Get Started with Dreamwork by Exploring Sleep Science
The first ingredient of dreamwork and dream observation is sleep.
Sleep is an essential part of life and is the second most essential thing to the human body after water. The longest that someone has lived without sleep was 264 hours which is about 11 days; you can survive more than a month without food.
While scientists are still trying to discover why exactly we sleep there are several thoroughly developed and highly researched theories with a multitude of case studies and peer reviewed papers out there. Sleep and dream sciences are still in their relative infancies.
So let’s explore what we currently do know about dreams.
Circadian Rhythm
The evolution of sleep in humans (and most animals for that matter) began with the development of the circadian rhythm.
An individual’s circadian rhythm is the body’s way of tracking a 24-hour period of time that typically corresponds with the daily cycle of the sun and the subsequent amount of light that we are exposed to during the day.
In your brain, a specific portion of the hypothalamus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is constantly checking in with your body and its processes throughout the day to measure the passage of time.
Some of the things the SCN looks at are digestive processes (when are you eating and when?), the level of exertion and activity that your muscles are experiencing (we tend to become relatively inactive before bed), and the levels of sunlight exposure that your eyes physically see. To the later point, the SCN is extremely sensitive to light, making this the main focus of identification that determines if it’s day or night.
Chemical Processes
Working in sync with the SCN, your brain also produces a chemical called adenosine.
From the time you wake up in the morning to the time you fall asleep, you are constantly producing and building up a store of adenosine throughout the day. Once the body has reached its adenosine threshold it signals that you’ve been awake long enough and that sleep is needed to recover. Adenosine acts in conjunction with your circadian rhythm as an additional wakefulness indicator to further define your body’s passage of time.
Once your circadian rhythm indicates that it’s time for sleep and the adenosine threshold has been reached, your brain triggers another chemical process to begin winding down: the production of melatonin by the pineal gland.
As melatonin is released into your system it communicates to the brain that it’s time for sleep, encouraging you to get comfy and lie down.
It should be noted that melatonin is frequently misunderstood as a sleep aid when in fact it is a sleep facilitator. While melatonin begins the process of sleep and continues to circulate in your system throughout the night, helping you to stay asleep, it doesn’t actually affect the quality of your sleep.
Melatonin won’t make your sleep any better or worse, it just tells your brain to sleep and stay asleep.
As melatonin is released and you agree to get ready for bed and fall asleep (you do have a choice - you could pound caffeine to stay up late), you are now ready to enter the 5 sleep stages.
The 5 Stages of Sleep
Current sleep research has determined that there are 5 sleep stages that the brain rotates through, like circuits, throughout the night.
Stages 1 and 2 comprise of light sleep. In fact, most of your total time asleep (about 45-55%) is spent in these stages. Light sleep is characterized by slowed eye movement and reduced muscle tension. If you were looking at someone’s brain waves on an electroencephalographic (EEG) scan, you would see minimal activity and occasional short bursts of waves called spindles during these stages.
Stages 3 and 4 take you into deep sleep or non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. On an EEG, stage 3 begins to produce delta brain waves and stage 4 is totally dominated by strong, slow delta waves. During these stages the body does not display any eye movement, nor is there any measurable muscle tension. If you’ve ever woken up and felt confused, “out of it,” and physically slowed odds are that you were woken from NREM sleep.
Stage 5 consists of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and is when most dreams occur (though you can dream during any stage of sleep).
Once the REM sleep stage has completed you’ll circle back again to stage 1 of light sleep and enter another rotation of the sleep circuit. Each circuit averages about 90 minutes, though the amount of each type of sleep in a circuit varies with each rotation.
The stages of sleep and typical brainwaves associated with each. Source: NCBI
Dreaming and REM Sleep
While each stage of sleep has its own important function, we love to talk about dreams around here!
Most recorded or recalled dreams occur during REM sleep, though the sleep stage itself is not synonymous with dreaming, it just provides the perfect environment for dreams. The most unique characteristic of REM sleep can be observed in the recorded brainwaves of an EEG which are practically identical to the brainwaves of individuals who are wide awake.
REM sleep is characterized by quick, back and forth motions of the eyes, irregular breathing, increased heart rate… everything you might experience if you were wide awake.
Physical measurements within each sleep stage. NCBI
So then how do we scientifically determine that we’re actually asleep during the REM stage and not just in an altered state of wakefulness or consciousness? The main difference between being conscious and being in REM sleep is a total paralysis of the body, known as REM atonia.
REM atonia takes place when the brain produces 2 chemicals, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glycine, which directly suppress your nervous system, releasing all muscle tension and essentially turning you into a limp noodle.
Atonia during REM sleep has an essential evolutionary function: it prevents you from acting out your dreams.
As we dream our brains actively mimic our waking life, so it’s important that we don’t get up and walk around, hurt ourselves or injure others during these dream scenarios.
However, some individuals have complications creating their REM atonia state which can lead to sleep walking and talking. Sleep walking is more common in children who then grow out of it by adult hood but if it’s causing any difficulty in your life you can reach out to a sleep professional for help in getting that good night’s sleep!
Set Yourself Up For Sleep Success
In order to get the most out of your dreamwork practice it’s important to first focus on setting yourself up for sleep success. As you know now, sleeping is an intricate process built upon several factors all working together in harmony.
Through the following list, think about your current sleep habits and where you might make changes as we review what we’ve learned so far:
Circadian Rhythm: the brain’s identification of when to wake works best in an actual rhythm. Do you wake and fall asleep at similar times? How can you incorporate a more even flow into your sleep rhythms?
Chemical Processes: the body monitors what you put into it in order to determine when to implement your chemical triggers for sleep. Are you drinking caffeine in the afternoon and evening or eating a super late meal? It might be time to lessen your caffeine intake and finish eating a little earlier in the evening.
5 Stages of Sleep: our bodies and minds work best when we’re getting the right amounts of sleep in each stage. If you’re waking up feeling consistently exhausted you might be missing something in one or more stages. Do you have a wearable sleep tracker or device? They can be a great way of showing us when we’re struggling during sleep. (Maybe it’s your cat getting zoomies at 3am…)
REM Atonia: your body helps you remain inactive during sleep with limp-noodle mode. If you’re someone who sleep walks or talks it might be time to seek out some help to get the best night’s sleep possible!
All of these suggestions can help you experience restful and restorative sleep. The better your sleep, the greater capacity you have to dream and recall your dreams!
Take a look at your sleep surroundings and habits and make some choices to support yourself through sleep. It is, after all, the second most important need for the body after water.
Happy sleeping (and dreaming)!
- Meg 🐝
