Let Sleeping Dogs Lie..

(Image Source: healthyqallatin.org)

Today was a longer Sunday than usual, and at around 8pm, I decided to take a ‘Powernap’, but why? What about sleep allows us to feel so refreshed and reenables us to perform to our fullness? It was then that the true imensity of sleep became apparent.

Sleep is an incredible evolutionary ability, utilised by humans in which to perform many biological functions. By inhibiting sensory input and voluntary movement, the body attains a hightened anabolic state which allows for increased growth and more efficient rejuvination of bodily systems (Nervous, Immune, Skeletal and Muscular).

‘Sleep Debt’ or lack of sleep via sleeping disorders such as Insomnia and lead to severe mental, emotional and physical exhaustion. This will reduce, the body’s ability to perform actions, particularly those which are cognitively demanding.

In order to reduce sleep debt, it is important to commit yourself to sufficient sleep,  although this may be less than one might expect. The ‘Uberman Sleep Schedule’ AKA ‘Polyphasic Sleep’ suggests that in order to sleep most efficiently, a human must sleep for only 3 hours a day, but they must separate this time into 6 equally distributed periods. By doing this, the theory claims, an average western person can add up to 11 years of ‘waking time’ to ther life, on average if they begin adhereing to the schedule aged 20. It is claimed that figures including: Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon and Winston Churchill displayed sleeping habits typical of Polyphasic (or at least Biphasic sleep). The downside to such a routine however, is that such short bursts of sleep do not allow an individual to reach the depth of sleep to dream.

Dreaming (experience of sensory images and sounds during sleep), is possibly the most intruiging element of sleep to many. Research suggests that the sequence of dreaming occurs in the REM (or Rapid Eye Movement) stage of the sleep cycle, typically associated with rapid movement of the eye and low voltage EEG (electroencephalography). Although for most of us, dreaming is an unconscious action, there are some who claim that they can control this phenomena in the form of ‘Lucid Dreaming’. Lucid dreaming occurs when an individual is concious that they are dreaming, and as such are able to ascertain control of events during the typically unconcious state. It is said that certain rituals can aid the occurrence of Lucid dreaming, including methods for relaxation, although they are by no means guaranteed.

So, sleeping is a vital process in human life, and dreaming is an experience in its own right, but if it is possible to know you are dreaming by doing so ‘Lucidly’, how do you know if you’re awake?