Why are we sleeping? What is the meaning of dreams? Why do we wake up tired after eight hours of sleep? In an effort to answer these and many other questions, scientists set up experiments, analyze dreams and measure the brain activity of sleeping people with high-tech devices. We have prepared answers to frequently asked questions.
Why can't I dream?
You definitely have dreams, you just can't remember them in the morning.
According to research, about 10% of people almost never remember their dreams, the same number of people every morning can tell what they saw last night. On the average, a person recalls two dreams a week, and some of us better remember what we dreamed on weekdays, while others – mostly weekend dreams.
In the case of dreams, the phenomenon of "girl memory" works in reverse: women remember dreams more often than men, and the state of stress only increases this difference.
According to Michael Schroedl, a German psychologist who studies this phenomenon, the reason for the difference lies in the openness of women to the world of creative fantasies. Others explain this by female emotionality – after all, it is known that dreams that have a bright emotional coloring are best remembered.
And one more thing: the moment of awakening is very important. A person who wakes up slowly and gradually is more likely to remember his dream than someone whose sleep was interrupted by a sharp alarm clock.
When do I dream?
Each of us saw our first dream before we were born.
When in the womb, the baby dreams almost 80% of the time it sleeps. Babies spend about half their awake time watching dreams. And only by the age of four, 90-minute sleep cycles are established, in each of which scientists distinguish five phases: falling asleep, superficial sleep, slow wave sleep, deep slow sleep and REM (or "paradoxical") sleep.
REM sleep is called "paradoxical" due to the fact that brain activity during this period is very high, comparable to wakefulness, and the body – completely relaxed. Only the eyes of a person make rapid movements (hence another name "rapid eye movement phase"). It lasts about 15-20 minutes at the end of each 90-minute cycle. And it is during this period that we are visited by dreams. Waking up immediately after this phase, 80% of people are able to retell their dream.
How to wake up refreshed?
The duration of the phases varies from cycle to cycle. In the first cycle, deep slow sleep predominates, and paradoxical sleep – very short, and closer to the morning slow sleep can be almost non-existent. The most interesting thing is that not only the ability to remember a dream, but also your well-being in general depends on what phase you wake up in!
The most inappropriate period of awakening is deep slow sleep. Waking up at this stage, you will inevitably feel overwhelmed.
The best time to wake up – immediately after the end of REM sleep.
The question arises: how to make sure that you wake up in the right phase, because the duration of a whole sleep cycle can vary? Studies clearly show that it is quite difficult to wake a person in a deep sleep stage. Nature has made sure that you wake up on time, you just need to follow your natural rhythms.
If you give yourself the opportunity to wake up on your own, and the evil alarm clock does not pull you out of the arms of Morpheus, most likely you will wake up at just the right moment. Well, if you are not ready to rely entirely on natural rhythms and are used to relying only on scientific discoveries, then you should enlist new gadgets for sleep.
Dreams are a mechanism for defusing the psyche and at the same time a necessary element in the development of our cognitive activity. Immersion in sleep – the natural end of each day.
Try to make your awakening as natural as possible. Science says: this will enrich your life with the most interesting dreams and provide excellent well-being.
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