Dreaming Blind

Most of the time, I don't remember my dreams. But when I do remember my dreams, they're mostly of when I'm dying and wake up or I'm with loved ones that no longer are here. This lead me to wonder what people who don't see anything at all dream about. They have feelings and sensations but how do they visualize something that they've never seen before.

I found out that those blind from birth, congenitally blind, do indeed cannot see in their dreams. They mainly dream in sound, touch, taste, and smell. For example, someone would dream of making coffee by feeling the cup, smelling the coffee beans, and tasting the bitter coffee. It is impossible for a person to dream of something that they've never known about.

Although the congenitally blind cannot see in their dreams, those whom weren't born blind but instead became blind after a year old or so can sometimes see in their dreams. A little girl reported that when she became blind at the age of 6, she could never visualize how her mother looked like after the age of 36. This was heartbreaking for me to read about. I've always taken being able to see my mom every day for granted. I love my mother and will remember this comment as I grow older with her. Those whom have been able to see for a longer period of time have reported being able to see more dreams than those whom have only been able to see for a short period of time, as expected. 

Research shows that 86% of the blind remember hearing in their dreams while only 64% of normal people remember hearing. 18% of blind people compared to 7% of regular people remember tasting in dreams. While 28% of blind report smelling, 15% of the average person remembers in their dreams. With a huge number of 70% blind remembering touch in dreaming, people with sight has only 45% who remember. This experiment included those whom are congenitally blind, became blind after 1 year old, and a control group. This shows the difference in how we perceive our senses while in our sleep compared to those missing their sense of sight. 

Everyone still experience similar feelings in our dreams. Whether it be fear, sadness, anger, or happiness, all individuals understand what it's like to experience these different feelings. What exactly triggers a specific emotion differs from person to person, but we all feel the same things. Emotions play a big roll in our dreams and affects everybody.

This is my last blog post on this topic. I hope you enjoyed reading my articles and have learned some new and interesting details concerning both sleep and dreams. Until I decide on any future blogs, I'll see you later. Peace.

Pandika, Melissa. "Do You Ever Wonder What the Blind Dream About?"OZY. OZY, 25 Nov. 2015. Web. 21 May 2016. <http://www.ozy.com/acumen/what-is-it-like-for-blind-people-to-dream/31902>.

Colorful Dreams for the Colorblind?

I know a lot of people are colorblind or partially colorblind. So I thought, is it possible for someone who's never seen a specific color be able to see them in their sleep? The thought of that would make someone who's colorblind to always want to sleep so they can see the world in all its vivid colors. But then I also wondered, how does a person see something in their dream that they've never seen in real life.

Most people are not fully colorblind so they can still see some colors. The colors they see in real life, are the colors they see in their dreams. For example, people with red-green color vision defect sees green and white stripes on the American flag. Since they never saw what the color red looks like, they can't envision what red looks like while dreaming in their sleep. In the following image, if you only see a circle then you are colorblind. However, if you see the special number then you have normal eyesight.

When you became colorblind also pays a role. If you only recently became colorblind and have seen colors in your life, seeing dreams in colors are normal. It must be nice to go a day of going without seeing your favorite color to seeing all the colors in the world while sleeping. 

Melina, Remy. "Do Colorblind People Dream In Color?" LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 28 July 2010. Web. 18 May 2016. http://www.livescience.com/32731-do-colorblind-people-dream-in-color-.html.

Lucid Dreaming/ Sleep Paralysis

I've always heard about what lucid dreaming is but I wasn't really sure about what it is. Yesterday, my friends wanted to try doing lucid dreaming. One of my friends, however, said that when you're in a lucid dream, you have to wake yourself up voluntarily. This scared my friends since being in a lucid dream is like being in paralysis.

I decided to first do some research on what lucid dreaming actually is. With a little bit of digging around, I found out that while in a lucid dream, you can't always control everything. It takes a lot of practice to bend everything to your will. Lucid dreaming is being aware that you are in a dream but not necessarily controlling your dream. This peaked my interest and decided that maybe I should try being more aware of my surroundings so that I may one day experience lucid dreaming. Many people do lucid dreaming to find themselves spiritually, physically, etc. or to get over a traumatic experience or fear. 

I tried to do some research on whether lucid dreams cause sleep paralysis. I found out that most people actually use lucid dreaming to escape from sleep paralysis. So the fear of not waking up while in a lucid dream is really just a myth. I look forward to hopefully reaching a lucid dream hopefully one day.

Hurd, Ryan. "What Is Lucid Dreaming?" Dream Studies Portal. N.p., 02 Sept. 2009. Web. 15 May 2016. http://dreamstudies.org/2009/09/02/what-is-lucid-dreaming/

Dreams

I remember my mom always telling me that even though I don't remember my dream, I still have dreams. I found this hard to believe. It's been 9 years since I last remembered one of my dreams. Therefore, I thought that I just stopped dreaming. I decided to do some research on this topic and found out that everyone does indeed dream, usually done during the REM(rapid eye movement) stage.

Dreams are like a parallel world to us while sleeping. Dreams reflects your current problems and life struggles. Only 20% of your dreams involve people or places that we know. I want to one day be able to remember my dream when I wake up or be aware that I am dreaming while in my sleep. 

I found out that there's actually a term for being consciously aware that you are dreaming while in your sleep. This is called lucid dreaming. Being able to lucid dream and feel the experience of perceiving the fact that I am in a dream will be amazing. Next post will be all about lucid dreams.

Edwards, Lin. "Dreams May Have an Important Physiological Function."Dreams May Have an Important Physiological Function. PhysOrg, 9 Nov. 2009. Web. 11 May 2016. http://phys.org/news/2009-11-important-physiological-function.html.

Stages of Sleep

Do you ever notice when you drift off into sleep? Because some nights I stay up lying in my bed trying to fall asleep, I wanted to know the steps taken to fall into sleep. I found out that there are 4 primary stages that must be taken plus Rapid Eye Movement, or REM for short. Scientist have found these stages through the use of brain waves. And every time we sleep, we go through the same cycle until we wake up.

Stage 1:

This stage is when you are half awake, half asleep, and first start feeling sleepy. Usually, people would not call this sleeping but dozing off instead. Stage 1 is normally around 5-10 minutes long and is very easy to be waken up from, since you are still aware of your surroundings(easily startled by touch or sound and eyes are moving).

Stage 2:

The second stage is still in light sleep mode, but now your eyes have stopped moving altogether. Your heart rate and body temperature both decreases. This stage also lasts about 5-10 minutes.

Stage 3:

Third stage is when deep sleep begins; very few people can crawl out of stage 3 to wake up. Unless a person is very strong, hears their name, or a baby's cry for some example, the majority of humans are fast asleep. About 10 minutes(or 7%), of your sleep is spent on this stage. 

Stage 4:

On the fourth stage, the deepest non-REM sleep is achieved. This is usually when it is the most difficult to wake someone and also when your body restores itself. 15-20%, or 35-40 minutes, of your sleep is done in stage 4 in the average adult.

REM:

Finally, we have reached the last stage in the sleep cycle. REM is when people normally dream the most and are in the deepest of sleep. The body is completely relaxed while energy is being restored to your body. This is the part of sleep that effects how you perform during the day. Your eyes are constantly moving back and forth, since your mind is alive and bursting with thoughts. Around 25% of our, sleep is in REM. 

Every time we reach the end of the cycle(the end of REM), we start over from the beginning of the cycle as deep sleep shortens and REM lengthens. Each cycle is about 90 minutes long. It was interesting learning about the different steps of sleep. But thinking about dreams, I realized that I want to know why I don't seem to remember any of my dreams while it feels like everyone else can. Check out my next blog to find out more.

"The Different Kinds of Sleep." BrainFacts.org. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/sleep/articles/2012/the-different-kinds-of-sleep/>.

"What Happens When You Sleep?" - National Sleep Foundation. N.p., 2012. Web. 07 May 2016. https://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/what-happens-when-you-sleep.

No Sleep = Bad Mood

Not getting enough sleep is a drag. Ever wondered what others think of your behavior after pulling an all nighter to finish that project, study for that big test, etc. I'm sure most of noticed that we're usually a little cranky and the whole world seems to be against us.

I did some research on the person who holds the record for staying awake the longest period of time, 264.4 hours (11 days 24 minutes). This risky man, Randy Gardner, did it to prove that lacking sleep isn't bad for you, but he ended up disproving his purpose. Gardner found ten things during his experiment that affected him emotionally.

These ten things found included:

1. Sleepy Brains Work Harder
2. Short-Term Memory is Shot
3. Long-Term Memory is Shot
4. Attention is Shot
5. Planning is Shot
6. Habits Take Over
7. Risky Business
8. Dying Brain Cells
9. Mania
10. Car Crash

Some of these things seem logical now and can be noticeably seen while doing our everyday routine.

On Gardner's 11th day without sleep, he was asked to continuously subtract 7 from 100. However, he stopped on number 65 saying he had no clue what he is doing. Researchers also experimented on mice to find out that 25% of their brain cells were dead from prolonged sleep. Also after spending 36 hours of no sleep, your ability to plan and coordinate go haywire; knowing when and how to start or stop tasks has been tested to prove this is effected from lack of sleep.

"Lack of Sleep: The 10 Most Profound Psychological Effects - PsyBlog."PsyBlog RSS. N.p., 23 Mar. 2014. Web. 03 May 2016. http://www.spring.org.uk/2014/03/sleep-deprivation-the-10-most-profound-psychological-effects.php.