Sleep
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A basic sleep assessment is included with a half hour telephone dream consultation
The amount of sleep that each person needs is different, because each of us is unique. It’s therefore difficult to say that each person must have a particular amount, although eight hours is usually quoted as ‘average’. As we get older, we may find that we sleep less (not more, as many people presume) but this doesn’t mean that we need less sleep; sleep may be lighter and less restful – research shows that people aged 60 plus, spend less time in deep sleep. Obviously the amount of time you spend asleep, can affect the amount of time you are dreaming.
The stage of sleep usually associated with dreaming is Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. This is characterized by the dreamer’s eyes rolling from side to side under the eyelids. However, there is another element of dreaming that many people aren’t aware of, that is the body is essentially paralysed during REM sleep. The most popular theory as to why this is, is to stop us carrying out whatever physical activity we are doing in our dream! Extensive studies and sleep research has shown that we all dream, every night, even if we don’t remember them and that sleep, including REM Sleep, is essential for our health and well being. Other characteristics associated with REM sleep are raised pulse and rapid breathing.
What keeps you awake at night? New article on yahoo! Click here.
Did you know...? We spend about 25 years of our lives asleep and of those around seven years dreaming?
Fun stuff: What does your sleep position say about you? Click here to read Dr Chris Idzikowski’s thoughts
As a society, because of our hectic 24 hour lifestyles, it is more and more likely that people will suffer with inefficient sleep and sleep disorders.
Science shows that not sleeping properly can affect our memory, our performance and can increase the likelihood of depression and anxiety. It can also affect our ability to recall dreams and may well induce the likelihood of hallucinations and sleep paralysis (a temporary, but worrying sensation when we wake up and feel as if we can not move).
It is estimated that sleep disorders affect approximately 770,000 people in the UK with one in three people experiencing a period of insomnia at least once in their life time. (Source, Fawlty Winks).
Interesting...
A recent study by Gerhard Kloesch and colleagues from the University of Vienna, Austria, shows that sleeping in the same bed as someone can affect dream recall. The study found, according to the New Scientist, that women tend to remember their dreams after sleeping alone and men recalled them best after sex! For more information visit the New Scientist article here