Sweet Dreams

The average human adult needs 8 hours of sleep to be fully rested and alert the next day. Children and teenagers need more than that. Cats will sleep for up to 16 hours every day. Though in differing amounts, sleep is something that we all need.

The process of getting to sleep may seem mundane: we slowly slip from a relaxed but awake state, into a light sleep where our brainwaves change,  and muscle tension, body temperature and heart rate all begin to drop. From light sleep we slowly progress to deep sleep until our muscles are completely relaxed, our breathing and heart rate slow, blood pressure and body temperature low.

Then something very strange happens. Before very long we begin climbing up the stages of sleep from deep to light again until we enter a stage of sleep known as REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep. This is perhaps the strangest and most paradoxical stage of all. During REM our muscles are completely relaxed, yet our heart and breathing rates quicken and blood pressure increases, almost as if we were doing physical activity. It is also in REM sleep that people dream.

Dreams themselves are fascinating. While most of us dream in colour, a small amount of people dream in black and white. Most dreams occur only once, yet a majority of people will experience recurring dreams in their lifetime. Negative emotions are more common in dreams than positive ones. Some people will remember their dreams very vividly, while others may not remember them at all.

Various attempts to explain dreams have been made. One theory is that dreams are used to sort through all the mental connections and memories made during the day, and to discard the “junk” that you don’t need. In this case it would make sense that we dream about what we’ve been thinking about during the day.

Another theory is that our dreams are manifestations of our hopes and fears for the future. Which could explains some of our nightmares, in an abstract sort of way.

Some people also believe that dreams can be prophetic, telling of the future. Such prophetic dreams are seen in the bible.

There is also every possibility that dreams are simply random firings of our synapses while we sleep. Creating for us a world all of our own.

 

Peace Children