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⑦ Secrets of Sleep - Update 13 Octr 2021
Headings in order as each appears so you may see what is in this important, fact-packed, practical-use chapter and use search & find or scroll down.
⑦ Secrets of Sleep - Update 13 Octr 2021
Headings in order as each appears so you may see what is in this important, fact-packed, practical-use chapter and use search & find or scroll down.
Why We Need Sleep?
Why Do We Get Sleepy/Why Can't We Go to Sleep?
Sleep-Wake Rhythm - NREM & REM Sleeps
How Much Daily Sleep?
Why Do We Get Sleepy/Why Can't We Go to Sleep?
Sleep-Wake Rhythm - NREM & REM Sleeps
How Much Daily Sleep?
Pleasure
REM and NREM Sleeps; How to Control?
Memory Consolidation and Sleep; Advice for Test Takers:
How to Increase NREM Sleep:
Memory Consolidation and Sleep; Advice for Test Takers:
How to Increase NREM Sleep:
Affect on Hormones & Depression
Advice to Sex Partners of Male Sleepers on Sleep Erections
Advice to Sex Partners of Male Sleepers on Sleep Erections
Sleep Positions
Relation of Position to Getting to Sleep with Dreaming
Relation of Position to Getting to Sleep with Dreaming
Body Temp, BP, HR & Brain Blood Flow
Autonomic Nerves System (ANS) and Sleep
Danger of Low Oxygen in Sleep
Management of Sleep
Problems with Sleeping
REM Sleep Behavior Disorder
Sleep Apnea
High Altitude
Snoring
Insomnia
Problems with Sleeping
REM Sleep Behavior Disorder
Sleep Apnea
High Altitude
Snoring
Insomnia
Sleep Pill
Early Waking
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness
Early Waking
Excessive Daytime Sleepiness
Tips to Fall Asleep Easily
Hypersomnia, Narcolepsy and Restless Legs Syndrome
Dreaming: Is It Useful?
Nightmares
Sleep and Consciousness
Sleep and Consciousness
Preservation of individual conscious personality beyond lifespan
Best Conditions for sleeping
After first reading this chapter, those wishing to learn more about brain structures involved in sleep and the chemicals and neurotransmitters, access the chapters below:
After first reading this chapter, those wishing to learn more about brain structures involved in sleep and the chemicals and neurotransmitters, access the chapters below:
Why We Need Sleep? It is restorative, especially for motivation. For example, waking from sleep, I am bright-eyed to write this chapter; but, deprived of sleep, I can’t bring myself to it. A brief sleep is useful for one who has an important but difficult chore to do. Sleep is also a time for the body to re)build itself, heal injuries, and solidify recent memories and learning, and wants to be creative. The practical lesson is: use short repose/light sleep right after your study session, especially if it presents a hard problem and use more prolonged sleep if you have a job that requires fine muscular coordination and high vigilance, and also when you need to heal your body, like in recovery from illness, and after injuries.
But it is important to know that the usual several-hour night sleep may not necessarily be a good-health necessity. For over 30 years, due to my work cycle, I have not experienced several-hour night sleep yet at age 88 now I am thriving. Here is a perhaps different view of sleep than readers are aware of. Sleep is a habit that dates far back before the discovery of fire. When darkness came at night our prehistoric fore-fathers and -mothers, unable to find their way around, holed up in a cave and slept, like bears hibernate today except it was only for the night. Sleep involves resting of the consciousness. What is necessary is rest, or what might be called repose. And that in my experience can be accomplished in shifts, briefly 1 hour or even less at a time. A resting mind restores the brain's energy and motivation level. Our usual habit of night sleep may often be a social convenience that may be replaced by brief repose as we wish.
Why Do We Get Sleepy/Why Can't We Go to Sleep? The circadian rhythm factor is the circa 24-hour, body-clock rhythm that influences all the body functions. In the case of sleep-wake behavior, the circadian rhythm causes one to get sleepier and, as the night/early AM wears on, to peak at around 3 AM, and the effect is similarly noted (less obviously) after the noon hour at around 3 PM. The other sleep-provoking factor, sleep deprivation, is the amount of sleepless time since we last woke up. The longer we go without sleep, the sleepier we get. As a generalization for many key body functions, we can say that our need to perform a key function gets greater as the time passed since last we performed the function (When we last ate, slept, took an addicting drug, had a sex relation orgasm)
If one arranges one's day so that circadian 24-hour sleepiness and sleep deprivation will coincide, it makes for the most powerful sleepiness and easiest to sleep. This becomes noticeable starting 11 PM and may become almost irresistible by 2 AM.
Sleep-Wake Rhythm - NREM & REM Sleeps Sleep is a natural behavioral state that evolved over millions of years in humans. Sleep is not a state of unconscious, as it might seem at a first glance; it is a state of fluctuating lowered consciousness ranging from the un-alert awake state, in sleep's lightest form (stage 1), to the nearly unconscious state in its deepest form (stage 4). During sleep our sensory input - from eyes, ears, skin - lessens to the extent we become unaware of sensations that would normally alert us although we still can be awakened and alerted by strong sensory input. This lessening of sensory input - a key to falling asleep - is controlled in the brain stem by the ARAS (Ascending Reticular Activating System), a set of neurons that, during the awake state is constantly gating (opening & closing a gate) the excitatory sensory input to the thalamus and cerebral cortex (brain structures for receiving and interpreting sensory input). As we are falling asleep, a flip-flop switch in the ARAS turns off and almost cuts off the sensory input, and then, for our awakenings, the switch reverses.
But it is important to know that the usual several-hour night sleep may not necessarily be a good-health necessity. For over 30 years, due to my work cycle, I have not experienced several-hour night sleep yet at age 88 now I am thriving. Here is a perhaps different view of sleep than readers are aware of. Sleep is a habit that dates far back before the discovery of fire. When darkness came at night our prehistoric fore-fathers and -mothers, unable to find their way around, holed up in a cave and slept, like bears hibernate today except it was only for the night. Sleep involves resting of the consciousness. What is necessary is rest, or what might be called repose. And that in my experience can be accomplished in shifts, briefly 1 hour or even less at a time. A resting mind restores the brain's energy and motivation level. Our usual habit of night sleep may often be a social convenience that may be replaced by brief repose as we wish.
Why Do We Get Sleepy/Why Can't We Go to Sleep? The circadian rhythm factor is the circa 24-hour, body-clock rhythm that influences all the body functions. In the case of sleep-wake behavior, the circadian rhythm causes one to get sleepier and, as the night/early AM wears on, to peak at around 3 AM, and the effect is similarly noted (less obviously) after the noon hour at around 3 PM. The other sleep-provoking factor, sleep deprivation, is the amount of sleepless time since we last woke up. The longer we go without sleep, the sleepier we get. As a generalization for many key body functions, we can say that our need to perform a key function gets greater as the time passed since last we performed the function (When we last ate, slept, took an addicting drug, had a sex relation orgasm)
If one arranges one's day so that circadian 24-hour sleepiness and sleep deprivation will coincide, it makes for the most powerful sleepiness and easiest to sleep. This becomes noticeable starting 11 PM and may become almost irresistible by 2 AM.
Sleep-Wake Rhythm - NREM & REM Sleeps Sleep is a natural behavioral state that evolved over millions of years in humans. Sleep is not a state of unconscious, as it might seem at a first glance; it is a state of fluctuating lowered consciousness ranging from the un-alert awake state, in sleep's lightest form (stage 1), to the nearly unconscious state in its deepest form (stage 4). During sleep our sensory input - from eyes, ears, skin - lessens to the extent we become unaware of sensations that would normally alert us although we still can be awakened and alerted by strong sensory input. This lessening of sensory input - a key to falling asleep - is controlled in the brain stem by the ARAS (Ascending Reticular Activating System), a set of neurons that, during the awake state is constantly gating (opening & closing a gate) the excitatory sensory input to the thalamus and cerebral cortex (brain structures for receiving and interpreting sensory input). As we are falling asleep, a flip-flop switch in the ARAS turns off and almost cuts off the sensory input, and then, for our awakenings, the switch reverses.
The sleep state has been observed for thousands of years. It is mostly keyed into the hours of nighttime darkness. The sleepy person, already weary from a busy daytime, closes his eyes and seems to become unconscious. But, certain responses in sleep differ from the true unconsciousness of coma. First, all persons can be awakened from sleep. Second, we continue to breathe adequately to stay alive while asleep. In sleep, like coma, we lose voluntary control of much of our muscle power and we lose conscious awareness but we still may have a sort of consciousness through dreaming. Observation of a sleeping person through the night shows c.90-minute cycles capped by brief awakenings. In 1953, 2 scientists discovered that during parts of a night's sleep the eye globes show rapid back-and-forth movements. This part of sleep came to be called rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and the part of sleep without the REM is called NREM sleep. Over 50 years of research has revealed that REM and NREM sleep are separate states of sleep behavior.
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How much daily sleep? Surveys show on average newborns sleep 17 to 18 hours with short awakenings in between; this is almost certainly for growth of body-tissue energy-need. By age 6 this has consolidated into a single 10- to 12-hour sleep. A 10-year-old gets 10 hours sleep. Young adults average 7 hours; and over age 65 y/o's, even less. In adulthood the amount of sleep we need depends on type of activity we plan. At one extreme, a sports person or driver or an operator of a machine ought to get several hours of sleep before engaging in the activity. For intellectual chore, 1 hour repose is OK.
Pleasure: Sleep can be physically pleasure-full. Pre-sleep inputs that give pleasure and help to fall asleep are a sexual orgasm, a hot shower, an opioid, the tricyclic anti-depression med, Tofranil (imipramine) and other TCA antidepressants; also certain foods/drinks that you may discover by trial and error.
REM and NREM Sleeps; How to Control?
Based on the universal occurrence of REM sleep in the highest brain-developed animals like mammals and its universal absence in reptiles, amphibians and fish, REM sleep must be connected with the development of higher brain power.
The observation that all humans start from conception with 100% REM sleep and by very old age show less than 5% REM sleep suggests that REM sleep is important in brain growth, development, neural plasticity (the memory mechanism) and higher level learning.
A number of experiments suggest REM sleep consolidates memories, improves learning.
So what should you do about REM sleep? How does each one of us know when we've just experienced it? Can we control it in the sense of preventing or increasing it? And should we worry about its lack?
First, you can know you have just had a REM sleep by what you note and how you feel on awakening from a sleep. If you feel alert, good, bright-eyed, you have awakened from REM sleep. If you recall immediate dreaming and it is vivid, it's REM sleep. If a man, and you awake with a sleep erection and even more, are sexually aroused by that sort of dream, you just had REM sleep. From a practical standpoint, one advice is: try to arrange your start of day awakening so that you wake up from a REM sleep. If you awake groggy, confused and feel like going back to sleep again; then, do just that unless some important reason forces you to get up.
Certain drugs (e.g., the anti-depressants above) prevent REM sleep.
Experiments show that REM sleep awakenings make nighttime sleepers function better during the subsequent awake time with less accidents and less absent-minded forgetfulness.
Memory Consolidation and Sleep; Advice for Test Takers: Experiments with humans and other animals have shown that learning and memory are enhanced by getting a good night's sleep just after the memorization or learning. So, for a student boning-up for a test, the final one ought to be on a day starting with a rested, non sleep-deprived mind and followed by a good night's sleep and then the testing (SAT, IQ, TOEFL).
Affect on Hormones & Depression: Cortisone and epinephrine go low at sleep till awakening, then rise and overshoot. This has implication for health. The low hormone levels rest the heart and blood vessels by lowering blood pressure and heart rate but in the asthmatic it risks wheezing during sleep because of low adrenal hormone and airways obstruction. The thyroid hormones rise in the evening until sleep-onset then drop. It explains thyroid stimulated heart fibrillation in evening. Also suggests the usefulness of sleep to stop the fibrillation. (Very important for patients who have just had electroconversion from atrial fibrillation to normal heart rhythm)
Depression: Too much sleeping is no good for depression, and if you are starting to feel depressed, you might try a night with little or no sleep.
Depression: Too much sleeping is no good for depression, and if you are starting to feel depressed, you might try a night with little or no sleep.
Advice to Sex Partners of Male Sleepers on Sleep Erections: The sex hormones rise in sleep and may cause the nocturnal penis erection. So if you are a wife whose husband seems impotent while awake, get him to sleep beside you and check for sleep erection. If he gets it, he's probably fooling with someone else. (But don't ever jump to that conclusion) The blood testosterone and erection ability reach a maximum between 4 AM and 8 AM of a night's sleep. So for older men who sleep regularly and have erection problem, reserve that time for sex. In women trying to get pregnant, a good sleep is important because its rising hormone is pro ovulation.
Sleep Positions: Best is flat on back on firm but not hard mat, with arms by side and palms flat down on mat because this is the position where muscles are minimally contracting and motor nerves minimally getting excited. Occasional varying by relaxed changes is OK. Sleeping on abdomen and face may block breathing due to face in pillow and also increased pressure on bladder will cause more need to pee. Sleeping on side with back and neck bent and back tensed up is bad for the spine and prevents restful sleep.
Sleeping flat may prove problematic with weak heart. For this kind of person only, elevating shoulder, upper back and head on pillow is best for this because it decreases blood congestion lungs.
Relation of Position to Getting to Sleep with Dreaming I have found that turning on my right side (I am left handed) with the right side of head firmly positioned on firm but not hard pillow results in my rapid sleeping with dream. I guess it may be related to my handedness that suggests a right-sided brain dominance. Would like to hear from or read others on this possibly important discovery.
Sleeping flat may prove problematic with weak heart. For this kind of person only, elevating shoulder, upper back and head on pillow is best for this because it decreases blood congestion lungs.
Relation of Position to Getting to Sleep with Dreaming I have found that turning on my right side (I am left handed) with the right side of head firmly positioned on firm but not hard pillow results in my rapid sleeping with dream. I guess it may be related to my handedness that suggests a right-sided brain dominance. Would like to hear from or read others on this possibly important discovery.
Body Temp, BP, HR & Brain Blood Flow: Body temperature falls during sleep, from ave. 98.50 to 98.00 F (37.00 to 36.60 C). It is important to women measuring body temperature daily for detection and prediction of ovulation. The time to take temperature is within 5 minutes after the waking at usual morning time.
Blood Pressure and Resting Heart Rate go to a low that might cause fainting if erect. In an older person with clogging arteries it risks stroke, myocardial infarction and sudden death.
Autonomic Nerves System (ANS) and Sleep: The ANS is autopilot of body function (heartbeat and breathing rate, digestive secretion, sphincters and urine flow). It has opposing controllers: the sympathetic, which ups blood pressure and speeds heart, and the parasympathetic, which does opposite. Awake, there is a balance to allow us to function maximally while conscious and active. As we go deeper into sleep, the parasympathetic dominates. This is protective; it lowers blood pressure, and slows heartbeat and breathing. But, with disease or aging, this increased parasympathetic stimulation brings danger because the slowed rate and depth of breathing and dropped heart rate and blood pressure, ups risk of stroke and heart attack. And the parasympathetic constricts bronchi and favors sleep apnea, labored breathing and asthma.
Danger of Low Oxygen in Sleep: Because of sleep's low blood pressure, and its slowing heart and breathing reduction, there is a fall in arterial oxygen flow to vital organs in deepening sleep. For young, healthy person in well oxygenated surrounding, this is no problem but for older person or anyone with brain, heart and lung disease, it may cause stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack) or sudden death. Also the risk comes from low oxygen in sleeping room. This could be from space heater in winter in poorly ventilated room or at unaccustomed high altitude like in Colorado Peru
Management of Sleep: Sleep is a need that when not satisfied daily will disrupt life by forcing itself on you. We need not have a set number of hours for sleep but we should be aware that social conventions, worry about overeating, boredom, pain or mental anguish make sleep sought after. Extra sleep to fill in boring time is better than excessive tobacco and alcohol or other harmful behavior, or violence by persons who have nothing good to do while awake. And a night sleep or just lying on the mat means 8 or more hours of no eating, which is healthy. Sleep will interrupt a crazy appetite that causes pig out. Note that when you awake you have lost the before-sleep appetite.
Problems with Sleeping
REM Sleep Behavior Disorder
Vivid and often frightening dreams during REM sleep with lack of muscle ability allowing for “acting out of dreams”: The sleeper shouts or speaks out loud, thrashes about, arising from bed and often moving about violently.
This disorder often predicts Parkinson disease even a few years later
Advice for apnea sufferers: stop smoking, lose weight and treat heart and lung diseases. Also, persons who are noted to snore should be alerted to it by sleeping companions. Snoring is more frequent with overweight persons and in too deep, prolonged sleep. A person who snores should avoid sleeping pills.
REM Sleep Behavior Disorder
Vivid and often frightening dreams during REM sleep with lack of muscle ability allowing for “acting out of dreams”: The sleeper shouts or speaks out loud, thrashes about, arising from bed and often moving about violently.
This disorder often predicts Parkinson disease even a few years later
Sleep apnea (cessation of breathing) is a not infrequent problem that often goes undetected. In the normal person SaO2 remains near 100%, and (PCO2) remains near 40 mmHg during both rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep. In the patient with sleep apnea, reduced muscle tone during sleep allows collapse of the upper airway, resulting in obstruction and apnea. The repetitive attacks of apnea at the rate of approximately one per minute cause the patient's SaO2 to fall repetitively and dramatically. During non-REM sleep the patient's PCO2 increases to near 60 mm Hg. During REM sleep the SaO2 and PCO2 become even more abnormal, as worsening airway hypotonia causes greater obstruction. Many people with sleep apnea wake up repeatedly during the night because of the apnea, but the arousals are too brief for them to be aware that their sleep is interrupted.
Advice for apnea sufferers: stop smoking, lose weight and treat heart and lung diseases. Also, persons who are noted to snore should be alerted to it by sleeping companions. Snoring is more frequent with overweight persons and in too deep, prolonged sleep. A person who snores should avoid sleeping pills.
High Altitude: Breathing becomes unstable during sleep at very high altitudes in most normal individuals. Administration of supplemental oxygen results in a rapid return to a normal respiratory pattern. This abnormal pattern disappears in most people after they have acclimated to the altitude.
Insomnia:
More than half of the population experiences significant difficulties with sleep at least on occasion, and as many as one in five persons suffer from chronic sleep problems. Disruption of sleep and waking is very frequent. Falling asleep is thought to be responsible for at least 100,000 traffic accidents every year. Lack of sleep was a contributing factor in the disasters at the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear power plants.
This experiment should emphasize to you several factors you can work on to make all your sleeps good. Try to follow your circadian cycle (If your work & lifestyle allow), which means not trying to fall asleep before 11 PM. And cause yourself to be maximally sleep-deprived each daytime day (Don't daydream, don't nap) Most insomnia is due to ignoring these factors. Then, note the avoidance of wake-provoking factors like coffee. Each person has a different tolerance but if you are starting out with an insomnia problem, you want to make it a rule to avoid the various factors that stop sleep. You may substitute tea for coffee and other drinks. Then look at your medications. The SSRI anti depression meds like Prozac may prevent sleep. Substitute a tricyclic (TCA) like imipramine (Tofranil) if you must take medication for depression and cannot sleep.
Then note the insistence upon jet blackness and no sounds in your sleeping room. Just closing eyelids is not good enough because light penetrates them and also the muscular exciting effect on your nervous system of trying to hold your eyelids closed. If you cannot light-proof your room then use a black visor cap over your face or black eye cover. Similarly for sounds. And keep in mind good body position for sleep (See above).
Not being able to fall asleep at the normal time (11 PM to 2 AM) may also be because your circadian cycle has been disturbed by intercontinental travel (jet lag) or shift work. This should be a temporary effect (2 or 3 days) and is best either tolerated by staying up until you are sleepy or treated by the sleep pill when you wish to sleep.
Sleep Pill: two effects of sleep pills are latency and sleep time. Latency is the time between your lying down to sleep and sleeping. It is the main cause of insomnia - the not falling asleep quickly when you want to. I have experimented with the two popular sleep pills, Ambien (zolpidem) 5 mg pill, and Dalmane (or -mate aka flurazepam) 15 mgm capsule. My first advice is dissolve them in the mouth (under tongue) instead of the usual swallowing of the pill or capsule. It gives a more rapid effect and is less affected by food or other stomach material. Also, be in a condition that you really need to sleep (Sleep deprivation of at least several hours and circadian sleepiness) And no recent Caffeine.
Ambien’s latency should be not longer than 30 minutes and its peak in blood 1.6 hours and half-life 2.5 hours. It works by helping you fall asleep. Dalmate simply increases sleepiness but may not put you to sleep At best these sleep meds at these doses give several hours good sleep with no side effects (But only if you are well prepared to sleep).
Zolpidem aka ambien is said to be non-addicting and is now a particular favorite in US and Japan. Useful dose is 5 mg pill. In normal sleepers the drug has little or no effect. It is mostly good for putting can't-get-to-sleep insomniacs more quickly to sleep.
Do not drive or operate machinery within 12 hours after taking any sleeping pill.
Ambien is best for persons who have trouble falling asleep while dalmate is best for persons who do not get enough sleep at night and wish to sleep longer. A minor note about Ambien is that it stimulates appetite in some users thus causing nighttime munching. (If you must munch, have fruits or plain corn flakes, a handful will satisfy appetite)
The actual sleep time from the pills depends on how long you`ve been without sleep. Most sleep pills do not affect it much. All that is needed is to fall asleep quickly and then nature takes care of the sleep time. (Implies that Ambien is best for insomniacs whose main problem is inability to fall asleep)
Early waking without going back to sleep means you slept enough: Its usual cause is going to sleep too early. Other cause is loud sound, hot flash of menopause or meddlesome or otherwise disturbing bed partner, or taking a drug like alcohol which puts one to sleep prematurely and then awakens too soon. Early waking may also be inherited (Larks) in which case one should accept it as part of one's usual life. Persons with worries and depression tend to wake too early and brood. Useful in these early-waking-can't-get-back-to-sleep situations is having a jigsaw puzzle or other light activity in process on nearby table.
Daytime sleepiness disturbance is a symptom of several underlying sleep disorders including sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and restless leg syndrome. Sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome are two of the most frequent of these disorders largely through a disturbance in the quantity and quality of sleep. Narcolepsy is present in only a small part of the population but is devastating in its negative effects.
Daytime sleepiness disturbance is a symptom of several underlying sleep disorders including sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and restless leg syndrome. Sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome are two of the most frequent of these disorders largely through a disturbance in the quantity and quality of sleep. Narcolepsy is present in only a small part of the population but is devastating in its negative effects.
If you wake up feeling bad despite good timing and quality of sleep – a headache or other ache, lack of happy feeling, or poor energy and motivation, or just blah – something has gotten in the way of the restorative quality of your sleep: a lack of muscle relaxation or intrusion of waking stimuli. Pay attention to undue pressure or muscle tension, poor position, stale room air, overly hot or cold room, drug effect, loud sound or irritating light. And of course attend to snoring and the already discussed sleep apnea.
Hypersomnia, Narcolepsy and Restless Legs Syndrome
Hypersomnia, Narcolepsy and Restless Legs Syndrome
Narcolepsy occurs in 0.04% of the population or c.120,000 people in the United States, characterized by a breakdown in the transition between waking and sleep. Sleep, mostly REM, invades daytime, often inappropriately, and sleep at night is fragmented and disrupted by multiple awakenings. Narcolepsy is in four main symptoms, some or all of which may be seen in any one individual.
First is excessive daytime sleepiness and irresistible "sleep attacks" during waking hours. These sleep attacks (usually less than 20 minutes) can come at any moment and sometimes are a source of embarrassment. For example, falling asleep during conversation or at work may lead to the incorrect assumption that the narcoleptic is uninterested in the conversation or in doing a full day's work. Sleep attacks are precipitated by any behavior that is relatively passive and boring such as watching television, driving a car, or studying for finals. Unfortunately, sleeping does not completely alleviate the tendency to have sleep attacks.
Second, cataplexy, (Not to be confused with catalepsy which is a strange stiffness of the whole body while awake) occurs in approximately 70% of narcoleptic patients. Cataplexy is a sudden bilateral loss of muscle tone, typically in the knees and face and neck, leading to a sagging of the jaw and falling to the floor. Consciousness is preserved, however, and the sufferer is typically awake but feels barely able to move. The onset of a cataplexy is in seconds; the episode itself for seconds and lasts minutes. Emotion, most typically laughter or sudden anger, can provoke an attack, perhaps owing to a general decrease in muscle tone. Cataplexy is from abnormal activation of the motor inhibition that normally occurs during periods of REM sleep.
Third, vivid dreamlike experiences may occur during the transition between sleep and waking. These events are known as either hypnagogic (sleep onset) or hypnopompic (sleep offset) hallucinations. What differs them from dreams is that the narcoleptic is not fully asleep and may be aware that he is not dreaming—the images seem real. The dreams are typically bizarre, frightening, and unpleasant; they are visual, although auditory and tactile experiences also occur. As in dreams, sensations of smell or taste are rare. Hallucinations of this type may also occur in normal people at transitions between sleep and waking.
Fourth, sleep paralysis, also typically occurs in the transition between sleep and waking (either going to sleep at night or waking in the morning). Unlike cataplexy it is not triggered by emotion, and episodes last longer, sometimes up to 10 minutes. As sufferers are unable to make even the smallest of movements, such as opening their eyelids or lifting a finger, the experience is frightening and unpleasant. As with cataplexy it is assumed that sleep paralysis results from inappropriate activation of the inhibitory descending motor pathways that are normally responsible for inhibiting movement during REM sleep. Sleep paralysis also infrequently occurs in non-narcoleptics.
Restless leg syndrome occurs in approximately 8% of the population and is characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs and feelings like insects crawling up the legs. This symptom occurs during the day but is usually worse at night while resting in bed. The patient may feel relief only by moving the legs either in bed or by walking about.
Approximately 80% of people suffering from restless leg syndrome also experience periodic leg movements in sleep, when the legs move for a few seconds every 10 to 20 seconds. These leg movements result in a lightening of sleep and therefore an increase in daytime sleepiness. The prevalence of restless leg syndrome and periodic leg movements increases greatly with age.
The final symptom of narcolepsy is disturbed nocturnal sleep. Although narcoleptics may fall asleep quickly and often immediately fall into REM sleep, their sleep is interrupted by frequent arousal. For most narcoleptics these awakenings are brief, but some may stay awake for hours at night.
The different components of narcolepsy are treated with different pharmacological agents. The excessive sleepiness and sleep spells of narcolepsy are typically treated with central nervous stimulants such as Modafinil or amphetamines. These agents enhance the release of catecholamines and inhibit their reuptake. Cataplexy is also treated with SSRI antidepressants like Prozac, which inhibit the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin and are potent inhibitors of REM sleep.
Having mentioned medication to help sleep we want to emphasize that most sleep ought to be natural; so in general, avoid medication.
Tips to Fall Asleep Easily: When I want to sleep and can't quickly enough, I shower or bathe, orgasm by masturbation and then sleep comes. Sometimes I am content just to lie awake and think pleasant, simple thoughts
Sleeping into the normal workday (from 8 AM on) may be normal variation and is frequently seen in younger person. When it is too frequent (Owls) and hard to control, you are dealing with bad sleep habit you must break because it will limit your productive life. Prolonged, excessive sleep can be a response to unhappy life and part of depression. In that case, ask for antidepressant that has an alerting (Prozac and its SSRI family) rather than a sleepy side effect like the tricyclics—-Tofranil et al.
Dreaming: Is It Useful? For 10 years I described my dreams on tape. I find dreams identify what I recently think and read or see on video or feel emotionally or previously experience. Often, a dream has emotional significance, relating to close relative or loved or lost friend, or it shows a recurrent anxiety theme such as losing a valuable item like car or wallet. Some dreams are sexual wish-fulfillment or remembrance of dead loved ones. Worst dream is unpleasant body state (full bladder with painful urge to pee, difficulty breathing from aspirated saliva, body cold from cover kicked off in freezing winter night and unheated room) forcing itself on dream consciousness. Body feeling intrudes into dream content: creates visuals and dialog and action, and even part of story of dream. This shows that some dreams are coming from one's partially conscious feelings in a very light sleep state that disorients our awake consciousness.
Dream content is typically bizarre (Loss of logical relationships and calendar time; juxtapositions of unrelated content) and this is related to shutting off of pre-frontal cortex (part of the brain that does logical thinking) during REM sleep when most dreaming is done.
Dream content is typically bizarre (Loss of logical relationships and calendar time; juxtapositions of unrelated content) and this is related to shutting off of pre-frontal cortex (part of the brain that does logical thinking) during REM sleep when most dreaming is done.
Once I had a dream that gives insight into the mind's controls. At the point in the dream where I was about to get viciously punched by a tough guy, I suddenly woke up. This suggests that in the borderline unconscious state of dreaming, the mind has a reality monitor that if threatened by a terrible reality insists on consciousness. It may be the same monitor that will suddenly wake a terminal patient in coma just prior to death for “a few last words.”
Seeing TV or reading a book, letter or newspaper before sleeping will evoke dream content. Avoiding these will reduce dreaming, especially bad dreams. I find that my habit of using opioids, specifically codeine and pentacozine evokes pleasant dreams. Other drugs that affect dreaming are alprazolam (Xanax), which stops dreaming probably by preventing REM sleep.
Since many dreams occur mostly during light sleep when sleeper is faintly affected by surroundings, they must be from fleeting thoughts you are becoming aware off in the nether land between sleep and wake which get knitted into a story. For a person with insight, a dream analysis does not add to what one already knows. Excess sexual dreaming is from lack of orgasm to satisfy sex drive and can be eliminated by having an orgasm before sleep. (But this is in men only, our experiences are that women tend to have less sexual dreaming, than men do and this maybe reflection of the overall lower testosterone levels in blood compared to men) New sexual dreaming in a woman showing masculine signs (new, excessive hair growth for a female) identifies male-hormone secreting tumor.
As my life progresses I have found a dream theme may evolve. For example an old associate with whom I had once had a love/hate relationship, as I got older, changed in dreams from being a bad guy to a better guy coincident with my own successful psychoanalysis that caused me to review the relationship and realize it had not been the white/black love/hate situation I had first thought.
As my life progresses I have found a dream theme may evolve. For example an old associate with whom I had once had a love/hate relationship, as I got older, changed in dreams from being a bad guy to a better guy coincident with my own successful psychoanalysis that caused me to review the relationship and realize it had not been the white/black love/hate situation I had first thought.
A dream may seem to predict future. (Loved one’s death, illness one gets, successful sexual seduction, an earthquake or other natural catastrophe) But this is due to one’s subliminal computing a future probability and also to coincidence.
Medications that seem to prevent or lower the incidence are the diazopams (Valium especially alprazolam).
Some positive research findings: Dream content has predicted who will become severely depressed following divorce or separation (Cartwright, R,.et al, 1998, Psychiatry Research 80,249-255) and that could be useful in heading a depression off.
Nightmares may occur in REM sleep. Common in children 3 to 6 years (10 to 50%) but rare (<1%) in adults where they are mostly after PTSD as recollection of the traumatic experience. Medications that provoke nightmares are L-DOPA and beta-blockers as well as stopping REM suppressant medications like tricyclics anti-depressants.
Medications that seem to prevent or lower the incidence are the diazopams (Valium especially alprazolam).
Some positive research findings: Dream content has predicted who will become severely depressed following divorce or separation (Cartwright, R,.et al, 1998, Psychiatry Research 80,249-255) and that could be useful in heading a depression off.
Nightmares may occur in REM sleep. Common in children 3 to 6 years (10 to 50%) but rare (<1%) in adults where they are mostly after PTSD as recollection of the traumatic experience. Medications that provoke nightmares are L-DOPA and beta-blockers as well as stopping REM suppressant medications like tricyclics anti-depressants.
Sleep and Consciousness: Sleep is part of lowered consciousness that includes hypnosis and the near death experience, fainting, fit and coma, and the state before birth and near death. Its study is united with: What is consciousness? What is an absence of it and where do you exist if anywhere when not consciousness? (Click 9.18b Consciousness, Coma and Related States to read the chapter.)
Preservation of individual conscious personality beyond lifespan: Its practical application is the low body temperature sleep of an astronaut on an interplanetary trip (See The Dream Millennium by James White; available on Amazon.com, an excellent read on the subject), or of a person with deadly disease inside otherwise healthy body until a future when a cure for his disease will be perfected. By lowering body temp just above freezing point of tissues, and by using drug that slows metabolism and prevents cellular damage from freezing crystallization, life could be sustained at a few heartbeats a minute and without visible breathing and the body could be preserved and revived at the same physical age unchanged. (Cf. The cryogenics movement) My guess is that the stimulus of space exploration will move this idea forward.
Best Conditions for sleeping are a Japanese floor futon because of the firm (but not hard) mat - good for back - and also, for oldsters like me today, no risk to injure self by falling off a bed. If you must have a western style bed, be sure it has taut springs, firm mattress to protect back and is not too high off floor (and a not hard floor) for hazard from fall. The mat(tress) should have a soft (like felt surface) blanket cover to promote pleasant feeling on skin back contact. Pillow should be small and firm without being hard and head positioned with point contact not to back of head but just below it so that head is slightly but not excessively extended on the neck by gravity.
Black darkness or good black eye cover, extreme quiet or earplugs, and not to think stressful thought; these three factors promote falling asleep.
The mind should not be focused on stressful, argumentative or mentally complicated thoughts. Therefore the hour before trying to sleep should be relaxed without reading hate mail, and without watching action TV or movie or listening to rap or rock or other other emotionally arousing entertainment.
Finally, do not make a fetish of sleep or dreaming. Or a mystique, as Freud and Jung did. Humans are very flexible in sleep patterns. Actual body needs for sleep are much less than you will read on internet or be told by so-called experts. I sleep when and where I please; and, if I can't sleep then and there, I do something else except I try to avoid overeating. And dreams have never revealed anything I did not already know. So cool it, and enjoy your sleep and dream and do not waste money discussing it with a shrink.
Best Conditions for sleeping are a Japanese floor futon because of the firm (but not hard) mat - good for back - and also, for oldsters like me today, no risk to injure self by falling off a bed. If you must have a western style bed, be sure it has taut springs, firm mattress to protect back and is not too high off floor (and a not hard floor) for hazard from fall. The mat(tress) should have a soft (like felt surface) blanket cover to promote pleasant feeling on skin back contact. Pillow should be small and firm without being hard and head positioned with point contact not to back of head but just below it so that head is slightly but not excessively extended on the neck by gravity.
Black darkness or good black eye cover, extreme quiet or earplugs, and not to think stressful thought; these three factors promote falling asleep.
The mind should not be focused on stressful, argumentative or mentally complicated thoughts. Therefore the hour before trying to sleep should be relaxed without reading hate mail, and without watching action TV or movie or listening to rap or rock or other other emotionally arousing entertainment.
Finally, do not make a fetish of sleep or dreaming. Or a mystique, as Freud and Jung did. Humans are very flexible in sleep patterns. Actual body needs for sleep are much less than you will read on internet or be told by so-called experts. I sleep when and where I please; and, if I can't sleep then and there, I do something else except I try to avoid overeating. And dreams have never revealed anything I did not already know. So cool it, and enjoy your sleep and dream and do not waste money discussing it with a shrink.
To read next now, click 1.8 Secrets of Memory/Digit Memory System
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