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Consciousness

Consciousness
Temperature Control

When mammals, including humans, enter REM sleep, their brain's thermostat is turned off and they abandon their internal temperature control. However, they typically don't get much colder or warmer because this temperature disregulation is offset by their behaviors, by sleeping in sheltered circumstances to maintain their body temperature by other means. (Hobson, 1994 p. 187) "The brain processes underlying cognition operate adequately only within a very narrow range of temperature. Outside of that range, delirium replaces normal waking consciousness." (Hobson, 1999 p. 94) This seems to be a tradeoff to maintain temperature optimally in subsequent waking periods, for the best operation of consciousness when it is needed. (Hobson, 1999 p. 95)

Just as memory depends on aminergic neuromodulation which is unavailable during REM sleep, so does temperature control. Turning off those aminergic neurons may resensitize them for waking. "We may wake up feeling refreshed and more energetic because our waking neurons, having rested, are more effective." (Hobson, 2015 p. 69) The fact that both temperature control and memory depend on the same neuromodulators likely indicates "that energy regulation and information processing are functionally linked." (Hobson, 2015 p. 70)

Brain Development and Maintenance

At thirty weeks after conception, a human fetus spends almost all of its time in REM sleep. After birth, a baby spends half of its normal sixteen hours of sleep in REM. It is speculated that this preponderance of brain-activation during REM develops the immature human brain by forming connections and exercising functions. (Hobson, 2002 p. 77) Dr. Hobson further speculates that waking consciousness actually arises out of sleep. (Hobson, 2011 p. 30) Of course, the amount of time we spend in REM sleep drops considerably as we mature. (Hobson, 2005a p. 43) "Despite its early decline, REM sleep continues to occupy approximately 1.5 [hours] per day throughout life. This suggests that its strongest developmental contribution is to early brain-mind development but that it subsequently plays an equally indispensable part in brain-mind maintenance." (Hobson, 2014a p. 52)

During late middle age (ages 45 to 60), sleep shortens to about seven hours on average, and Stage 4 largely disappears. Lighter stages of sleep, and especially Stage 1 without REMs, increase correspondingly. "We lie in bed neither quite asleep nor yet awake. Our sleep is now decidedly more shallow, in a subjective sense as well as by objective measures." (Hobson, 1989 p. 90)
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Consciousness
Boosting Immunity

People's non-REM sleep is enhanced in both length and depth when they are fighting illnesses. Sleep boosts the immune system just as the immune system boosts sleep. REM sleep doesn't seem to be involved in this functional aspect of sleep, however, perhaps because REM includes a loss of temperature control. We have enough problems with temperature control during illness without our bodies enhancing REM sleep as well. (Hobson, 1994 p. 190)

Memory

In deep non-REM sleep, we typically lack consciousness, whereas in light non-REM sleep we experience at least a certain kind of thoughtful consciousness as often as not. However, even without consciousness in non-REM sleep, information is still being processed nonconsciously. Sleep researchers Bob Stickgold and Matt Walker demonstrated that procedural memories are enhanced and protected by sleep. Apparently the two-stage process of non-REM and REM sleep transfers information from its temporary storage in the hippocampus and distributes it to the cortex, where it becomes available for long-term use. "Subjects retain their learning if and only if they have long, deep non-REM sleep early in the night and long periods of intense REM sleep later in the night." ... "This joint function of the very different non-REM and REM sleep phases let Bob Stickgold to consider a two-stage model which posited that the transfer of material learned in the awake state into the hippocampus occurred during non-REM sleep and that its distribution and fixation in the cerebral cortex occurred during REM sleep." (Hobson, 2011 p. 168) "All-nighters may help a student pass tests, but they also guarantee the loss of learned materials, since memory consolidation is dependent upon sleep." (Hobson, 2017 p. 146) However, the connection between REM sleep dreaming itself and such memory processing is still unclear. It could be that our memories of our dreams are sacrificed by the underlying automatic, physiological process of information storage. (Hobson, 2005b p. 33)
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Consciousness
Growth

At least ninety percent of the growth and follicle-stimulating hormones GH and FSH in our bodies are released during our first non-REM, slow wave sleep period during the night. (Hobson, 2017 p. 144)

Dreaming as Epiphenominal

Of course, all of these functions of sleep are not to be confused with functions of dreaming. Dreams are psychological rather than physiological, so if dreaming has a function, it must be a psychological function. (Hobson, 1988 p. 286) Since sleep and dreaming are caused by automatic changes in brain physiology, it is entirely possible that all of the functions of sleep are related to physiology alone, and that dreams have no particular function of their own. (Hobson, 2002 p. 50) "There is no evidence that the content of dreams has a significant influence on waking behavior." (Hobson, 2002 p. 87) Dreams may be an epiphenomenon of sleep physiology, and have no separate function. The fact that we remember so few of our dreaming episodes suggests this conclusion is likely. (Hobson, 1994 p. 282)
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Consciousness
Different Types of Dreams

That the mind is brain-dependent is supported by the facts that sustained dreaming is most likely during REM sleep, only half as likely during non-REM sleep, still less likely at sleep onset, and nearly impossible during waking. (Hobson, 2002 p. 49) However, just as REM and non-REM features can mix during the sleep stages, so can waking and sleeping mix at the onset and offset of sleep. (Hobson, 2005b p. 161) So although we can name the various states as discrete, and they do have their typical features, they also blend into each other just as their underlying physiology does.

Hypnagogia

Sleep-onset dreaming is usually simple, and may occasionally include incorporations of waking stimulus. Such dreams are often brief and narrow in scope, and lack characters and striking emotions. (Hobson, 2002 p. 8). They are usually unstructured, without multiple scenes, and without any sustained narratives. (Hobson, 1988 p. 8) This is due to their different underlying physiology. (Hobson, 1988 p. 8) "Visual images may appear, and I may imagine brief scenarios; convulsive muscle twitches may occur and with them a feeling of falling; I may awaken suddenly, having incorporated a noise or light into a microdream of hallucinatory intensity; on opening my eyes, I may see someone in the room for an instant." (Hobson, 1989 p. 153)

Non-REM Dreaming

Mentation is not restricted to REM periods of sleep, as researcher David Foulkes emphasized. (Hobson, 2014b p. 108) "Obsessive ... thinking is typical" in non-REM sleep. (Hobson, 2002 pp. 8-9) However, non-REM thought-like mentation is not problem-solving, but non-progressive instead. (Hobson, 1988 p. 143) It "may go on and on without significant change and without definitive resolution." (Hobson, 2011 p. 28) This is actually the most common form of mental activity during sleep. It doesn't include bizarre sensory illusions, but rather tends to be ordinary, repetitive, and uncreative. It's like we are mulling over real-life events but without getting anywhere. (Hobson, 1988 p. 8)

No mental content is reported from about fifty percent of awakenings from non-REM sleep, thoughtlike content is reported from forty percent, and the remaining ten percent yields reports of dreams which are shorter and less bizarre than REM dreams. However, they can have visual images and fanciful plots just like REM dreams. (Hobson, 1989 p. 154) "There are reports from non-REM sleep that are indistinguishable from those obtained during REM sleep." (Hobson, 1988 p. 143)

It's actually inaccurate to call Stages 2 through 4 of sleep "non-REM" because, in fact, such stages contain around one-third as many eye movements as Stage 1 REM. Consciousness is at least possible in all stages, but increasingly less likely as we move from REM into progressively deeper stages of sleep. Brain activation actually continues throughout all stages, so by itself it is a poor indicator of when we are conscious. A lot goes on in the brain even when consciousness is unavailable. (Hobson, 2011 p. 26) Even during Stage 4 sleep, the brain is still at least half as active as in waking. (Hobson, 2011 p. 28) People awakened from Stages 2 through 4 are increasingly disoriented, and have more difficulty waking and recalling mental activity. If "awakened" from Stage 4, they may actively confabulate by sleep talking if their EEG shows they are really still in Stage 4 sleep. (Hobson, 1988 p. 145)
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Consciousness
REM Dreaming

What we typically think of as dreaming happens most often during REM sleep: vivid visual imagery, exaggerated movement, belief that what is happening is really happening, bizarre or impossible occurrences, illogical thinking, and strong emotional reactions in some cases. Reports of such REM sleep dreams are almost always longer than those from non-REM sleep. (Hobson, 1989 pp. 44-45) We are usually involved in dramatic and complex scenarios, with characters, places, and objects changing continually. (Hobson, 2002 p. 9) Rational thinking is only half as frequent as in non-REM dreams, and hallucinations are inversely more common. (Hobson, 2005b p. 145) When assessing repeating dreams, Hobson wrote, "What is recurrent are certain emotionally salient themes that depend on certain formal properties of dreams, and these are deeply repetitive. Every dream is characterized by visual perception and strong emotion, most often elation, anger, or anxiety. With these emotions come our own historical experiences -- the experiences that are associated with these emotions are likely to appear in our dreams." (Hobson, 2002 p. 124)

False Awakenings

People who expect to wake up from their dreams sometimes only dream that they have woken up. Such false awakening dreams are a good indications of how concurrent expectations interact with dream content. "The delusion that one is awake, usually implicit in dreaming, now becomes explicit." (Hobson, 2001a p. 158)

Hypnopompic Hallucinations

Just as dreaming and waking can mix at sleep onset, they can mix when we wake as well. This type of mixing can be especially pronounced if our conscious awareness wakes up before our spinal motor inhibition stops, which leads to sleep paralysis or being unable to move for a while. This is experienced by many normal individuals, and is just a matter of the timing of certain changes being slightly out-of-sync. Similarly, we can regain a partial awareness of the real world while dreaming continues, so that we actually project dream imagery into our bedrooms. (Hobson, 1989 pp. 175-176) When both sleep paralysis and projections of dreaming into waking happen together, they can be very frightening experiences, especially if we are not informed about sleep physiology. (Hobson, 1988 p. 8) "Practically everyone has had some experience with uncoordinated state transitions on arousal from sleep. Sleep walking, being unable to move, and persistent anxiety after arousal from a chase dream are some common examples." ... "But hypnopompic hallucinations may be more difficult to accept because their content is often more terrifying -- or more bizarre -- than those that accompany sleep onset." (Hobson, 2001a p. 157)
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Consciousness
Quite a long series of posts about sleep. I enjoyed them, but do note that your references are 20+ years old. I suspect theories of dreams has advanced since then,

However, some things you said seem to relate to my current dreaming/sleeping habits. I seldom stay asleep more than 1 or 1.5 hours at a time. That has 2 consequences at least. One, I remember dreams. Two, I seldom reach deep-state sleep. I'll add a third: I stay in bed 10-12 hours and I suspect that is from lack of deep-state REM.

Any thoughts about that?
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Consciousness
(04-07-2022, 08:38 AM)Cavebear Wrote: Quite a long series of posts about sleep.  I enjoyed them, but do note that your references are 20+ years old.  I suspect theories of dreams has advanced since then.

In contrast to the fifty typewritten pages I posted about climate change, I created a ninety-page summary of Dr. Hobson's books.  However, I won't be posting a lot of that, since the material is often too technical or theoretical, and a lot of it pertains to mental health issues.  As for his work being outdated, he kept abreast of many recent developments in dreaming and consciousness science until a few years before his death last year, though he did keep grinding his ax against Freudian theory.  From what I have read more currently, Dr. Hobson's Activation-Synthesis is still considered one of the two most influential perspectives on dreaming, the other being Continuity Theory.

(04-07-2022, 08:38 AM)Cavebear Wrote: However, some things you said seem to relate to my current dreaming/sleeping habits.  I seldom stay asleep more than 1 or 1.5 hours at a time.  That has 2 consequences at least.  One, I remember dreams.  Two, I seldom reach deep-state sleep.  I'll add a third:  I stay in bed 10-12 hours and I suspect that is from lack of deep-state REM.

Older people in general usually stop having Stage 4 deep sleep, or have little of it, and have more of the shallower Stage 1 sleep instead.  Stage 1 is when REM dreaming happens, and is considered less-deep sleep.  Non-REM sleep Stages 2 through 4 are the progressively deeper stages.

If you are getting 1.5 hours of sleep at a time, that covers a full 90 minute cycle, so you are probably waking after every REM stage.

(04-07-2022, 08:38 AM)Cavebear Wrote: Any thoughts about that?

Even if broken up, it sounds like you might be getting enough sleep.  Usually older people need less than younger people anyway, perhaps six or seven hours a night.  And of course, older people can really be sleeping when we think we are just lying in bed, since we can fade in and out of shallow sleep so quickly and easily, without even realizing it.
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Consciousness
(04-07-2022, 09:04 AM)Alan V Wrote:
(04-07-2022, 08:38 AM)Cavebear Wrote: Quite a long series of posts about sleep.  I enjoyed them, but do note that your references are 20+ years old.  I suspect theories of dreams has advanced since then.

In contrast to the fifty typewritten pages I posted about climate change, I created a ninety-page summary of Dr. Hobson's books.  However, I won't be posting a lot of that, since the material is often too technical or theoretical, and a lot of it pertains to mental health issues.  As for his work being outdated, he kept abreast of many recent developments in dreaming and consciousness science until a few years before his death last year, though he did keep grinding his ax against Freudian theory.  From what I have read more currently, Dr. Hobson's Activation-Synthesis is still considered one of the two most influential perspectives on dreaming, the other being Continuity Theory.

(04-07-2022, 08:38 AM)Cavebear Wrote: However, some things you said seem to relate to my current dreaming/sleeping habits.  I seldom stay asleep more than 1 or 1.5 hours at a time.  That has 2 consequences at least.  One, I remember dreams.  Two, I seldom reach deep-state sleep.  I'll add a third:  I stay in bed 10-12 hours and I suspect that is from lack of deep-state REM.

Older people in general usually stop having Stage 4 deep sleep, or have little of it, and have more of the shallower Stage 1 sleep instead.  Stage 1 is when REM dreaming happens, and is considered less-deep sleep.  Non-REM sleep Stages 2 through 4 are the progressively deeper stages.

If you are getting 1.5 hours of sleep at a time, that covers a full 90 minute cycle, so you are probably waking after every REM stage.

(04-07-2022, 08:38 AM)Cavebear Wrote: Any thoughts about that?

Even if broken up, it sounds like you might be getting enough sleep.  Usually older people need less than younger people anyway, perhaps six or seven hours a night.  And of course, older people can really be sleeping when we think we are just lying in bed, since we can fade in and out of shallow sleep so quickly and easily, without even realizing it.

More and more interesting... I've done some research.

You mentioned that Stage 1 is when REM dreaming happens. What is your opinion of The American Sleep Association?

I ask because they say REM sleep (dreaming) is stage 5. They also say that "After being awoken, the person will generally feel quite groggy, and cognitive tests that have been administered after being awoken from the third stage show that for up to half an hour or so, and when compared to awakenings from the other stages, mental performance is moderately impaired. This is a phenomenon known as sleep inertia".

I tend to awaken suddenly alert and aware (of both my surroundings and my dreams), though I sometimes have partial limb paralysis of my feet/ankles (which leads to temporary frustration and annoyance).

And their stages differ from yours in some other ways. Are they legit and there are valid interpretations of the sleeping cycle?

I've mentioned previously that I have vivid and recallable dreams though I actually sleep briefly. Mostly slightly annoying, not bad ones. I keep wishing I could retire, for example, and I've been retired for 16 years. Most involve cats and former co-workers. Well, I have cats and I suppose there are unresolved issues about work.

But I don't think I ever go into deep sleep anymore, which may be why I lay in bed so long some days. Even then, it may be the Winter inactivity. When active outdoors, I sleep better and less long.

So, what's the argument about whether dreaming happens in stage 1 or 5? Am I not really dreaming deeply (so recall them better) or am I just falling into REM sleep faster?
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Consciousness
(04-07-2022, 10:48 AM)Cavebear Wrote: More and more interesting...  I've done some research.

You mentioned that Stage 1 is when REM dreaming happens.  What is your opinion of The American Sleep Association?

I ask because they say REM sleep (dreaming) is stage 5.  They also say that "After being awoken, the person will generally feel quite groggy, and cognitive tests that have been administered after being awoken from the third stage show that for up to half an hour or so, and when compared to awakenings from the other stages, mental performance is moderately impaired. This is a phenomenon known as sleep inertia".

I tend to awaken suddenly alert and aware (of both my surroundings and my dreams), though I sometimes have partial limb paralysis of my feet/ankles (which leads to temporary frustration and annoyance).

And their stages differ from yours in some other ways.  Are they legit and there are valid interpretations of the sleeping cycle?

The four stages of sleep have their own wave patterns (frequency and amplitude).  As I mentioned above, many people these days call REM sleep REM, and non-REM N1 through N3.  I defaulted to the older nomenclature since that's what Dr. Hobson used in his books, and what most people are familiar with.  I have never heard of REM being called Stage 5, but that may be because when we first fall asleep we quickly pass through Stage 1, then through 2, 3 and 4, and come quickly back up to REM as the fifth period after we start sleeping.

Sleep inertia is typical after being woken up from any stage of sleep, but it is worse the deeper the stage.  Stage 4 sleep is the worst for sleep inertia, and REM the least so, at least according to what I have read. People often wake directly from their last REM sleep period for this reason, which is why they might remember at least some of their last dream.

(04-07-2022, 10:48 AM)Cavebear Wrote: I've mentioned previously that I have vivid and recallable dreams though I actually sleep briefly.  Mostly slightly annoying, not bad ones.  I keep wishing I could retire, for example, and I've been retired for 16 years.  Most involve cats and former co-workers.  Well, I have cats and I suppose there are unresolved issues about work.

But I don't think I ever go into deep sleep anymore, which may be why I lay in bed so long some days.  Even then, it may be the Winter inactivity.  When active outdoors, I sleep better and less long.

So, what's the argument about whether dreaming happens in stage 1 or 5?  Am I not really dreaming deeply (so recall them better) or am I just falling into REM sleep faster?

I've had a lot of dreams about work since I retired.  During such dreams, I resolve to retire in the near future or confabulate why I've come back for a while.  I think they are like the school dreams I used to have.  The way I see it, the PGO waves randomly activate the brain, and may therefore elicit all sorts of older memories, including some things we haven't thought about for years.  Since a lot of information about work still resides in our brains, work scenarios would be common.  It really has little to do with unresolved issues, since dreaming scenarios can simply remind us of problems because so many things in dreams don't work like they do in waking.  No one has proven that dreaming has its own function, though of course there are all sorts of speculations.

Just call REM sleep REM.
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Consciousness
(04-07-2022, 12:06 PM)Alan V Wrote:
(04-07-2022, 10:48 AM)Cavebear Wrote: More and more interesting...  I've done some research.

You mentioned that Stage 1 is when REM dreaming happens.  What is your opinion of The American Sleep Association?

I ask because they say REM sleep (dreaming) is stage 5.  They also say that "After being awoken, the person will generally feel quite groggy, and cognitive tests that have been administered after being awoken from the third stage show that for up to half an hour or so, and when compared to awakenings from the other stages, mental performance is moderately impaired. This is a phenomenon known as sleep inertia".

I tend to awaken suddenly alert and aware (of both my surroundings and my dreams), though I sometimes have partial limb paralysis of my feet/ankles (which leads to temporary frustration and annoyance).

And their stages differ from yours in some other ways.  Are they legit and there are valid interpretations of the sleeping cycle?

The four stages of sleep have their own wave patterns (frequency and amplitude).  As I mentioned above, many people these days call REM sleep REM, and non-REM N1 through N3.  I defaulted to the older nomenclature since that's what Dr. Hobson used in his books, and what most people are familiar with.  I have never heard of REM being called Stage 5, but that may be because when we first fall asleep we quickly pass through Stage 1, then through 2, 3 and 4, and come quickly back up to REM as the fifth period after we start sleeping.

Sleep inertia is typical after being woken up from any stage of sleep, but it is worse the deeper the stage.  Stage 4 sleep is the worst for sleep inertia, and REM the least so, at least according to what I have read.  People often wake directly from their last REM sleep period for this reason, which is why they might remember at least some of their last dream.

(04-07-2022, 10:48 AM)Cavebear Wrote: I've mentioned previously that I have vivid and recallable dreams though I actually sleep briefly.  Mostly slightly annoying, not bad ones.  I keep wishing I could retire, for example, and I've been retired for 16 years.  Most involve cats and former co-workers.  Well, I have cats and I suppose there are unresolved issues about work.

But I don't think I ever go into deep sleep anymore, which may be why I lay in bed so long some days.  Even then, it may be the Winter inactivity.  When active outdoors, I sleep better and less long.

So, what's the argument about whether dreaming happens in stage 1 or 5?  Am I not really dreaming deeply (so recall them better) or am I just falling into REM sleep faster?

I've had a lot of dreams about work since I retired.  During such dreams, I resolve to retire in the near future or confabulate why I've come back for a while.  I think they are like the school dreams I used to have.  The way I see it, the PGO waves randomly activate the brain, and may therefore elicit all sorts of older memories, including some things we haven't thought about for years.  Since a lot of information about work still resides in our brains, work scenarios would be common.  It really has little to do with unresolved issues, since dreaming scenarios can simply remind us of problems because so many things in dreams don't work like they do in waking.  No one has proven that dreaming has its own function, though of course there are all sorts of speculations.

Just call REM sleep REM.

Thanks, but you didn't address American Sleep Association. Are they legit science?
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Consciousness
(04-07-2022, 01:39 PM)Cavebear Wrote: Thanks, but you didn't address American Sleep Association.  Are they legit science?

I believe they are a legitimate scientific organization concerned with sleep medicine, or treating certain sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, REM sleep behavior disorder, and so on:

https://www.sleepassociation.org/about-asa/

Otherwise, you may know as much about it as I do.

Here is a link under the ASA website which talks about five stages of sleep, like you mentioned:

https://www.sleepassociation.org/about-s...-of-sleep/

That's news to me.

Apparently some schemes include waking as a stage:

Quote:The first stage is the wake stage or stage W, which further depends on whether the eyes are open or closed. During eye-open wakefulness, there are alpha and beta waves present, predominantly beta. As individuals become drowsy and the eyes close, the alpha rhythm is the predominant pattern. An epoch is considered stage W if it contains greater than 50% alpha waves and eye movements associated with wakefulness.

From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526132/

So that makes at least three different schemes that I'm now aware of. Since I am not a sleep scientist, I couldn't say what's current. But the book I'm presently reading by a sleep scientist, which was published in 2021, goes by the REM and N1 through N3 scheme.
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Consciousness
I looked at yet another book I have, published in 2012.

It said that the old scheme was N1 through N4 and REM, but that the new one is N1 through N3 and REM, with N3 and N4 being combined because of their similarities.

I don't know any more about the "Stage 5 REM" scheme.

In any case, it seems the old "Stage 1 (usually REM) through Stage 4" scheme is now outdated.

My apologies for the confusion.
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Consciousness
(04-07-2022, 06:33 PM)Alan V Wrote: I looked at yet another book I have, published in 2012.

It said that the old scheme was N1 through N4 and REM, but that the new one is N1 through N3 and REM, with N3 and N4 being combined because of their similarities.

I don't know any more about the "Stage 5 REM" scheme.

In any case, it seems the old "Stage 1 (usually REM) through Stage 4" scheme is now outdated.  

My apologies for the confusion.

The problem with understanding sleep is that we sleep though it. Undecided
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Consciousness
(04-07-2022, 07:16 PM)Cavebear Wrote: The problem with understanding sleep is that we sleep through it.   

Even though you are kidding, you're not kidding.  

In order to learn, we need the neuromodulator serotonin in our brains.  It is largely absent during non-REM sleep and almost completely absent during REM.

That means we can't learn about dreaming while we are dreaming.  More specifically, this is likely the reason why our brains automatically assume we are operating in the real world when we are dreaming.  The only frames of reference we know are derived from learned waking experience.

The rarity of lucid dreaming means that we rarely realize we are dreaming while we are dreaming.  Luckily when we become lucid, we have a bit more of the waking neuromodulation to work with, judging by our improved capacities for memory and thought in that hybrid state.
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Consciousness
(04-07-2022, 07:37 PM)Alan V Wrote:
(04-07-2022, 07:16 PM)Cavebear Wrote: The problem with understanding sleep is that we sleep through it.   

Even though you are kidding, you're not kidding.  

In order to learn, we need the neuromodulator serotonin in our brains.  It is largely absent during non-REM sleep and almost completely absent during REM.

That means we can't learn about dreaming while we are dreaming.  More specifically, this is likely the reason why our brains automatically assume we are operating in the real world when we are dreaming.  The only frames of reference we know are derived from learned waking experience.

The rarity of lucid dreaming means that we rarely realize we are dreaming while we are dreaming.  Luckily when we become lucid, we have a bit more of the waking neuromodulation to work with, judging by our improved capacities for memory and thought in that hybrid state.

Yeah, as I am coming out of dreaming and engage reality again, there are moments of uncertainty. I have woken and started to dress for work sometimes. I think I slip a "stage" sometimes. I wake up to faux paralysis sometimes too. It is a bit scary. You can't move but you are awake at the same time. I used to think the sheets were wrapped around me too tightly, but that wasn't the real problem.
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