Sleep and the circadian rhythm is an integral part of all things living. Without it, many processes would not reach their maximal potential. In humans, a good night's rest is theorized to consolidate memories & learned behaviors, help cope with certain real life problems and to prepare for situations in the coming day. This mental roleplay occurs whilst one dreams, as the brain is active throughout the night. However, the most vivid and clear dreams come during a stage in sleep called REM. REM, or rapid eye movement sleep, is characterized by the substantial increase in brain activity, inactivity of the muscles and darting of the eyes under the eyelids. Although we have been studying sleep for quite some time, our understanding of dreams, memory, purpose and sleep is very amateur. Recent researchers are looking more into a phenomenon called lucid dreaming, where the dreamer has the ability to understand that they are dreaming and can make decisions based on their own. The ability to lucid dream can be learned. However, what is the significance of lucid dreaming? Can lucid dreaming give better quality consolidation/memory and quality of sleep? How can this affect a person’s mental health/processing? What can lucid dreaming offer a person in the real world?
In “Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep” written by Ken A. Paller and colleagues demonstrated that metacognition during trained lucid dreaming gave the participants of the study the ability to interact with the experimenters whilst still asleep. This was done by asking simple logical questions to the participants in REM sleep to see to which degree were the participants can comprehend and respond. Once the participant was in REM sleep, they were able to signal to the researchers their answers through small physical cues. The study showed the participants’ ability to remember the dreams solidified the validity of the ability to respond and react to the questions posed and gave insight into the dream state. Being able to peer into the dream-state researchers would have a better understanding as to why we have dreams and for what purpose. What can researchers do with this information? To expand further, there can be many applications to this knowledge.
In “My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares?” written by Sérgio Arthuro Mota-Rolim and his team showed the use of lucid dreaming can be used in forms of therapy. The research was based on a small group of people who had recurring nightmares of previous trauma and were taught techniques in which they can begin to lucid dream. The purpose of the study was to see whether lucid dreaming therapy could help reduce the mental and physiological effects that these traumas had in the participants’ lives. As training progressed, the participants were able to make the disturbances in their dreams into more neutral/emotionally insignificant occurrences by modification of the dream. It was concluded that lucid dreaming helped such problems, and even if lucidity of a dream was not achieved, the ability to think logically helped cope with the stress of the situation in the dream-state.
Using both of these pieces of research, real life application can come from some sort of hybrid study. The ability to communicate to one who is in a lucid state and the training that can be given to the participants can help alleviate many anxieties, PTSD and other mental health issues that are becoming more prevalent today. Further research in learning how dreams can affect memory/consolidation in the real world may also help in better retention of information from our daily lives, by practicing “logic problems” in the dream state.
Citations
Konkoly, K. R., Appel, K., Chabani, E., Mangiaruga, A., Gott, J., Mallett, R., Caughran, B., Witkowski, S., Whitmore, N. W., Mazurek, C. Y., Berent, J. B., Weber, F. D., Türker, B., Leu-Semenescu, S., Maranci, J.-B., Pipa, G., Arnulf, I., Oudiette, D., Dresler, M., & Paller, K. A. (2021). Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. Current Biology, 31(7), 1417–1427.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.026
Macêdo, T. C., Ferreira, G. H., Almondes, K. M., Kirov, R., & Mota-Rolim, S. A. (2019). My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares? Frontiers in Psychology, 10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02618
No comments:
Post a Comment