Choose what to dream tonight
wsj.com
wsj.com
When one looks at the neurology of REM sleep, it is hard not to reach the conclusion that dreams are a form of "inverse anxious mind-wandering". As in the neurology of mind-wandering is activated, however the brain is (surprisingly) in an extremely relaxed state.
Norepinephrine (the fight or flight neurotransmitter) levels are 80% below base waking levels (Norepinephrine spikes when you are in a stressful situation), and the amygdala (threat detection) is inactive.
When we are awake and performing anxious mind-wandering (with Norepinephrine levels raised and our amygdala active), our mind-wandering has a focus/direction. It imagines the worst and this encourages us to take avoidant action; for example, you might wish to bring something difficult up with a friend, however you brain will imagine all the ways that it can go wrong so you avoid the potential confrontation. From a survival point of view, it is pretty useful for the brain to have a bias towards avoidance when awake.
I posit that during dreaming, the brain creates situations in which it would be wise to be unavoidant. However, typically, despite the situation we imagine quite clearly calling for unavoidant behaviour, we take avoidant behaviour. This is because our emotional/episodic memory areas of the brain are activated during REM sleep, and we automatically take the anxious behaviour we have been "trained" to take (our neuroses).
This, in my eyes, is the function of dreaming. To highlight our neuroses/unconscious redundant anxieties. For this reason, controlling the content of your dreams would remove their primary function.
I wrote a paper on this topic which contains several examples of dreams that fit this structure. (I'm afraid I do not have the time to type an example out now.)
It can be read here: https://psyarxiv.com/k6trz
It was previously discussed on HN here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19143590
A large percent of people are lucid dreamers up until their 20s, so there likely isn't any hugely detrimental impact over some level of control over one's dreams.
> I posit that during dreaming, the brain creates situations in which it would be wise to be unavoidant.
For the longest time, my dreams were on the exciting / dangerous side. Lots of getting shot at, lots of fighting, lots of fun, but high stress situations. I had one dream that always stood out where I was actively terraforming worlds over the course of thousands of years in an attempt to create sentient life that could fight off a slowly progressing alien wave that was sweeping through the galaxy. Lots of fun, at least for my definition of fun.
Also had a dream that took place over hundreds+ of years where I was stuck on a spaceship that thanks to relativity, had long since outlived the rest of humanity. That was a rather lonely dream.
I've also watched plenty of movies in my dreams, and listened to some amazing concerts. I always wished I knew enough about music so I could transcribe the songs after I wake up. :(
One thing that I miss now that I'm older is some of the plot lines from my dreams that had been going on for decades. It sucks to lose contact with some of the characters and places I used to visit.
That is amazing
He does an amazing job describing tactics used to fight off grey goo gone wild.
That's being able to orgasm just from your mind
The brain is the most powerful sexual organ
"Maybe for you"
at one point i dreamed about eating a sandwich . it was not lucid, but extremely vivid. its the only time ive ever dreamed of food.
if you practice abstinence, you will have dreams too. prettt fun and strong ones.
id recommend starting with one of those to make dreams more "realistic"
My dreams have all 5 senses, so lots of good food. I get a bit annoyed when I'm woken up in the middle of a good meal. :-D
I believe this support the interpretation I put forward. Typically our anxious behaviours are reinforced in our dreams (which should highlight their presence if we are paying attention to them). If these were added to our long term memory, they would reinforce the behaviours they are trying to highlight, in order to eventually have the waking you eliminate. It would be counter to this goal if reinforcing experiences were added to long term memory, adding them to short term memory means they don't leave a reinforcing imprint.
It's not so easy to remember dreams for this reason
it works both ways though. i frequently find my dreams influenced by activities during the day. intentional or not.
the other day i was watching a lot of videos about public transport, and sure enough i was dreaming about that at night.
so at that point my brain is already influenced. does that mean i accidentally interfered with the actual function of dreaming? but if it can happen accidentally, then why not also influence dreaming intentionally?
should my friend keep dreaming about his son who killed himself? it's been years. therapy didn't help and the resulting anxiety is unlikely to go away anytime soon. sometimes an intervention and a distraction from those anxieties seems like a better idea.
Lucid dream, "is when a person is aware that a dream is happening and can sometimes influence events within it."
But you "could" lucid dream if you try,
a) setting an intention b) writing it down and repeating a mantra before you sleep c) If you catch yourself lucid dreaming then remind yourself what you wanted to do in your dream and d) after you wake up, write down your dream.
Seems like a fun experiment but there is no suggestion of any significant health or other benefits.
I found that, because my dreams were so much fun, I looked forward to sleep, slept longer, and had a better overall quality of sleep. I'm not sure how much was the "behind the scenes" work of the supplements, versus the fact that I was genuinely having a good time in my dreams.
Either way, I was better rested when that was happening, and essentially living two lives. It was super cool.
It is too easy to become dependent on anything when it comes to sleep patterns. The problem with being dependent on anything for sleep is what happens when you run out.
In your waking reality, make the habit of shutting your nose close (pinch with fingers) and trying to breathe every 10 minutes. Thing is while dreaming if you shut your nose and try to breathe you'll notice that it works. If you make it a habit in your waking reality then it'll also carry over to your dreams where you'll notice that you can actually breathe with your nose shut and instantly be awakened into a lucid dream.
― T.E. Lawrence
Question: other than the entertainment aspect, is there a benefit to being able to control one's dreams?
I also dream often and vividly and some of the dreams I have had have been so realistic and fulfilling that I wake up in a state of awe, feeling as if I have just lived a wonderful experience inaccessible to waking life. For example, I once had a dream where I traveled to the moon where I woke up feeling, as silly as it might sound, as if I had just returned from the moon - hard to describe how wonderful this experience actually was.
So to answer your question, I think there is benefit in altering your state of mind through dreaming to re-align your perspectives and to get a different view on life. I don't think this requires controlling the subject of one's dreams, but having some control over the quality certainly would help.
[1] https://www.livescience.com/little-known-sleep-stage-may-be-...
I personally prefer to let my dreams be, and explore them immediately after waking. I write them down in complete detail first, then slowly let their meanings reveal themselves to me. Inevitably the meaning (by that I mean the relation to my waking life) comes through in the details that seemed inconsequential until I actually wrote them all down.
Perhaps if I got to pick the nominal subjects of my dreams, my dream work and exploration would not change that much. But it definitely wouldn't be the same if I were to be able to script everything that happened.
And if you want to go off the deep end, try the gateway tapes.
I also have sleep paralysis, which is a weird kind of lucid limbo state -- I always know when I'm in it, and I have a method for breaking out of it (rubbing my lips together), but I'm very seldom "dreaming" when I'm in that state.
[1] Might be this one: https://www.amazon.com/Omni-Magazine-September-1994-Exclusiv...
Surprised to read this little gut punch of a short story right in the middle of a fluff column.