Question of The Week: "I feel like I stop breathing during sleep paralysis!?"

Question:

I have recently started experimenting with lucid dreaming and I really wand to try the WILD technique, but I get freaked out when my body becomes paralyzed. It feels like I can't breath, do I really stop breathing or should I just let it take over and relax?

Answer:

Unfortunately there is no way to 100% positively confirm that you don’t stop breathing unless you were in a sleep lab and they were able to watch you sleep. I have noticed from many people’s reports as well as my own experiences that the experience of a WILD has you experience a lot of events that are not really happening.

Unless you have had sleep problems in the past where you have had sleep apnea (stop breathing while sleeping) then you may just be experiencing the paralysis effect making it seem that you stopped breathing. During sleep paralysis our lower body is unable to move due to your brainstem actively inhibiting your interior horned cells. These cells fortunately do not control breathing, or we would die while we sleep as this paralysis is a natural condition. Since we are unable to move, or feel (except in extreme cases) the outside world during REM and stage 2 NREM, you may be experiencing this absence of feeling of your body move in relation to your breathing, therefore thinking that you are not breathing. Many people also experience falling through their bed or floating due to loss of spatial perception in reaction to the deactivation of specific parts of your brain.

If you truly have concern about if you are not breathing during your sleep (WILD or not) you should visit a doctor that can monitor you at a sleep lab. If you think that it’s not an issue, experience the sleep paralysis and follow through and your body will react as necessary.

-L

Question of The Week: "I feel like I stop breathing during sleep paralysis!?"

Question:

I have recently started experimenting with lucid dreaming and I really wand to try the WILD technique, but I get freaked out when my body becomes paralyzed. It feels like I can't breath, do I really stop breathing or should I just let it take over and relax?

Answer:

Unfortunately there is no way to 100% positively confirm that you don’t stop breathing unless you were in a sleep lab and they were able to watch you sleep. I have noticed from many people’s reports as well as my own experiences that the experience of a WILD has you experience a lot of events that are not really happening.

Unless you have had sleep problems in the past where you have had sleep apnea (stop breathing while sleeping) then you may just be experiencing the paralysis effect making it seem that you stopped breathing. During sleep paralysis our lower body is unable to move due to your brainstem actively inhibiting your interior horned cells. These cells fortunately do not control breathing, or we would die while we sleep as this paralysis is a natural condition. Since we are unable to move, or feel (except in extreme cases) the outside world during REM and stage 2 NREM, you may be experiencing this absence of feeling of your body move in relation to your breathing, therefore thinking that you are not breathing. Many people also experience falling through their bed or floating due to loss of spatial perception in reaction to the deactivation of specific parts of your brain.

If you truly have concern about if you are not breathing during your sleep (WILD or not) you should visit a doctor that can monitor you at a sleep lab. If you think that it’s not an issue, experience the sleep paralysis and follow through and your body will react as necessary.

-L

Question of The Week: "I feel like I stop breathing during sleep paralysis!?"

Question:

I have recently started experimenting with lucid dreaming and I really wand to try the WILD technique, but I get freaked out when my body becomes paralyzed. It feels like I can't breath, do I really stop breathing or should I just let it take over and relax?

Answer:

Unfortunately there is no way to 100% positively confirm that you don’t stop breathing unless you were in a sleep lab and they were able to watch you sleep. I have noticed from many people’s reports as well as my own experiences that the experience of a WILD has you experience a lot of events that are not really happening.

Unless you have had sleep problems in the past where you have had sleep apnea (stop breathing while sleeping) then you may just be experiencing the paralysis effect making it seem that you stopped breathing. During sleep paralysis our lower body is unable to move due to your brainstem actively inhibiting your interior horned cells. These cells fortunately do not control breathing, or we would die while we sleep as this paralysis is a natural condition. Since we are unable to move, or feel (except in extreme cases) the outside world during REM and stage 2 NREM, you may be experiencing this absence of feeling of your body move in relation to your breathing, therefore thinking that you are not breathing. Many people also experience falling through their bed or floating due to loss of spatial perception in reaction to the deactivation of specific parts of your brain.

If you truly have concern about if you are not breathing during your sleep (WILD or not) you should visit a doctor that can monitor you at a sleep lab. If you think that it’s not an issue, experience the sleep paralysis and follow through and your body will react as necessary.

-L

Question of The Week: "I feel like I stop breathing during sleep paralysis!?"

Question:

I have recently started experimenting with lucid dreaming and I really wand to try the WILD technique, but I get freaked out when my body becomes paralyzed. It feels like I can't breath, do I really stop breathing or should I just let it take over and relax?

Answer:

Unfortunately there is no way to 100% positively confirm that you don’t stop breathing unless you were in a sleep lab and they were able to watch you sleep. I have noticed from many people’s reports as well as my own experiences that the experience of a WILD has you experience a lot of events that are not really happening.

Unless you have had sleep problems in the past where you have had sleep apnea (stop breathing while sleeping) then you may just be experiencing the paralysis effect making it seem that you stopped breathing. During sleep paralysis our lower body is unable to move due to your brainstem actively inhibiting your interior horned cells. These cells fortunately do not control breathing, or we would die while we sleep as this paralysis is a natural condition. Since we are unable to move, or feel (except in extreme cases) the outside world during REM and stage 2 NREM, you may be experiencing this absence of feeling of your body move in relation to your breathing, therefore thinking that you are not breathing. Many people also experience falling through their bed or floating due to loss of spatial perception in reaction to the deactivation of specific parts of your brain.

If you truly have concern about if you are not breathing during your sleep (WILD or not) you should visit a doctor that can monitor you at a sleep lab. If you think that it’s not an issue, experience the sleep paralysis and follow through and your body will react as necessary.

-L

Pihkal

I decided to take a break from the good old studying and research paper to write some stuff on the blog. Its been a hard last few weeks based on the fact that I have had 4 tests going over a large range of information, but enough about me, lets get to the good stuff.

I am almost done reading one of my newly favorite books "Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story" and has shown me great inspiration into why I do things, as well as my hope to understand the consciousness. As I am sure many of you may know this book well, the first part is a story about how two people became in love with one another and how different types of chemicals helped them deal with anything from midlife crises to chronic depression. They describe experiences that no psychologist could excrete from the subconscious psych with any of Freud's tools for free association, however still supporting a lot of his theories.

Very different from the first part of the book is the chemical story or second part. Its really not much of a read unless you specifically want to know about a type of drug and its effects, as its more a list of notes on how the chemical was processed and the outcomes. Still an interesting and informative section to not be over looked.

The book in whole has given me a respect for the psychedelic community and uses that I would have not had before, and the knowledge that if used in the correct situations (not as a party drug or escape drug)as any helpful drug, can have a positive dramatic effect on ones life. They seem to truly show the inner self. This book has also been great for my different research as I one aspect of my research is to try to correlate dreaming (lucid and non-lucid) with psychedelic experiences (more on this at a later time). I still don't condone use of psychedelics if they are considered illegal in your state or country, but hopefully someday they will allowed to be administered by psychologist in controlled involvements to help people like they have been before.

Over all good read and highly recommended.

-L


Salvia divinorum, Kratom, San Pedro Cactus and more


Salvia divinorum, Kratom, San Pedro Cactus and more

Pihkal

I decided to take a break from the good old studying and research paper to write some stuff on the blog. Its been a hard last few weeks based on the fact that I have had 4 tests going over a large range of information, but enough about me, lets get to the good stuff.

I am almost done reading one of my newly favorite books "Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story" and has shown me great inspiration into why I do things, as well as my hope to understand the consciousness. As I am sure many of you may know this book well, the first part is a story about how two people became in love with one another and how different types of chemicals helped them deal with anything from midlife crises to chronic depression. They describe experiences that no psychologist could excrete from the subconscious psych with any of Freud's tools for free association, however still supporting a lot of his theories.

Very different from the first part of the book is the chemical story or second part. Its really not much of a read unless you specifically want to know about a type of drug and its effects, as its more a list of notes on how the chemical was processed and the outcomes. Still an interesting and informative section to not be over looked.

The book in whole has given me a respect for the psychedelic community and uses that I would have not had before, and the knowledge that if used in the correct situations (not as a party drug or escape drug)as any helpful drug, can have a positive dramatic effect on ones life. They seem to truly show the inner self. This book has also been great for my different research as I one aspect of my research is to try to correlate dreaming (lucid and non-lucid) with psychedelic experiences (more on this at a later time). I still don't condone use of psychedelics if they are considered illegal in your state or country, but hopefully someday they will allowed to be administered by psychologist in controlled involvements to help people like they have been before.

Over all good read and highly recommended.

-L


Salvia divinorum, Kratom, San Pedro Cactus and more


Salvia divinorum, Kratom, San Pedro Cactus and more

Pihkal

I decided to take a break from the good old studying and research paper to write some stuff on the blog. Its been a hard last few weeks based on the fact that I have had 4 tests going over a large range of information, but enough about me, lets get to the good stuff.

I am almost done reading one of my newly favorite books "Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story" and has shown me great inspiration into why I do things, as well as my hope to understand the consciousness. As I am sure many of you may know this book well, the first part is a story about how two people became in love with one another and how different types of chemicals helped them deal with anything from midlife crises to chronic depression. They describe experiences that no psychologist could excrete from the subconscious psych with any of Freud's tools for free association, however still supporting a lot of his theories.

Very different from the first part of the book is the chemical story or second part. Its really not much of a read unless you specifically want to know about a type of drug and its effects, as its more a list of notes on how the chemical was processed and the outcomes. Still an interesting and informative section to not be over looked.

The book in whole has given me a respect for the psychedelic community and uses that I would have not had before, and the knowledge that if used in the correct situations (not as a party drug or escape drug)as any helpful drug, can have a positive dramatic effect on ones life. They seem to truly show the inner self. This book has also been great for my different research as I one aspect of my research is to try to correlate dreaming (lucid and non-lucid) with psychedelic experiences (more on this at a later time). I still don't condone use of psychedelics if they are considered illegal in your state or country, but hopefully someday they will allowed to be administered by psychologist in controlled involvements to help people like they have been before.

Over all good read and highly recommended.

-L


Salvia divinorum, Kratom, San Pedro Cactus and more


Salvia divinorum, Kratom, San Pedro Cactus and more

Pihkal

I decided to take a break from the good old studying and research paper to write some stuff on the blog. Its been a hard last few weeks based on the fact that I have had 4 tests going over a large range of information, but enough about me, lets get to the good stuff.

I am almost done reading one of my newly favorite books "Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story" and has shown me great inspiration into why I do things, as well as my hope to understand the consciousness. As I am sure many of you may know this book well, the first part is a story about how two people became in love with one another and how different types of chemicals helped them deal with anything from midlife crises to chronic depression. They describe experiences that no psychologist could excrete from the subconscious psych with any of Freud's tools for free association, however still supporting a lot of his theories.

Very different from the first part of the book is the chemical story or second part. Its really not much of a read unless you specifically want to know about a type of drug and its effects, as its more a list of notes on how the chemical was processed and the outcomes. Still an interesting and informative section to not be over looked.

The book in whole has given me a respect for the psychedelic community and uses that I would have not had before, and the knowledge that if used in the correct situations (not as a party drug or escape drug)as any helpful drug, can have a positive dramatic effect on ones life. They seem to truly show the inner self. This book has also been great for my different research as I one aspect of my research is to try to correlate dreaming (lucid and non-lucid) with psychedelic experiences (more on this at a later time). I still don't condone use of psychedelics if they are considered illegal in your state or country, but hopefully someday they will allowed to be administered by psychologist in controlled involvements to help people like they have been before.

Over all good read and highly recommended.

-L

Question of the week: "I have problems sleeping. Can anyone give me tips on going to sleep earlier?"

I know its been a bit since I last posted really much of anything, but I would have to say that school has been keeping me busy. Spring break was good, got a lot of sleep and had some interesting incites to life and sleep. Some of those things I have already posted about and some of those things I don't think fall into the research area where I want this blog to stay. I will though continue onto the research side of things as I continue out the semester here at college as well as during the summer as my study has been extended out to then. After that I will continue with the blog as I have noticed a great deal of people taking interest in what is posted here, but I do encourage more e-mailed questions or feedback in the comments section if possible.

Every week I try to answer one question about sleep on the Yahoo Questions and Answers and I have noticed a common trend in the questions being asked. The main ones I see are about the inability to sleep well or at all. In this question I address the concept that bad sleep is based on a uneducated culture into the concept that sleep is important, and that we need to know how to support our bodies in order to get quality sleep. I think this has been overlooked in the education system today and should be addressed if we want to continue living life at its fullest. In this question I address the idea of how to support the brainstem on getting to the sleep mode, but nothing about the quality of sleep. To read more about that you can read the past posts I have made as I address those ideas.

Question:

"I have problems sleeping. Can anyone give me tips on going to sleep earlier?
I'm tired of always sleeping really late. Its hard for me to go to sleep so please give me some tips on going to bed early :)"

Answer:

"I recently have had the same problem that you speak of and really the answer can be simple or complex based on a number of factors.
Much of the current sleep issue that people experience is based on not being educated in the reasons and processes that are taking place while we transition from waking to sleep. Those processes are composed of a combination of chemical and biological events that produce sleepiness and eventually REM. Understanding what is required in order to transfer from waking and sleep will help you either find out your problem or fix the issue.

Chemical-
During our transition from waking to sleep we experience a number of chemical changes in our brain.

Melatonin
Melatonin is one of the key components that support our bodies to fall asleep (histamines are also sleep inducing chemicals but I wont go into that right now). Melatonin is a sleep inducing agent but is not the only reason why we sleep and is produced when light is absent. This means that if there is light in your room and you can see it through your eyelids, your melatonin production will be reduced. Your body may as well be lacking in its melatonin production, but I do not suggest like many people to take melatonin supplements as it seems to be a fix to a deeper issue. If you do take melatonin supplements, chances are your problem will persist once you are off of the supplements and require you to keep taking them. A precursor to melatonin is serotonin.

Serotonin
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that not only affects our sleep process but many other daily bodily functions as well as mood. Many depressed patients take medication that supports either the production of serotonin or the reduction in the breakdown of serotonin. Serotonin also plays a large part in our sleep process as well as the transition of NREM (Non-REM) to REM (Random Eye Movement) supporting our bodies in a good night sleep after we are asleep. Foods that contain larger amounts of precursors to serotonin (cheeses, turkey, beans, peas, fruit, vegetables, or any type of tryptophan type food) will help promote higher serotonin levels. It is not suggested that you eat these before going to bed, as it will help keep you awake (I know sounds odd as turkey is said to make you sleepy), but during the day so that your body can build up its serotonin levels and promote production of melatonin during the night. The amount of serotonin that enters your brain as useful serotonin is contrary what is called an MAO which stops serotonin from either entering your brain, or being useful in the brain. MAO’s protect us from having too much serotonin or other types of neurotransmitters and dangerous chemicals to our body, so don’t go and take a bunch of MAOI’s. Sometimes people use a mild MAOI such as Saint Johns Wort (a supplement), nicotine, and coffee. Eating healthy foods that are not dangerous is one of the best ways of lowering your MAOs in your system as they are not required to protect yourself. Also many people that drink coffee counter act the sleep helping agent in the coffee as caffeine increases many different types of chemicals in our body, besides melatonin since we are not asleep when we drink it. A good idea would be to drink a little bit of coffee.

Biological-
The brainstem is the control center of our sleep. It is what drops our core body temperature when we are getting ready to sleep, it keeps track of time with our circadian rhythm, and paralysis us so we don’t move around while we dream. Supporting this mechanism in our brain can be one of the best ways in inducing sleep. This means go to bed at the same time every night, wake up at the same time every day, don’t sleep during the day, and relax when you lay down. The reason I say all those things is because your brainstem acts as a time keeper, and if our times we wake up and go to sleep are all random, our brainstem acts as if we have jet lag every night. Relaxing helps with this process as our brainstem knows it’s now time to sleep, now that we are not active and moving around.

There are many other things that you can do that can help you with sleeping. Supporting a better mood and not stressing out is a huge factor as stated before because it effects serotonin levels, that is why many people have issues sleeping in economic troubling times… they are depressed or chemically have smaller amounts of serotonin or too much MAOs."

-L

Question of the week: "I have problems sleeping. Can anyone give me tips on going to sleep earlier?"

I know its been a bit since I last posted really much of anything, but I would have to say that school has been keeping me busy. Spring break was good, got a lot of sleep and had some interesting incites to life and sleep. Some of those things I have already posted about and some of those things I don't think fall into the research area where I want this blog to stay. I will though continue onto the research side of things as I continue out the semester here at college as well as during the summer as my study has been extended out to then. After that I will continue with the blog as I have noticed a great deal of people taking interest in what is posted here, but I do encourage more e-mailed questions or feedback in the comments section if possible.

Every week I try to answer one question about sleep on the Yahoo Questions and Answers and I have noticed a common trend in the questions being asked. The main ones I see are about the inability to sleep well or at all. In this question I address the concept that bad sleep is based on a uneducated culture into the concept that sleep is important, and that we need to know how to support our bodies in order to get quality sleep. I think this has been overlooked in the education system today and should be addressed if we want to continue living life at its fullest. In this question I address the idea of how to support the brainstem on getting to the sleep mode, but nothing about the quality of sleep. To read more about that you can read the past posts I have made as I address those ideas.

Question:

"I have problems sleeping. Can anyone give me tips on going to sleep earlier?
I'm tired of always sleeping really late. Its hard for me to go to sleep so please give me some tips on going to bed early :)"

Answer:

"I recently have had the same problem that you speak of and really the answer can be simple or complex based on a number of factors.
Much of the current sleep issue that people experience is based on not being educated in the reasons and processes that are taking place while we transition from waking to sleep. Those processes are composed of a combination of chemical and biological events that produce sleepiness and eventually REM. Understanding what is required in order to transfer from waking and sleep will help you either find out your problem or fix the issue.

Chemical-
During our transition from waking to sleep we experience a number of chemical changes in our brain.

Melatonin
Melatonin is one of the key components that support our bodies to fall asleep (histamines are also sleep inducing chemicals but I wont go into that right now). Melatonin is a sleep inducing agent but is not the only reason why we sleep and is produced when light is absent. This means that if there is light in your room and you can see it through your eyelids, your melatonin production will be reduced. Your body may as well be lacking in its melatonin production, but I do not suggest like many people to take melatonin supplements as it seems to be a fix to a deeper issue. If you do take melatonin supplements, chances are your problem will persist once you are off of the supplements and require you to keep taking them. A precursor to melatonin is serotonin.

Serotonin
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that not only affects our sleep process but many other daily bodily functions as well as mood. Many depressed patients take medication that supports either the production of serotonin or the reduction in the breakdown of serotonin. Serotonin also plays a large part in our sleep process as well as the transition of NREM (Non-REM) to REM (Random Eye Movement) supporting our bodies in a good night sleep after we are asleep. Foods that contain larger amounts of precursors to serotonin (cheeses, turkey, beans, peas, fruit, vegetables, or any type of tryptophan type food) will help promote higher serotonin levels. It is not suggested that you eat these before going to bed, as it will help keep you awake (I know sounds odd as turkey is said to make you sleepy), but during the day so that your body can build up its serotonin levels and promote production of melatonin during the night. The amount of serotonin that enters your brain as useful serotonin is contrary what is called an MAO which stops serotonin from either entering your brain, or being useful in the brain. MAO’s protect us from having too much serotonin or other types of neurotransmitters and dangerous chemicals to our body, so don’t go and take a bunch of MAOI’s. Sometimes people use a mild MAOI such as Saint Johns Wort (a supplement), nicotine, and coffee. Eating healthy foods that are not dangerous is one of the best ways of lowering your MAOs in your system as they are not required to protect yourself. Also many people that drink coffee counter act the sleep helping agent in the coffee as caffeine increases many different types of chemicals in our body, besides melatonin since we are not asleep when we drink it. A good idea would be to drink a little bit of coffee.

Biological-
The brainstem is the control center of our sleep. It is what drops our core body temperature when we are getting ready to sleep, it keeps track of time with our circadian rhythm, and paralysis us so we don’t move around while we dream. Supporting this mechanism in our brain can be one of the best ways in inducing sleep. This means go to bed at the same time every night, wake up at the same time every day, don’t sleep during the day, and relax when you lay down. The reason I say all those things is because your brainstem acts as a time keeper, and if our times we wake up and go to sleep are all random, our brainstem acts as if we have jet lag every night. Relaxing helps with this process as our brainstem knows it’s now time to sleep, now that we are not active and moving around.

There are many other things that you can do that can help you with sleeping. Supporting a better mood and not stressing out is a huge factor as stated before because it effects serotonin levels, that is why many people have issues sleeping in economic troubling times… they are depressed or chemically have smaller amounts of serotonin or too much MAOs."

-L

Question of the week: "I have problems sleeping. Can anyone give me tips on going to sleep earlier?"

I know its been a bit since I last posted really much of anything, but I would have to say that school has been keeping me busy. Spring break was good, got a lot of sleep and had some interesting incites to life and sleep. Some of those things I have already posted about and some of those things I don't think fall into the research area where I want this blog to stay. I will though continue onto the research side of things as I continue out the semester here at college as well as during the summer as my study has been extended out to then. After that I will continue with the blog as I have noticed a great deal of people taking interest in what is posted here, but I do encourage more e-mailed questions or feedback in the comments section if possible.

Every week I try to answer one question about sleep on the Yahoo Questions and Answers and I have noticed a common trend in the questions being asked. The main ones I see are about the inability to sleep well or at all. In this question I address the concept that bad sleep is based on a uneducated culture into the concept that sleep is important, and that we need to know how to support our bodies in order to get quality sleep. I think this has been overlooked in the education system today and should be addressed if we want to continue living life at its fullest. In this question I address the idea of how to support the brainstem on getting to the sleep mode, but nothing about the quality of sleep. To read more about that you can read the past posts I have made as I address those ideas.

Question:

"I have problems sleeping. Can anyone give me tips on going to sleep earlier?
I'm tired of always sleeping really late. Its hard for me to go to sleep so please give me some tips on going to bed early :)"

Answer:

"I recently have had the same problem that you speak of and really the answer can be simple or complex based on a number of factors.
Much of the current sleep issue that people experience is based on not being educated in the reasons and processes that are taking place while we transition from waking to sleep. Those processes are composed of a combination of chemical and biological events that produce sleepiness and eventually REM. Understanding what is required in order to transfer from waking and sleep will help you either find out your problem or fix the issue.

Chemical-
During our transition from waking to sleep we experience a number of chemical changes in our brain.

Melatonin
Melatonin is one of the key components that support our bodies to fall asleep (histamines are also sleep inducing chemicals but I wont go into that right now). Melatonin is a sleep inducing agent but is not the only reason why we sleep and is produced when light is absent. This means that if there is light in your room and you can see it through your eyelids, your melatonin production will be reduced. Your body may as well be lacking in its melatonin production, but I do not suggest like many people to take melatonin supplements as it seems to be a fix to a deeper issue. If you do take melatonin supplements, chances are your problem will persist once you are off of the supplements and require you to keep taking them. A precursor to melatonin is serotonin.

Serotonin
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that not only affects our sleep process but many other daily bodily functions as well as mood. Many depressed patients take medication that supports either the production of serotonin or the reduction in the breakdown of serotonin. Serotonin also plays a large part in our sleep process as well as the transition of NREM (Non-REM) to REM (Random Eye Movement) supporting our bodies in a good night sleep after we are asleep. Foods that contain larger amounts of precursors to serotonin (cheeses, turkey, beans, peas, fruit, vegetables, or any type of tryptophan type food) will help promote higher serotonin levels. It is not suggested that you eat these before going to bed, as it will help keep you awake (I know sounds odd as turkey is said to make you sleepy), but during the day so that your body can build up its serotonin levels and promote production of melatonin during the night. The amount of serotonin that enters your brain as useful serotonin is contrary what is called an MAO which stops serotonin from either entering your brain, or being useful in the brain. MAO’s protect us from having too much serotonin or other types of neurotransmitters and dangerous chemicals to our body, so don’t go and take a bunch of MAOI’s. Sometimes people use a mild MAOI such as Saint Johns Wort (a supplement), nicotine, and coffee. Eating healthy foods that are not dangerous is one of the best ways of lowering your MAOs in your system as they are not required to protect yourself. Also many people that drink coffee counter act the sleep helping agent in the coffee as caffeine increases many different types of chemicals in our body, besides melatonin since we are not asleep when we drink it. A good idea would be to drink a little bit of coffee.

Biological-
The brainstem is the control center of our sleep. It is what drops our core body temperature when we are getting ready to sleep, it keeps track of time with our circadian rhythm, and paralysis us so we don’t move around while we dream. Supporting this mechanism in our brain can be one of the best ways in inducing sleep. This means go to bed at the same time every night, wake up at the same time every day, don’t sleep during the day, and relax when you lay down. The reason I say all those things is because your brainstem acts as a time keeper, and if our times we wake up and go to sleep are all random, our brainstem acts as if we have jet lag every night. Relaxing helps with this process as our brainstem knows it’s now time to sleep, now that we are not active and moving around.

There are many other things that you can do that can help you with sleeping. Supporting a better mood and not stressing out is a huge factor as stated before because it effects serotonin levels, that is why many people have issues sleeping in economic troubling times… they are depressed or chemically have smaller amounts of serotonin or too much MAOs."

-L

Question of the week: "I have problems sleeping. Can anyone give me tips on going to sleep earlier?"

I know its been a bit since I last posted really much of anything, but I would have to say that school has been keeping me busy. Spring break was good, got a lot of sleep and had some interesting incites to life and sleep. Some of those things I have already posted about and some of those things I don't think fall into the research area where I want this blog to stay. I will though continue onto the research side of things as I continue out the semester here at college as well as during the summer as my study has been extended out to then. After that I will continue with the blog as I have noticed a great deal of people taking interest in what is posted here, but I do encourage more e-mailed questions or feedback in the comments section if possible.


Every week I try to answer one question about sleep on the Yahoo Questions and Answers and I have noticed a common trend in the questions being asked. The main ones I see are about the inability to sleep well or at all. In this question I address the concept that bad sleep is based on a uneducated culture into the concept that sleep is important, and that we need to know how to support our bodies in order to get quality sleep. I think this has been overlooked in the education system today and should be addressed if we want to continue living life at its fullest. In this question I address the idea of how to support the brainstem on getting to the sleep mode, but nothing about the quality of sleep. To read more about that you can read the past posts I have made as I address those ideas.

Question:

"I have problems sleeping. Can anyone give me tips on going to sleep earlier?
I'm tired of always sleeping really late. Its hard for me to go to sleep so please give me some tips on going to bed early :)"

Answer:

"I recently have had the same problem that you speak of and really the answer can be simple or complex based on a number of factors.
Much of the current sleep issue that people experience is based on not being educated in the reasons and processes that are taking place while we transition from waking to sleep. Those processes are composed of a combination of chemical and biological events that produce sleepiness and eventually REM. Understanding what is required in order to transfer from waking and sleep will help you either find out your problem or fix the issue.

Chemical-
During our transition from waking to sleep we experience a number of chemical changes in our brain.

Melatonin
Melatonin is one of the key components that support our bodies to fall asleep (histamines are also sleep inducing chemicals but I wont go into that right now). Melatonin is a sleep inducing agent but is not the only reason why we sleep and is produced when light is absent. This means that if there is light in your room and you can see it through your eyelids, your melatonin production will be reduced. Your body may as well be lacking in its melatonin production, but I do not suggest like many people to take melatonin supplements as it seems to be a fix to a deeper issue. If you do take melatonin supplements, chances are your problem will persist once you are off of the supplements and require you to keep taking them. A precursor to melatonin is serotonin.

Serotonin
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that not only affects our sleep process but many other daily bodily functions as well as mood. Many depressed patients take medication that supports either the production of serotonin or the reduction in the breakdown of serotonin. Serotonin also plays a large part in our sleep process as well as the transition of NREM (Non-REM) to REM (Random Eye Movement) supporting our bodies in a good night sleep after we are asleep. Foods that contain larger amounts of precursors to serotonin (cheeses, turkey, beans, peas, fruit, vegetables, or any type of tryptophan type food) will help promote higher serotonin levels. It is not suggested that you eat these before going to bed, as it will help keep you awake (I know sounds odd as turkey is said to make you sleepy), but during the day so that your body can build up its serotonin levels and promote production of melatonin during the night. The amount of serotonin that enters your brain as useful serotonin is contrary what is called an MAO which stops serotonin from either entering your brain, or being useful in the brain. MAO’s protect us from having too much serotonin or other types of neurotransmitters and dangerous chemicals to our body, so don’t go and take a bunch of MAOI’s. Sometimes people use a mild MAOI such as Saint Johns Wort (a supplement), nicotine, and coffee. Eating healthy foods that are not dangerous is one of the best ways of lowering your MAOs in your system as they are not required to protect yourself. Also many people that drink coffee counter act the sleep helping agent in the coffee as caffeine increases many different types of chemicals in our body, besides melatonin since we are not asleep when we drink it. A good idea would be to drink a little bit of coffee.

Biological-
The brainstem is the control center of our sleep. It is what drops our core body temperature when we are getting ready to sleep, it keeps track of time with our circadian rhythm, and paralysis us so we don’t move around while we dream. Supporting this mechanism in our brain can be one of the best ways in inducing sleep. This means go to bed at the same time every night, wake up at the same time every day, don’t sleep during the day, and relax when you lay down. The reason I say all those things is because your brainstem acts as a time keeper, and if our times we wake up and go to sleep are all random, our brainstem acts as if we have jet lag every night. Relaxing helps with this process as our brainstem knows it’s now time to sleep, now that we are not active and moving around.

There are many other things that you can do that can help you with sleeping. Supporting a better mood and not stressing out is a huge factor as stated before because it effects serotonin levels, that is why many people have issues sleeping in economic troubling times… they are depressed or chemically have smaller amounts of serotonin or too much MAOs."

-L

Emphasis on Consciousness

It seems that the consciousness post that I made was a bigger hit than I had expected and it also brought up a lot of good ideas and questions. I wanted to examine more into the transitional phase of consciousness as it starts to form dreams.

Lately I have been reading into different accounts of psychedelics drug users and the effects of them on the mind. One thing that I noticed is the transitional phase of when the drugs start to take effect are the same type of effects that show the onset of dreams or heaviness, the wondering of thoughts, buzzing or sounds, change in body temperature and manly the onset of forgotten memories. In states of deep mediation people have also reported these experiences. But why do I care about psychedelic drugs? Well people that have had psychedelic drug experiences have reported the strong correlation between the effects of trypatmine based psychedelics and lucid dreaming. If there is any type of correlation then psychedelic experiences may be the closest thing we have to a true understanding of a fully conscious dreaming. The main experience from both the onset of dreams and psychedelic experiences that I am interested in is the change in memories and the ability to recall sometimes repressed childhood memories.

Though I am not an avid supporter of Freud, I still tend to agree that he has some understanding of the mind in altered states. Though I don’t believe there is some type of subconscious agenda in our dreams or minds as repressing our childhood wants I do suggest that maybe our memories are built up on layers of consciousness that is developed throughout our years of growing up. Memories can be hidden throughout our lives and be “repressed” by accident until our mind is altered in mediation, sleep, or psychedelics. I tend to believe that lucid dreaming is one of the closer of the options to fully consciously remembering old memories, however; we tend to use it as more of an experience than a tool.

For those of you who are experienced lucid dreamers, next time you dream try to remember things that would seem impossible during your normal waking life. See how much has change.

-L

Emphasis on Consciousness

It seems that the consciousness post that I made was a bigger hit than I had expected and it also brought up a lot of good ideas and questions. I wanted to examine more into the transitional phase of consciousness as it starts to form dreams.

Lately I have been reading into different accounts of psychedelics drug users and the effects of them on the mind. One thing that I noticed is the transitional phase of when the drugs start to take effect are the same type of effects that show the onset of dreams or heaviness, the wondering of thoughts, buzzing or sounds, change in body temperature and manly the onset of forgotten memories. In states of deep mediation people have also reported these experiences. But why do I care about psychedelic drugs? Well people that have had psychedelic drug experiences have reported the strong correlation between the effects of trypatmine based psychedelics and lucid dreaming. If there is any type of correlation then psychedelic experiences may be the closest thing we have to a true understanding of a fully conscious dreaming. The main experience from both the onset of dreams and psychedelic experiences that I am interested in is the change in memories and the ability to recall sometimes repressed childhood memories.

Though I am not an avid supporter of Freud, I still tend to agree that he has some understanding of the mind in altered states. Though I don’t believe there is some type of subconscious agenda in our dreams or minds as repressing our childhood wants I do suggest that maybe our memories are built up on layers of consciousness that is developed throughout our years of growing up. Memories can be hidden throughout our lives and be “repressed” by accident until our mind is altered in mediation, sleep, or psychedelics. I tend to believe that lucid dreaming is one of the closer of the options to fully consciously remembering old memories, however; we tend to use it as more of an experience than a tool.

For those of you who are experienced lucid dreamers, next time you dream try to remember things that would seem impossible during your normal waking life. See how much has change.

-L

Emphasis on Consciousness

It seems that the consciousness post that I made was a bigger hit than I had expected and it also brought up a lot of good ideas and questions. I wanted to examine more into the transitional phase of consciousness as it starts to form dreams.

Lately I have been reading into different accounts of psychedelics drug users and the effects of them on the mind. One thing that I noticed is the transitional phase of when the drugs start to take effect are the same type of effects that show the onset of dreams or heaviness, the wondering of thoughts, buzzing or sounds, change in body temperature and manly the onset of forgotten memories. In states of deep mediation people have also reported these experiences. But why do I care about psychedelic drugs? Well people that have had psychedelic drug experiences have reported the strong correlation between the effects of trypatmine based psychedelics and lucid dreaming. If there is any type of correlation then psychedelic experiences may be the closest thing we have to a true understanding of a fully conscious dreaming. The main experience from both the onset of dreams and psychedelic experiences that I am interested in is the change in memories and the ability to recall sometimes repressed childhood memories.

Though I am not an avid supporter of Freud, I still tend to agree that he has some understanding of the mind in altered states. Though I don’t believe there is some type of subconscious agenda in our dreams or minds as repressing our childhood wants I do suggest that maybe our memories are built up on layers of consciousness that is developed throughout our years of growing up. Memories can be hidden throughout our lives and be “repressed” by accident until our mind is altered in mediation, sleep, or psychedelics. I tend to believe that lucid dreaming is one of the closer of the options to fully consciously remembering old memories, however; we tend to use it as more of an experience than a tool.

For those of you who are experienced lucid dreamers, next time you dream try to remember things that would seem impossible during your normal waking life. See how much has change.

-L

Emphasis on Consciousness

It seems that the consciousness post that I made was a bigger hit than I had expected and it also brought up a lot of good ideas and questions. I wanted to examine more into the transitional phase of consciousness as it starts to form dreams.

Lately I have been reading into different accounts of psychedelics drug users and the effects of them on the mind. One thing that I noticed is the transitional phase of when the drugs start to take effect are the same type of effects that show the onset of dreams or heaviness, the wondering of thoughts, buzzing or sounds, change in body temperature and manly the onset of forgotten memories. In states of deep mediation people have also reported these experiences. But why do I care about psychedelic drugs? Well people that have had psychedelic drug experiences have reported the strong correlation between the effects of trypatmine based psychedelics and lucid dreaming. If there is any type of correlation then psychedelic experiences may be the closest thing we have to a true understanding of a fully conscious dreaming. The main experience from both the onset of dreams and psychedelic experiences that I am interested in is the change in memories and the ability to recall sometimes repressed childhood memories.

Though I am not an avid supporter of Freud, I still tend to agree that he has some understanding of the mind in altered states. Though I don’t believe there is some type of subconscious agenda in our dreams or minds as repressing our childhood wants I do suggest that maybe our memories are built up on layers of consciousness that is developed throughout our years of growing up. Memories can be hidden throughout our lives and be “repressed” by accident until our mind is altered in mediation, sleep, or psychedelics. I tend to believe that lucid dreaming is one of the closer of the options to fully consciously remembering old memories, however; we tend to use it as more of an experience than a tool.

For those of you who are experienced lucid dreamers, next time you dream try to remember things that would seem impossible during your normal waking life. See how much has change.

-L

Spring Break

For many of us, today is the start of spring break. Spring break is a time to release some stress and to regain that loss of rest that we have longed for since Christmas. In a time where many countries are experiencing economic troubles, it’s important to remember how badly stress can affect our lives.

Recently there has been a large increase of sleep lab activity and I would say that this is directly related to the stress that people have started to experience. Stress seems to be a major cause of disrupted sleep, and as we all know from research that sleep is very important in our lives. By sleep I don’t just mean lying down and falling asleep, but more all aspects of sleep, the proper REM and NREM phases and an adequate amount of time to feel rested. Stress itself can change our chemical makeup in our brains leading to depression and decreased amounts of serotonin levels and dynamically change our sleeping behavior.

This spring break I ask that everyone pay close attention to their stress levels and sleep behavior and see how much they change. I think that the majority of you will be able to see that they are very closely related. Even if you don’t get to have a break for this week, do your best to take some time off for yourself and get some better rest.

Also this week I will be posting quite a bit as I continue to do research on the aspects of histamines and narcolepsy which I both find very interesting. That information should be posted in the next few days. Also R and I are continue to work on getting a podcast of some sort that will go over a different topic of research every month. Information about that podcast will be posted later next week.

Have a good break and happy resting!

-L

Spring Break

For many of us, today is the start of spring break. Spring break is a time to release some stress and to regain that loss of rest that we have longed for since Christmas. In a time where many countries are experiencing economic troubles, it’s important to remember how badly stress can affect our lives.

Recently there has been a large increase of sleep lab activity and I would say that this is directly related to the stress that people have started to experience. Stress seems to be a major cause of disrupted sleep, and as we all know from research that sleep is very important in our lives. By sleep I don’t just mean lying down and falling asleep, but more all aspects of sleep, the proper REM and NREM phases and an adequate amount of time to feel rested. Stress itself can change our chemical makeup in our brains leading to depression and decreased amounts of serotonin levels and dynamically change our sleeping behavior.

This spring break I ask that everyone pay close attention to their stress levels and sleep behavior and see how much they change. I think that the majority of you will be able to see that they are very closely related. Even if you don’t get to have a break for this week, do your best to take some time off for yourself and get some better rest.

Also this week I will be posting quite a bit as I continue to do research on the aspects of histamines and narcolepsy which I both find very interesting. That information should be posted in the next few days. Also R and I are continue to work on getting a podcast of some sort that will go over a different topic of research every month. Information about that podcast will be posted later next week.

Have a good break and happy resting!

-L

Spring Break

For many of us, today is the start of spring break. Spring break is a time to release some stress and to regain that loss of rest that we have longed for since Christmas. In a time where many countries are experiencing economic troubles, it’s important to remember how badly stress can affect our lives.

Recently there has been a large increase of sleep lab activity and I would say that this is directly related to the stress that people have started to experience. Stress seems to be a major cause of disrupted sleep, and as we all know from research that sleep is very important in our lives. By sleep I don’t just mean lying down and falling asleep, but more all aspects of sleep, the proper REM and NREM phases and an adequate amount of time to feel rested. Stress itself can change our chemical makeup in our brains leading to depression and decreased amounts of serotonin levels and dynamically change our sleeping behavior.

This spring break I ask that everyone pay close attention to their stress levels and sleep behavior and see how much they change. I think that the majority of you will be able to see that they are very closely related. Even if you don’t get to have a break for this week, do your best to take some time off for yourself and get some better rest.

Also this week I will be posting quite a bit as I continue to do research on the aspects of histamines and narcolepsy which I both find very interesting. That information should be posted in the next few days. Also R and I are continue to work on getting a podcast of some sort that will go over a different topic of research every month. Information about that podcast will be posted later next week.

Have a good break and happy resting!

-L

Spring Break

For many of us, today is the start of spring break. Spring break is a time to release some stress and to regain that loss of rest that we have longed for since Christmas. In a time where many countries are experiencing economic troubles, it’s important to remember how badly stress can affect our lives.

Recently there has been a large increase of sleep lab activity and I would say that this is directly related to the stress that people have started to experience. Stress seems to be a major cause of disrupted sleep, and as we all know from research that sleep is very important in our lives. By sleep I don’t just mean lying down and falling asleep, but more all aspects of sleep, the proper REM and NREM phases and an adequate amount of time to feel rested. Stress itself can change our chemical makeup in our brains leading to depression and decreased amounts of serotonin levels and dynamically change our sleeping behavior.

This spring break I ask that everyone pay close attention to their stress levels and sleep behavior and see how much they change. I think that the majority of you will be able to see that they are very closely related. Even if you don’t get to have a break for this week, do your best to take some time off for yourself and get some better rest.

Also this week I will be posting quite a bit as I continue to do research on the aspects of histamines and narcolepsy which I both find very interesting. That information should be posted in the next few days. Also R and I are continue to work on getting a podcast of some sort that will go over a different topic of research every month. Information about that podcast will be posted later next week.

Have a good break and happy resting!

-L

Dreaming Consciousness

I found some interesting information that I read in the second volume of The New Science of Dreaming that deals with waking and sleeping consciousness. I shared this information with R and figured that it should be shared with the readers since it is such exciting info to myself.

When we are awake the part of our brains called the thalamus is one of those things that is on the list of activated items. This in turn activates the cerbral cortex causing what we consider as waking normal consciousness. During the first stages of sleep just the opposite is accruing, as the thalamus is considered as inactive. However, in stage 2 of NREM the thalamus shows partial activation and in turn shows full activation as it reaches REM. This process is controlled by the cholinergic system as well as many other types of brain activation functions. As this comes to a shock to me and raises many different questions, it does make some sense as it is a means for why we dream in NREM stage 2. It also disproves the aspect that all dreams have no meaning, based on the concept that we are conscious while asleep and can make conscious decisions regardless of the scene around us. It also shows that we are somewhat conscious during the transtional phase between NREM and REM where sleep paralysis as well as the sudden shutting down of what seems to be important waking aspects (long term memory ect..)as well as the activation of the fearful amygdala.

Here is the model showing these transition with the updated key points of the thalamus:


I ask this now, is it possible that we are always at least slightly conscious during the transition between NREM and REM and experience these terrible effects of auditory and visual hallucinations while partially awake as well as sleep paralysis but just don't remember it?

-L

Dreaming Consciousness

I found some interesting information that I read in the second volume of The New Science of Dreaming that deals with waking and sleeping consciousness. I shared this information with R and figured that it should be shared with the readers since it is such exciting info to myself.

When we are awake the part of our brains called the thalamus is one of those things that is on the list of activated items. This in turn activates the cerbral cortex causing what we consider as waking normal consciousness. During the first stages of sleep just the opposite is accruing, as the thalamus is considered as inactive. However, in stage 2 of NREM the thalamus shows partial activation and in turn shows full activation as it reaches REM. This process is controlled by the cholinergic system as well as many other types of brain activation functions. As this comes to a shock to me and raises many different questions, it does make some sense as it is a means for why we dream in NREM stage 2. It also disproves the aspect that all dreams have no meaning, based on the concept that we are conscious while asleep and can make conscious decisions regardless of the scene around us. It also shows that we are somewhat conscious during the transtional phase between NREM and REM where sleep paralysis as well as the sudden shutting down of what seems to be important waking aspects (long term memory ect..)as well as the activation of the fearful amygdala.

Here is the model showing these transition with the updated key points of the thalamus:


I ask this now, is it possible that we are always at least slightly conscious during the transition between NREM and REM and experience these terrible effects of auditory and visual hallucinations while partially awake as well as sleep paralysis but just don't remember it?

-L

Dreaming Consciousness

I found some interesting information that I read in the second volume of The New Science of Dreaming that deals with waking and sleeping consciousness. I shared this information with R and figured that it should be shared with the readers since it is such exciting info to myself.

When we are awake the part of our brains called the thalamus is one of those things that is on the list of activated items. This in turn activates the cerbral cortex causing what we consider as waking normal consciousness. During the first stages of sleep just the opposite is accruing, as the thalamus is considered as inactive. However, in stage 2 of NREM the thalamus shows partial activation and in turn shows full activation as it reaches REM. This process is controlled by the cholinergic system as well as many other types of brain activation functions. As this comes to a shock to me and raises many different questions, it does make some sense as it is a means for why we dream in NREM stage 2. It also disproves the aspect that all dreams have no meaning, based on the concept that we are conscious while asleep and can make conscious decisions regardless of the scene around us. It also shows that we are somewhat conscious during the transtional phase between NREM and REM where sleep paralysis as well as the sudden shutting down of what seems to be important waking aspects (long term memory ect..)as well as the activation of the fearful amygdala.

Here is the model showing these transition with the updated key points of the thalamus:


I ask this now, is it possible that we are always at least slightly conscious during the transition between NREM and REM and experience these terrible effects of auditory and visual hallucinations while partially awake as well as sleep paralysis but just don't remember it?

-L

Dreaming Consciousness

I found some interesting information that I read in the second volume of The New Science of Dreaming that deals with waking and sleeping consciousness. I shared this information with R and figured that it should be shared with the readers since it is such exciting info to myself.

When we are awake the part of our brains called the thalamus is one of those things that is on the list of activated items. This in turn activates the cerbral cortex causing what we consider as waking normal consciousness. During the first stages of sleep just the opposite is accruing, as the thalamus is considered as inactive. However, in stage 2 of NREM the thalamus shows partial activation and in turn shows full activation as it reaches REM. This process is controlled by the cholinergic system as well as many other types of brain activation functions. As this comes to a shock to me and raises many different questions, it does make some sense as it is a means for why we dream in NREM stage 2. It also disproves the aspect that all dreams have no meaning, based on the concept that we are conscious while asleep and can make conscious decisions regardless of the scene around us. It also shows that we are somewhat conscious during the transtional phase between NREM and REM where sleep paralysis as well as the sudden shutting down of what seems to be important waking aspects (long term memory ect..)as well as the activation of the fearful amygdala.

Here is the model showing these transition with the updated key points of the thalamus:


I ask this now, is it possible that we are always at least slightly conscious during the transition between NREM and REM and experience these terrible effects of auditory and visual hallucinations while partially awake as well as sleep paralysis but just don't remember it?

-L

Sleep Model: Version 2

I recently updated the sleep model based on research found in Dr. Callaway's published article "A Proposed Mechanism for the Visions of Dream Sleep" and Dr. Maurizi's article "The anatomy and chemistry of hallucinations and a rational surgical approach to the treatment of some schizophrenic syndromes".

The major changes are based on the top portion where the MOA's cause a decrease of serotonin production and the MAOI's causing an increase amount of serotonin. According to the model, the more serotonin produced in the brain the more MAOI's that are produced causing an even greater increase of serotonin. It would see based on the model that MAOI's in the form of beta-carbolines are very important to the proper function of our brain.

Another major change is in the areas of production of serotonin, as even a large quantity of serotonin is produced in the pineal gland. The raphe nuclei would be the possible storage location of this serotonin or a release mechanism, for me this is unclear. It has been reported that SSRI's effect the raphe nuclei causing an even greater increase of serotonin buildup. This supports the concept that seritonin is stored in the raphe nuclei.

The last important note about this model is that pinoline itself is a beta-carboline and is not converted into a beta-carboline. It may be confusing for some to understand this from the model alone.

As some may see this model resembles the same concept that DMT is possibly created in the pineal gland in the brain. The hypothesis of this concept is based off of the research done by Dr. Callaway however is not listed as DMT but a tryptamine. Other researches have suggested other trytamine based psychedelics when dealing with the pineal and the effects it has on our dreams and consciousness. I continue to support this concept and hope to find evidence either supporting or disproving these theories.

-L

Sleep Model: Version 2

I recently updated the sleep model based on research found in Dr. Callaway's published article "A Proposed Mechanism for the Visions of Dream Sleep" and Dr. Maurizi's article "The anatomy and chemistry of hallucinations and a rational surgical approach to the treatment of some schizophrenic syndromes".

The major changes are based on the top portion where the MOA's cause a decrease of serotonin production and the MAOI's causing an increase amount of serotonin. According to the model, the more serotonin produced in the brain the more MAOI's that are produced causing an even greater increase of serotonin. It would see based on the model that MAOI's in the form of beta-carbolines are very important to the proper function of our brain.

Another major change is in the areas of production of serotonin, as even a large quantity of serotonin is produced in the pineal gland. The raphe nuclei would be the possible storage location of this serotonin or a release mechanism, for me this is unclear. It has been reported that SSRI's effect the raphe nuclei causing an even greater increase of serotonin buildup. This supports the concept that seritonin is stored in the raphe nuclei.

The last important note about this model is that pinoline itself is a beta-carboline and is not converted into a beta-carboline. It may be confusing for some to understand this from the model alone.

As some may see this model resembles the same concept that DMT is possibly created in the pineal gland in the brain. The hypothesis of this concept is based off of the research done by Dr. Callaway however is not listed as DMT but a tryptamine. Other researches have suggested other trytamine based psychedelics when dealing with the pineal and the effects it has on our dreams and consciousness. I continue to support this concept and hope to find evidence either supporting or disproving these theories.

-L

Sleep Model: Version 2

I recently updated the sleep model based on research found in Dr. Callaway's published article "A Proposed Mechanism for the Visions of Dream Sleep" and Dr. Maurizi's article "The anatomy and chemistry of hallucinations and a rational surgical approach to the treatment of some schizophrenic syndromes".

The major changes are based on the top portion where the MOA's cause a decrease of serotonin production and the MAOI's causing an increase amount of serotonin. According to the model, the more serotonin produced in the brain the more MAOI's that are produced causing an even greater increase of serotonin. It would see based on the model that MAOI's in the form of beta-carbolines are very important to the proper function of our brain.

Another major change is in the areas of production of serotonin, as even a large quantity of serotonin is produced in the pineal gland. The raphe nuclei would be the possible storage location of this serotonin or a release mechanism, for me this is unclear. It has been reported that SSRI's effect the raphe nuclei causing an even greater increase of serotonin buildup. This supports the concept that seritonin is stored in the raphe nuclei.

The last important note about this model is that pinoline itself is a beta-carboline and is not converted into a beta-carboline. It may be confusing for some to understand this from the model alone.

As some may see this model resembles the same concept that DMT is possibly created in the pineal gland in the brain. The hypothesis of this concept is based off of the research done by Dr. Callaway however is not listed as DMT but a tryptamine. Other researches have suggested other trytamine based psychedelics when dealing with the pineal and the effects it has on our dreams and consciousness. I continue to support this concept and hope to find evidence either supporting or disproving these theories.

-L

Sleep Model: Version 2

I recently updated the sleep model based on research found in Dr. Callaway's published article "A Proposed Mechanism for the Visions of Dream Sleep" and Dr. Maurizi's article "The anatomy and chemistry of hallucinations and a rational surgical approach to the treatment of some schizophrenic syndromes".

The major changes are based on the top portion where the MOA's cause a decrease of serotonin production and the MAOI's causing an increase amount of serotonin. According to the model, the more serotonin produced in the brain the more MAOI's that are produced causing an even greater increase of serotonin. It would see based on the model that MAOI's in the form of beta-carbolines are very important to the proper function of our brain.

Another major change is in the areas of production of serotonin, as even a large quantity of serotonin is produced in the pineal gland. The raphe nuclei would be the possible storage location of this serotonin or a release mechanism, for me this is unclear. It has been reported that SSRI's effect the raphe nuclei causing an even greater increase of serotonin buildup. This supports the concept that seritonin is stored in the raphe nuclei.

The last important note about this model is that pinoline itself is a beta-carboline and is not converted into a beta-carboline. It may be confusing for some to understand this from the model alone.

As some may see this model resembles the same concept that DMT is possibly created in the pineal gland in the brain. The hypothesis of this concept is based off of the research done by Dr. Callaway however is not listed as DMT but a tryptamine. Other researches have suggested other trytamine based psychedelics when dealing with the pineal and the effects it has on our dreams and consciousness. I continue to support this concept and hope to find evidence either supporting or disproving these theories.

-L

Question of The Week: "I can’t tell if I’m sleeping or dreaming."

Question:

"I can never tell if I’m sleeping or not. I still hear things going on. My heart rate goes up. I once had a dream someone was trying to hurt my mom and I got a lamp to throw, but I didn’t know if I was sleeping. What is this?"

Answer:

"What you are describing is the transitional phase between NREM (non-rapid eye movement) and REM (rapid eye movement). During this transition your body is paralyzed as well as different parts of your brain become demodulated or deactivated as well as activated. This deactivation and activation is one of the theorized reasons why we dream. One of the areas of your brain that becomes activated is the amygdala an area of the brain that deals with anxiety and fear. This could explain for your vivid hallucinations of fearful events. Also during this transition the prefrontal cortex part of our brain is demodulated which makes it hard to process new memories into long term memory. This makes it hard to remember our dreams. Many other areas of our brain are involved in this transition, but in this case don't seem to be as important.

What seems to be your problem is that if we are somehow conscious enough to remember this transition from NREM to REM we sometimes experience traumatic events such as paralysis or auditory and visual hallucinations. These hallucinations are considered dreams just as they appear in REM but are in NREM and remembered because of the absence of prefrontal cortex demodulation. The ability to dream in NREM is quite normal as 25% of our dreams are experienced during this phase of sleep, but your ability to remember them is not. This same type of event is experienced in patients that have REM behavior disorder (RBD) or sometimes called night terrors, but they have an absence of the paralysis aspect of the transition and act out their dreams.

As these dreams seem to be bothering you, it seems that they may have started to be remembered the event recently. Different foods as well as stress levels can have a profound effect on our sleep and either help or disrupt this transitional phase. Eating healthy, exercising, taking supplements that support the production of serotonin can all be healthy ways of supporting your sleep. There could however be underlying problems such as tumors that are effect different areas of the brain to cause these types of problems.

I would suggest visiting a doctor as problems with sleep seem to be indicators of possible serious deficiencies. Have them check magnesium levels and other possible areas for problems. Also start working out more and eating better as your symptoms may start going away shortly after."

-L

Question of The Week: "I can’t tell if I’m sleeping or dreaming."

Question:

"I can never tell if I’m sleeping or not. I still hear things going on. My heart rate goes up. I once had a dream someone was trying to hurt my mom and I got a lamp to throw, but I didn’t know if I was sleeping. What is this?"

Answer:

"What you are describing is the transitional phase between NREM (non-rapid eye movement) and REM (rapid eye movement). During this transition your body is paralyzed as well as different parts of your brain become demodulated or deactivated as well as activated. This deactivation and activation is one of the theorized reasons why we dream. One of the areas of your brain that becomes activated is the amygdala an area of the brain that deals with anxiety and fear. This could explain for your vivid hallucinations of fearful events. Also during this transition the prefrontal cortex part of our brain is demodulated which makes it hard to process new memories into long term memory. This makes it hard to remember our dreams. Many other areas of our brain are involved in this transition, but in this case don't seem to be as important.

What seems to be your problem is that if we are somehow conscious enough to remember this transition from NREM to REM we sometimes experience traumatic events such as paralysis or auditory and visual hallucinations. These hallucinations are considered dreams just as they appear in REM but are in NREM and remembered because of the absence of prefrontal cortex demodulation. The ability to dream in NREM is quite normal as 25% of our dreams are experienced during this phase of sleep, but your ability to remember them is not. This same type of event is experienced in patients that have REM behavior disorder (RBD) or sometimes called night terrors, but they have an absence of the paralysis aspect of the transition and act out their dreams.

As these dreams seem to be bothering you, it seems that they may have started to be remembered the event recently. Different foods as well as stress levels can have a profound effect on our sleep and either help or disrupt this transitional phase. Eating healthy, exercising, taking supplements that support the production of serotonin can all be healthy ways of supporting your sleep. There could however be underlying problems such as tumors that are effect different areas of the brain to cause these types of problems.

I would suggest visiting a doctor as problems with sleep seem to be indicators of possible serious deficiencies. Have them check magnesium levels and other possible areas for problems. Also start working out more and eating better as your symptoms may start going away shortly after."

-L

Question of The Week: "I can’t tell if I’m sleeping or dreaming."

Question:

"I can never tell if I’m sleeping or not. I still hear things going on. My heart rate goes up. I once had a dream someone was trying to hurt my mom and I got a lamp to throw, but I didn’t know if I was sleeping. What is this?"

Answer:

"What you are describing is the transitional phase between NREM (non-rapid eye movement) and REM (rapid eye movement). During this transition your body is paralyzed as well as different parts of your brain become demodulated or deactivated as well as activated. This deactivation and activation is one of the theorized reasons why we dream. One of the areas of your brain that becomes activated is the amygdala an area of the brain that deals with anxiety and fear. This could explain for your vivid hallucinations of fearful events. Also during this transition the prefrontal cortex part of our brain is demodulated which makes it hard to process new memories into long term memory. This makes it hard to remember our dreams. Many other areas of our brain are involved in this transition, but in this case don't seem to be as important.

What seems to be your problem is that if we are somehow conscious enough to remember this transition from NREM to REM we sometimes experience traumatic events such as paralysis or auditory and visual hallucinations. These hallucinations are considered dreams just as they appear in REM but are in NREM and remembered because of the absence of prefrontal cortex demodulation. The ability to dream in NREM is quite normal as 25% of our dreams are experienced during this phase of sleep, but your ability to remember them is not. This same type of event is experienced in patients that have REM behavior disorder (RBD) or sometimes called night terrors, but they have an absence of the paralysis aspect of the transition and act out their dreams.

As these dreams seem to be bothering you, it seems that they may have started to be remembered the event recently. Different foods as well as stress levels can have a profound effect on our sleep and either help or disrupt this transitional phase. Eating healthy, exercising, taking supplements that support the production of serotonin can all be healthy ways of supporting your sleep. There could however be underlying problems such as tumors that are effect different areas of the brain to cause these types of problems.

I would suggest visiting a doctor as problems with sleep seem to be indicators of possible serious deficiencies. Have them check magnesium levels and other possible areas for problems. Also start working out more and eating better as your symptoms may start going away shortly after."

-L

Question of The Week: "I can’t tell if I’m sleeping or dreaming."

Question:

"I can never tell if I’m sleeping or not. I still hear things going on. My heart rate goes up. I once had a dream someone was trying to hurt my mom and I got a lamp to throw, but I didn’t know if I was sleeping. What is this?"

Answer:

"What you are describing is the transitional phase between NREM (non-rapid eye movement) and REM (rapid eye movement). During this transition your body is paralyzed as well as different parts of your brain become demodulated or deactivated as well as activated. This deactivation and activation is one of the theorized reasons why we dream. One of the areas of your brain that becomes activated is the amygdala an area of the brain that deals with anxiety and fear. This could explain for your vivid hallucinations of fearful events. Also during this transition the prefrontal cortex part of our brain is demodulated which makes it hard to process new memories into long term memory. This makes it hard to remember our dreams. Many other areas of our brain are involved in this transition, but in this case don't seem to be as important.

What seems to be your problem is that if we are somehow conscious enough to remember this transition from NREM to REM we sometimes experience traumatic events such as paralysis or auditory and visual hallucinations. These hallucinations are considered dreams just as they appear in REM but are in NREM and remembered because of the absence of prefrontal cortex demodulation. The ability to dream in NREM is quite normal as 25% of our dreams are experienced during this phase of sleep, but your ability to remember them is not. This same type of event is experienced in patients that have REM behavior disorder (RBD) or sometimes called night terrors, but they have an absence of the paralysis aspect of the transition and act out their dreams.

As these dreams seem to be bothering you, it seems that they may have started to be remembered the event recently. Different foods as well as stress levels can have a profound effect on our sleep and either help or disrupt this transitional phase. Eating healthy, exercising, taking supplements that support the production of serotonin can all be healthy ways of supporting your sleep. There could however be underlying problems such as tumors that are effect different areas of the brain to cause these types of problems.

I would suggest visiting a doctor as problems with sleep seem to be indicators of possible serious deficiencies. Have them check magnesium levels and other possible areas for problems. Also start working out more and eating better as your symptoms may start going away shortly after."

-L

Video: BBC Horizon - Why Do We Dream?

Greetings!

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted but I found quite an interesting video for all of you. I must confess to having a love affair with these BBC Horizon specials. At anyrate, I hope you enjoy.

Good Luck and Happy Dreaming

-R 

This is a 6 part series, part 6 is missing on youtube for some reason.

Video: BBC Horizon - Why Do We Dream?

Greetings!

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted but I found quite an interesting video for all of you. I must confess to having a love affair with these BBC Horizon specials. At anyrate, I hope you enjoy.

Good Luck and Happy Dreaming

-R 

This is a 6 part series, part 6 is missing on youtube for some reason.