Have you ever had a magical dream waking up the next morning and you cannot remember it? Have you ever felt worried about forgetting your dreams? Ever wondered why you cannot remember what happened during your sleep then carried a sensation that it was something important? What if someone gave you the power ball numbers while dreaming, but you cannot remember it? If you cannot remember your dreams, blame it on the toothpaste you are using or practice a magical method that is going to make you dream in a lucid state. Interesting right?
Remembering your dreams is not easy. Most of the time, what you remember are the funny parts or the unusual things that you try to put together in order for it to make sense. Sometimes you cannot remember anything at all. The reasons for these problems could be a calcified pineal gland.
“The pineal gland, also known as the pineal body, conarium or epiphysis cerebri, is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It produces the serotonin derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the modulation of sleep patterns in the circadian rhythms and seasonal functions. Its shape resembles a tiny pine cone (hence its name), and it is located in the epithalamiums, near the center of the brain, between the two hemispheres, tucked in a groove where the two rounded thalamic bodies join”.( Pineal Gland) . Also known as the ‘Third Eye’ it is considered a bridge between physical and metaphysical, this gland acts like a clock regulating the sleep-wake cycle. It produces melatonin, which helps you to stay awake during the day and makes you fall asleep at night. The pineal gland could be calcified or blocked after many years and could be also affected by other reasons.
At this point you should kn...
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• Aitchison, Steven.“ 5 Ways To Start Lucid Dreaming “. Change your Toughts. n.d. Web. 22 March.2014
• Aitchison, Steven.“ 7 Steps to Strat Lucid Dreaming". LifehackRSS. Stepcase Limited. 25 August 2012. Web. 22 March 2014.< http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/7-steps-to-start-lucid-dreaming.html>
• Alex.“Why Lucid Dream?“ . Lucid Dreaming Dream Views RSS . n.d. 4 Apr. 2014< http://www.dreamviews.com/content/why-lucid-dream-18/>
• LaBerge, S. & Levitan, L. Lucid Dreaming FAQ. The Lucidity Institute, 16 July 2004. Web. 22 March 2014.
• Shetiyah, Eden.“Activating your Pineal Gland“. Welcome to in5d. 3 September 2013. Web. 26 March 2014.
Webb, W. B., & Cartwright, R. D. (1978). Sleep and Dreams. Annual Review of Psychology, 29(1), 223-252. doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.29.020178.001255
In 1977, Drs. Allen Hobson and Robert McCarley of Harvard University presented a neurophysiological model of the dream process called: The Activation- synthesis Model of Dreaming. This paper published in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggested that the occurrence of dreaming sleep is physiologically determined by a "dream state generator" located in the brain stem. The main emphasis of the Activation-synthesis theory is dreaming is not psychological but physiological. This totally contradicts all that Freud preached, however he was absolutely correct about one aspect of dreaming, which is every stage involves sexual arousal. Hobson/ McCarley's extensive research proves dreaming to be physiological on the basis of the predictability of dreaming sleep. The duration of dreaming sleep is also constant, which suggests the dreaming process as not only automatic and periodic but metabolically determined. This find contradicts the classic Freudian theory of a driving force behind all dreams. Hobson and McCarley see our poor ability to recall our dreams as reflecting "a state-dependent amnesia, since a carefully effected state change, to waking, may produce abundant recall even of highly charged dream material." So with that logic in mind if you are rapidly awakened out of REM sleep, you are likely to remember dreams that you would otherwise forget.
Dimethyltriptamine, better known as DMT, is the most common drug in existence, seeing as how the human brain produces it naturally. DMT is produced in the pineal gland, also referred to as “The Third Eye” because of its position in the center of the forehead. In addition to DMT, the pineal gland also secretes melatonin and serotonin. Those two hormones are responsible for feelings of happiness and bliss, and meditative states of consciousness or sleep. DMT is what is responsible for the feeling of time slowing down, traveling through time, or traveling to alternate universes or separate planes of existence. It is also thought that when you come face to face with a near death situation, the feeling of seeing your life flash before your eyes is a result of an intense DMT trip. Dr. Strassman proposed that, after death, decomposing pineal tissue might empty DMT directly into the spinal fluid, which allows it to reach the brain's sensory and emotional centers, thus causing residual awareness. "The consequence of this flood of DMT upon our dying brain-based mind", Strassman wrote, "is a pulling back of the veils normally hiding what Tibetan Buddhists call the bardo, or intermediary states ...
studying the subject, the origins in the brain responsible for sleep are still not fully understood and thus, facilitate continual probes
Sleep is an extremely interesting phenomenon in which the mind almost completely departs from the usual realm of consciousness. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness and a decreased ability to react to stimuli where we become less aware of our surroundings. However, it is more easily reversed than being in hibernation or a coma. It is a function that has been extensively researched by many. After all, we would not have evolved a mechanism that forces us to spend one-third of our lives sleeping unless sleep did us some good. What good does it do tough? Over the years, many theories have been proposed as to why we need sleep. The simplest is that it saves energy. An individual’s energy expenditure and demand is reduced during the day, or night, as an animalistic instinct when they are least efficient to search for food. This is also supported by the decrease of body temperature and caloric demand throughout sleep. For example, when NASA sent a robot to mars, it was programmed to shut down at night so exploration would not waste energy. This is like our bodies, as they need time to recuperate and to slow down. In addition, sleep provides an occasion for restorative functions of the brain where the body is allowed sufficient time to repair and rejuvenate itself. For example, animals that are deprived of sleep entirely lose all their immune function and will soon die in a matter of weeks. Other findings have shown that many restorative functions in the body like tissue repair, muscle growth, and growth hormone occur mainly during sleep. When people are deprived of sleep, inhibitory transmitters accumulate in the brain, interfering with attention and learning. People that are well rested will notice when their attention lapses, a...
LaBerge, Stephen. "Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies Of Consciousness During REM Sleep." (1990). Web. 30 Apr. 2014
Rodríguez, Leonardo S. "The Interpretation Of Dreams [1900]." Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Psychiatry 35.3 (2001): 396-401. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Dreams are series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Dreams occur during a certain stage of sleep known as REM. Several different psychologists, including Freud and Hobson, have studied dreams. Psychologists have provided many theories as to what dreams are and the meanings behind them.
In this paper I hope to open a window to the vast and mysterious world of dreaming. To most people, information about dreams isn’t common knowledge. In researching this subject though, I found that everybody has and reacts to dreams, which are vital to your mental health. You will also find how you can affect your dreams and how they affect you.
Blackmore, Susan, ed. "Lucid Dreaming: Awake in Your Sleep?." Dr. Susan Blackmore. Skeptical Inquirer . Web. 13 Apr 2014. .
Cartwright, R.D. (1978) A primer on Sleep and Dreaming. Massachusetts : Addison - Wesley, Publishing, Company
In the novel, Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M Coetzee, the magistrate’s progressive, non-linear dreams are a parallel to his growing involvement with the barbarians and his growing distaste for the empire. The great psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud said, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious.” In every dream there is a hidden meaning and when the reader starts analyzing the magistrate’s dreams he reveals that he is oddly attracted to the barbarians and knows he should not get involved and it will be a trial to get close to them.
In this Forum on Sleep and Dreams, we will see how the diversity of academic disciplines can help to answer important questions about sleep and dreaming—questions that may touch the basis of human intellect. The Forum is fortunate in...
Lucid dreaming is the ability of an individual to consciously direct and control one’s dreams. It transforms an individual’s inner dream world into an alternative reality – where everything the dreamer sees, hears, feels, tastes and even smells is as authentic as real life. Lucidity transpires during altered states of consciousness. According to Snyder & Gackenbach, as cited by LaBerge, lucid dreaming is normally a rare experience and only about a percentage of 20% of the world’s population reports to having lucid dreams once a month or more (LaBerge, 1990) which probably does not justify the existence of lucid dreaming. In addition, people have argued that lucid dreaming is just another theory and it is seems critical for one to be aware in an experience such as this.
Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to understand the different functions of the human body, how we move, talk, act, and for the most part many of these physiological behaviors have been explained on some level. However, one area of the human body that has had researchers and scientist confused for a long time is the mind. Many things go on inside the mind that don’t make sense and so far have no tangible explanation of why it occurs and how. One of the most fascinating and mysterious sections of psychology is that of dreaming. We dream thousands of dreams every night, but why and what do they mean?