds, and many reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

The purposes and mechanisms of sleep are only partially clear and are the subject of intense research. Sleep is often thought to help conserve energy, but actually decreases metabolism only about 5–10%. Hibernating animals need to sleep despite the hypometabolism seen in hibernation, and in fact they must return from hypothermia to euthermy in order to sleep, making sleeping "energetically expensive."
(SleepLink)

+Types of Dreams

Daydreaming is classified as a level of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness.  Studies show that you have the tendency to daydream an average of 70-120 minutes a day. It occurs during waking hours when you let your imagination carry you away. As your mind begins to wander and your level of awareness decreases, you lose yourself in your imagined scenario and fantasy.   

Have you ever thought you have woken up and gone about your daily morning routine: getting up, brushing your teeth, eating breakfast and going to work, only to wake up "again" and realize that what just happened is just a dream? That sensation is referred to as a false awakening.  

Lucid dreams occur when you realize you are dreaming. "Wait a second. This is only a dream!" Most dreamers wake themselves up once they realize that they are dreaming. Other dreamers have cultivated the skill to remain in the lucid state of dreaming. They become an active participant in their own dreams, making decisions in their dreams and influencing the dream's outcome without awakening.   

A nightmare is a disturbing dream that causes you to wake up feeling anxious and frightened. Nightmares may be a response to real life trauma and situations. This type of nightmares fall under a special category called Post-traumatic Stress Nightmare (PSN). Nightmares may also occur because you have ignored or refused to accept a particular life situation. Research shows that most people, who have regular nightmares have a family history of psychiatric problems, are involved in a rocky relationship or have had bad drug experiences. These people may have also contemplated suicide.  Nightmares are an indication of a fear that needs to be acknowledged and confronted. It is a way for the subconscious to wake up and take notice. "Pay attention!"  

Recurring dreams repeat themselves with little variation in story or theme.  These dreams may be positive, but most often they are nightmarish in content.  Dreams may recur because a conflict depicted in the dream remains unresolved or  ignored. Once you find a resolution to the problem, your recurring dreams will cease.  

Healing dreams serve as messages for the dreamer in regards to their health. The Ancient Greeks called these dreams "prodromic". Many dream experts believe that dreams can help in avoiding potential health problems and healing when you are ill or when you are grieving. Research shows that asthma and migraine sufferers have certain types of dreams before an attack. Your bodies are able to communicate to your mind through dreams. The dreams can "tell" you that something is not quite right with your bodies even before any physical symptoms show up. Dreams of this nature may be telling the dreamer that he or she needs to go to the dentist or doctor. If you can understand the language of dreams, your dreams will serve as an invaluable early warning system. They can help inform, advise and heal. 

Prophetic dreams; also referred to as precognitive or psychic dreams; are dreams that seemingly foretell the future.  One rational theory to explain this phenomenon is that your dreaming mind is able to piece together bits of information and observation that you may normally overlook or that you do not seriously consider. In other words, your unconscious mind knows what is coming before you consciously piece together the same information.  

Signal dreams help you how to solve problems or make decisions in your waking life.  

Epic dreams (also referred to as Great Dreams, Cosmic Dreams or Numinous Dreams) are so huge, so compelling, and so vivid that you cannot ignore them. The details of such dreams remain with you for years, as if you just dreamt it last night. These dreams possess much beauty and contain many archetypal symbology.  When you wake up from such a dream, you feel that you have discovered something profound or amazing about yourself or about the world. It feels like a life-changing experience. 

Progressive dreams occur when you have a sequence of dreams that continue over a period of nights. The dream continues where you left off the previous night. Such dreams are problem-solving dreams and help to explore different options and various approaches to a problem, situation or relationship.  

Mutual dreams are described as such when two people have the same dream. Mutual dreams may be planned, meaning that two people actively work toward achieving one dream scenario or goal. It is a way to improve communication and build trust. Mutual dreams can also be spontaneous. You find out that a friend, a significant other, faraway relative, or someone has had the same dream on the same night as you. Not much study has gone into the phenomenon of mutual dreams, but there is a very strong bond that exists between these two people.  

(DreamLink)

+Sleep Timing

Sleep timing is controlled by the circadian clock, sleep-wake homeostasis, and in humans, within certain bounds, willed behavior. The circadian clock—an inner timekeeping, temperature-fluctuating, enzyme-controlling device—works in tandem with adenosine, a neurotransmitter that inhibits many of the bodily processes associated with wakefulness. Adenosine is created over the course of the day; high levels of adenosine lead to sleepiness. In diurnal animals, sleepiness occurs as the circadian element causes the release of the hormone melatonin and a gradual decrease in core body temperature. The timing is affected by one's chronotype. It is the circadian rhythm that determines the ideal timing of a correctly structured and restorative sleep episode.

Homeostatic sleep propensity (the need for sleep as a function of the amount of time elapsed since the last adequate sleep episode) must be balanced against the circadian element for satisfactory sleep. Along with corresponding messages from the circadian clock, this tells the body it needs to sleep. Sleep offset (awakening) is primarily determined by circadian rhythm. A person who regularly awakens at an early hour will generally not be able to sleep much later than his or her normal waking time, even if moderately sleep-deprived.
(SleepLink)

-REM Sleep

Rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep) is a normal stage of sleep characterized by the random movement of the eyes. REM sleep is classified into two categories: tonic and phasic. It was identified and defined by Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky in the early 1950s. Criteria for REM sleep includes rapid eye movement, but also low muscle tone and a rapid, low-voltage EEG; these features are easily discernible in a polysomnogram, the sleep study typically done for patients with suspected sleep disorders.

REM sleep in adult humans typically occupies 20–25% of total sleep, about 90–120 minutes of a night's sleep. During a normal night of sleep, humans usually experience about four or five periods of REM sleep; they are quite short at the beginning of the night and longer toward the end. Many animals and some people tend to wake, or experience a period of very light sleep, for a short time immediately after a bout of REM. The relative amount of REM sleep varies considerably with age. A newborn baby spends more than 80% of total sleep time in REM.  During REM, the activity of the brain's neurons is quite similar to that during waking hours; for this reason, the REM-sleep stage may be called paradoxical sleep.

REM sleep is physiologically different from the other phases of sleep, which are collectively referred to as non-REM sleep (NREM sleep). Vividly recalled dreams mostly occur during REM sleep.

(SleepLink)

-She's Dreaming Again

Another strange dream occurred last night. I was in a warehouse. I was being chased by a small blonde haired boy with a pair of scissors. He was yelling at me that he was going to cut my hair. He chased me into a dark room and I couldn't find my way out. I screamed and jumped through the wall. A bright light appeared and a bunch of kids and a teacher walked in. I kept running. I ran up the stairs screaming the names of the kids to help me. No one stirred. I woke when I reached the top of the stairs.

"To dream that you are in a darkroom suggests that you are waiting for something to happen. You are curious to see what might develop in a situation."

"To dream that you are screaming symbolizes anger and fear. You are expressing some powerful emotion which you have kept pent up inside. If you try to scream, but no sound comes out, then it indicates your sense of helplessness and frustration in some situation. No matter how hard you try to get someone's attention, they cannot hear you. The dream highlights your difficulty in communicating with this person. You need to immediately identify your fears or feelings and confront this situation in real life."

"To dream that you are being chased signifies that you are avoiding a situation that you do not think is conquerable. It is a metaphor for some form of insecurity. In particular, to dream that you are chased by an animal represents your own unexpressed and unacknowledged anger which is being projected onto that animal. Alternatively, you may be running away from a primal urge or fear."

"To dream that you are walking up a flight of stairs indicate that you are achieving a higher level of understanding. You are making progress into your spiritual, emotional or material journey. The dream is also analogous to material and thoughts that are coming to the surface."

"To dream that you are cutting your hair suggests that you are experiencing a loss in strength. You may feel that someone is trying to censor you. Alternatively, you may be reshaping your thinking or ambitions and eliminating unwanted thoughts/habits."

"To dream that you or someone is yelling represents repressed anger that needs to be expressed. If you are yelling and no one hears, then it suggests that you are being overlooked in some waking situation. You feel that your voice does not matter or that your opinion does not count."

"To see a warehouse in your dream represents stored energy or hidden resources. The warehouse also refers to memories. Alternatively, the warehouse means that you are putting your ambitions and goals on hold."

(DreamLink)

-Your Downfall

For most people, when they hear the word "drugs", they assume nothing of it, believe drugs are bad and move on. In my sixteen year old mind, the word appears in front of me. It looks like a flat surface with the letters cut out. It moves towards me, slowly at first then accelerates, swallows me whole, and slams shut. I'm floating in a dark room. Its empty, pitch black, and I'm terrified. There are no walls, no floor, and no ceiling. Colors shoot out from the darkness, swirl around my small body and constrict me till I suffocate. A bright light approaches so radiant that it sears my green eyes, blinds me and then fades. I'm strapped down to a stretcher. I'm being rushed down a hospital hallway. What's happening? Doctors swiftly pick up my body and strap me to a hospital bed. The walls are moving closer, and closer. How is this happening? I jump up and run towards the walls, hoping to find an exit. What? The walls are soft and squishy now. Padded cell? How did I get in here? The bed has disappeared along with my arms. How did I get into a strait jacket? I scream for hours and nothing happens. No one helps me. One wall turns into a window, there are people watching me, laughing. Pointing and staring at my insanity. I hear and slash and feel a sudden tug on my head. I turn around to see a boy who had reached through the bars that somehow appeared behind me. He is holding a large chunk of my golden brown hair in his left hand and a pair of scissors in the right. He smiles an evil crooked smile, laughs, and walks away without another sound. I shut my eyes, cry a single tear, and open them again. I'm running down a road. What? Why? What am I running from? Who is following me? Is someone following me? Why am I still running? I turn to see what's behind me, I see a small, golden brown haired, green eyed, sixteen year old girl. She looks kind and fragile. Why am I running from her? She steps towards me and reaches for her pocket. I ask her who she is. She looks up and straight into my eyes, "your downfall." I gasp for air as I tug at the needle and syringe she had thrust into my heart. I fall to my knees clutching onto my chest. I lie on the dark cold asphalt and listen to my heavy breathing. The air smells of blood and regret. Blood is pouring out of my neck as I embrace death. I can't die. I won’t die. Am I already dead? This pain won't end. Kill me already. I shouldn’t be alive anymore! I close my eyes and feel an insanely sharp pain in my stomach. Two dark red hands with sharp claws just jutted through the earth and pierced through my stomach. I gasp for air and twinge at the sight of the two claws sticking out of my stomach. I can’t move. I’m terrified of what might happen next. The claws move around my stomach, grab both sides of my rib cage and pull me through the ground. My screams fade out into the darkness.

+Divulge Your Dreams

Last night I woke up in a cold sweat after a confusing dream that had made my brain thrust itself and my body awake. I dreamt that I was a ghost, I tried to talk to people but no one could hear or see me. I screamed and jumped but I wasn’t there. A select few people could feel my presence and tried to communicate with me. One boy whom I had only met once in my life could see and hear me, I was shocked and thrilled. They all disappeared in that moment and I was now in a forest. I then thought to myself, “I’m dead, that means I can finally see Chandler again.” (Chandler was a friend of mine and an ex-boyfriend who committed suicide a few months ago) I sprinted through the forest looking for him then came to a sudden stop. I looked down at my feet where a snake was outstretched across my toes. I woke up after the snake appeared to look at me and lunge forward towards my face.

“To see your own ghost in your dream symbolizes aspects of yourself that you fear. This may involve a painful memory, guilt, or some repressed thoughts. Or you may be afraid of death and dying. Alternatively, ghosts are representative of something that is no longer obtainable or within reach. It indicates that you are feeling disconnected from life and society. Try to figure out what the ghosts wants or what it is looking for. The dream may also be a calling for you to move on and abandon your outdated modes of thinking and behavior.”

“To dream that you are lost in a forest indicates that you are searching through your unconscious for a better understanding of yourself.”

“To see the ghost of a dead friend/relative in your dream suggests guilt and regrets concerning the past relationships with that particular person.”

“To see a snake or be bitten by one in your dream signifies hidden fears and worries that are threatening you.  Your dream may be alerting you to something in your waking life that you are not aware of or that has not yet surfaced. The snake may also refer to a person around you who is callous, ruthless, and can't be trusted. As a positive symbol, snakes represent healing, transformation, knowledge and wisdom. It is indicative of self-renewal and positive change.”

(DreamLink)

My Ghost: Before I went to sleep I was speaking to my friend about how I was trying to change into a better person, I didn’t like the horrible kid I was and I wanted to get rid of the evil inside of myself.

Forest: My mother asked me if I was trying to just fit in with the cheerleaders now, my reply was that I didn’t know what I was trying to do or who I was trying to be. I told her I really didn’t know who I was.

Chandler’s Ghost: The last time me and Chandler spoke it was a fight that I had started. I called him all sorts of awful names and calling him out on stupid stuff and we hadn’t spoken to each other for two years when I found out he committed suicide on the dreadful Monday morning of February 21, 2011.

Snake: I am changing myself in a positive way, have learned of some backstabbing friends, and it might be warning me of something coming my way.

Dreams can depict so much about your life, your actions, and the way you brain functions and processes everyday activities and conversations. What are your dreams telling you?