Lucid Dreaming, Night Terrors & Interpreting Altered States of Consciousness
Today we're continuing the current theme of topics on Welluvia about states of consciousness, meditation and introspection with a dive into dreams and sleep. This article is a tad on the longer side compared to usual; however, there's a lot to cover, so buckle up, as I'm sure you'll find it interesting!
What is REM sleep?
When it comes to the discussion of dreams, it's essential to understand the cycles of sleep. There are two basic kinds of sleep - REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non-REM sleep, which is broken up into three stages. Each stage is linked to specific neuron activity and brainwaves, and we often cycle through all stages several times a night.
Stage 1
During this non-REM sleep cycle, we are experiencing the changeover from being awake into sleep. This stage only lasts for a few minutes and is comprised of light sleep. Our heartbeat, breathing and eye movement begin to slow down, and our muscles start to relax. This is also when our brainwaves begin to slow from regular daytime patterns.
Stage 2
This second stage of non-REM sleep is a period of light sleep that we enter before we move into a deeper sleep cycle. Our heart rate and breathing begin to slow even more as our body temperature drops and eye movement ceases. Our brainwave activity slows further but processes brief bursts of electrical activity. This second stage cycle is the most prolonged period we stay in.
Stage 3
The final non-REM sleep cycle is when we enter the deep sleep that is required for us to feel rejuvenated by the time morning comes. This stage occurs in more extended periods in the first part of the night. The heart rate and breath slow to their lowest point and our muscles are relaxed to the point where it is difficult to awaken. Our brainwaves become slower.
Stage 4 (REM Sleep)
REM sleep occurs around 90 minutes after we fall asleep, and is marked by our eyes moving rapidly from side to side behind our eyelids. Our brainwave activity becomes closer to that of being awake, and our breathing becomes faster and irregular. Our heartbeat and blood pressure also increase to a point closer to being awake. This is the stage where most of our dreams take place, although it is possible for us to dream in non-REM sleep too. During REM sleep, our arm and leg muscles become temporarily paralysed, preventing us to physically act out what is taking place in our dreams. As we get older, our time spent in REM sleep decreases.
Types of sleep disturbances
Sleep Apnea
Sleep Apnea is a condition where our breathing repeatedly pauses while we sleep. When we experience sleep apnea, the body awakes for us to resume breathing, and thus makes us sleep poorly. As well as leaving us tired the next day, sleep apnea can have a significant impact on our health that can lead to severe problems such as diabetes and heart disease.
Sleep Paralysis
Sleep paralysis is a temporary loss of muscle function while we are asleep. It generally occurs when we are falling asleep, shortly after awakening, or briefly after we have fallen asleep. Sleep paralysis typically occurs with other sleep disorders such as narcolepsy.
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder that causes overwhelming feelings of drowsiness where the sufferer can have sudden 'sleep attacks'. Although not generally dangerous, when combined with other sleep disorders, narcolepsy can significantly impair the sufferer.
Nightmares
Pretty much every person will experience a nightmare in their life. They are characterised as dreams that are scary or disturbing in nature. Although not entirely known as to why they occur, certain things such as sleep deprivation, eating right before bed, side effects from medication, other sleep disorders or watching or reading something disturbing before bed can cause us to have a nightmare.
Night Terrors
Night terrors are a type of sleep disorder that generally involve someone waking up terrified but not always knowing why. During these attacks, people can wake up screaming, kicking or moving violently, sweating, along with a rapid heart rate and feeling disoriented.
The difference between night terrors and nightmares?
Night terrors generally occur when our bodies are in non-REM sleep, while nightmares typically occur during the REM cycle of sleep. When we awaken from a nightmare, we generally remember what has disturbed us, while night terrors are usually quickly forgotten by the sufferer.
Other Dream Phenomenom
False Awakenings
A false awakening is a type of dream where we believe that we've awoken from sleep but are actually still asleep. These sorts of dream occurrences have often been linked to occur alongside lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis.
Recurring Dreams
Recurring dreams are dreams that we experience more than once. They often are attributed to nightmares, and can often centre around being frozen in fear, being confronted or attacked, chased or hunted or falling through space and time. Sometimes these sorts of dreams can be linked to other health conditions or from side effects of medications and substances.
Lucid dreams
Lucid dreaming is something I used to be able to do a lot more when I was younger. A lucid dream is characterised by a dream where we are aware that we are in a dream. They typically take place while we are in REM sleep. Lucid dreaming can be controlled with experience and practice, which we'll outline the benefits of below.
Benefits of lucid dreaming
There is a variety of benefits that lucid dreaming can bring to the person experiencing them. Lucid dreaming can help us increase our motor skills during waking life and enhance our creativity. When we lucid dream, we can sometimes change the people, storyline or environment in our dream, this could significantly benefit people who are prone to nightmares or anxiety.
How to lucid dream:
If lucid dreaming sounds like something you might want to try, specific techniques could help bring them about.
Making sure we get more REM sleep.
Lucid dreaming generally happens during REM sleep, so making sure we sleep more during the night and are accessing REM cycles will potentially help us bring about a lucid dream. REM sleep can be increased by making sure we have a healthy sleep cycle, practising good sleep hygiene such as following a healthy sleep schedule, exercising during the day, avoiding electronics and mobiles before sleep and avoiding alcohol and caffeine before bed are all good ways to start.
Dream Journaling
When researching about lucid dreaming online, dream journaling seems to be what frequent lucid dreamers practice. As we tend to forget our dreams quickly after waking (unless we have a particularly disturbing dream), it is good to keep a journal and pen close to the bed to fill in soon after waking up.
Am I dreaming?
Sometimes we have the potential to lucid dream but aren't aware. When we dream we are at a similar level of consciousness to that of being awake. Practices in increasing our awareness of dream states can help us be aware when we are, in fact, dreaming. There is a practice called 'reality testing' where we can train our mind to recognise our awareness when we're awake. This method involves practising during the day, and as it becomes a habit, we can induce an awareness during dreaming. Some forms of doing this are:
Mirror Testing
Look at yourself in a mirror, if you look in the mirror and you don't look normal then you could be in a dream state… or if you're awake you should see the closest possible health practitioner.
The Palm Test
Push your finger through our opposite palm. Generally in a dream our finger would pass through the palm.
Breathing
Pinch your nose, and if you are still able to breathe through your nose, then you are dreaming.
Text Warp
Try reading something in your dream, then look away. When you return to the text and reread it, in a dream the text will change.
Induction Techniques for Lucid Dreaming:
When I first became interested in lucid dreaming, I remember researching some of these induction methods to help bring them on.
MILD (also known as mnemonic induction of lucid dreams)
This method involves telling yourself that you will lucid dream that night.
WBTB (also known as the wake back to bed method)
Try to find a way to wake up five hours after falling asleep. Generally, when we return to sleep there is a high chance to enter REM sleep while we're still conscious.
WILD (also known as wake initiated lucid dream)
This method involves lying down until we reach a hypnagogic hallucination. This way we enter REM sleep from being awake while still maintaining consciousness.
Some Common Dream Topics,
and Interpretations of them
It is believed that generally dreams can be unrelated to happenings in our life. Still, there is also the belief that some dreams can have a relation to our lifestyle or things our subconscious mind is trying to tell us. Some common dreams and some of their interpretations are:
Teeth
Freud believed that teeth falling out in our dreams could be related to us feeling a loss of power but has also been attributed to a loss of any kind.
Being chased or hunted
Typically this means that we are afraid of something in our lives, quite simply. This is also a prevalent theme in a lot of nightmare occurrences.
Running late or missing something.
Sometimes these sorts of dreams are interpreted as a feeling that we aren't reaching a certain expectation we have for ourselves in our life.
Flying
When we dream about flying, sometimes we can interpret them as that we are feeling freedom in our lives. This can often occur after we have overcome something in our daily life that might have been keeping us down. I feel like I used to have these sorts of dreams a lot when I was younger.
Being naked in public
One interpretation of this dream is that something in our waking life has left us exposed, and another interpretation is almost the opposite - that we are too closed sexually and are yearning to expose ourselves intimately more.
Cheating
Dreams that feature us cheating or being cheated on are often related to an experience that we haven't resolved yet. It can also be that we are feeling dissatisfied with something in our waking life.
The Healing Power of Dreams
When we dream, we are experiencing sensory visualisations of images, sounds and physical sensations that we aren't experiencing in our waking life. Some of the benefits of dreaming can include:
Helping us process emotional life experiences.
Brain information sorting
Real-life response practice
Revealing subconscious feelings that we aren't aware of during waking life.
I hope today's deep-dive discussion into dream occurrences and the science behind sleep has been as enjoyable to read as it was researching.
Happy dreaming!
Aleksandar
