Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
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if REM sleep did not perform this operation, we’d all be left with a state of chronic anxiety in our autobiographical memory networks;
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To sleep, perchance to heal.
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Cartwright had shown that it was not enough to have REM sleep, or even generic dreaming, when it comes to resolving our emotional past. Her patients required REM sleep with dreaming, but dreaming of a very specific kind: that which expressly involved dreaming about the emotional themes and sentiments of the waking trauma.
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It is the difference between knowledge (retention of individual facts) and wisdom (knowing what they all mean when you fit them together).
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I suspect that you cannot recall any truly significant action in your life that wasn’t governed by two very simple rules: staying away from something that would feel bad, or trying to accomplish something that would feel good. This law of approach and avoidance dictates most of human and animal behavior from a very early age.
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Many individuals believe alcohol helps them to fall asleep more easily, or even offers sounder sleep throughout the night. Both are resolutely untrue. Alcohol is in a class of drugs called sedatives. It binds to receptors within the brain that prevent neurons from firing their electrical impulses. Saying that alcohol is a sedative often confuses people, as alcohol in moderate doses helps individuals liven up and become more social. How can a sedative enliven you? The answer comes down to the fact that your increased sociability is caused by sedation of one part of your brain, the prefrontal ...more
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sedation is not sleep. Alcohol sedates you out of wakefulness, but it does not induce natural sleep.
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Your nocturnal melatonin levels are therefore controlled not only by the loss of daylight at dusk, but also the drop in temperature that coincides with the setting sun.
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Warm hands and feet help your body’s core cool, inducing inviting sleep quickly and efficiently.
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The need to dump heat from our extremities is also the reason that you may occasionally stick your hands and feet out from underneath the bedcovers at night due to your core becoming too hot, usually without your knowing.
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Hot baths prior to bed can also induce 10 to 15 percent more deep NREM sleep in healthy adults.
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button. If alarming your heart, quite literally, were not bad enough, using the snooze feature means that you will repeatedly inflict that cardiovascular assault again and again within a short span of time.
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Waking up at the same time of day, every day, no matter if it is the week or weekend is a good recommendation for maintaining a stable sleep schedule if you are having difficulty with sleep.
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The obvious methods involve reducing caffeine and alcohol intake, removing screen technology from the bedroom, and having a cool bedroom. In addition, patients must (1) establish a regular bedtime and wake-up time, even on weekends, (2) go to bed only when sleepy and avoid sleeping on the couch early/mid-evenings, (3) never lie awake in bed for a significant time period; rather, get out of bed and do something quiet and relaxing until the urge to sleep returns, (4) avoid daytime napping if you are having difficulty sleeping at night, (5) reduce anxiety-provoking thoughts and worries by ...more
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going to bed and waking up at the same time of day no matter what. It is perhaps the single most effective way of helping improve your sleep, even though it involves the use of an alarm clock.
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try not to exercise right before bed. Body temperature can remain high for an hour or two after physical exertion. Should this occur too close to bedtime, it can be difficult to drop your core temperature sufficiently
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Eating a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet for two days decreases the amount of deep NREM sleep at night, but increases the amount of REM sleep dreaming, relative to a two-day diet low in carbohydrates and high in fat.
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Then we may remember what it feels like to be truly awake during the day, infused with the very deepest plenitude of being.
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