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Why Do We Need to Sleep?

Written by Andrew

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father-and-child-sleeping

We all know that sleep is good for many obvious reasons: it makes us more creative, less likely to get sick, and reduces stress. It also makes us alert, puts us in a good mood, and makes it easier to deal with people. Moreover, we know that when we don’t sleep, the negative effects are just as obvious.

We also all know that we do it a lot. We do it so much, in fact, that the circadian neuroscientist Russell Foster claimed in his TED talk, Why do we sleep? that the average adult at age 90 will have spent over 32 years of their life asleep – over one-third of our lives.

But the fact is that we (well, scientists) are still in the dark about exactly why we sleep. There is no thorough consensus on the nature and purpose of one of nature’s most mysterious acts. Though there are dozens of theories, the debate rages on, and researchers around the world, from a number of fields ranging from neuroscience to sociology, continue to put forward new ideas about why we are called to drift off every night.

Here, we will try to give you a simple overview, as well as a few more intricate theories.

Our brain and body time to reboot

Sleeping is a regulatory function that our brain controls, much like eating or drinking. That system is highly advanced, involving complex functions between numerous parts of the body and brain. This points to it being as important to our well-being as eating and drinking – in fact, scientists have noted that you can survive longer without food than you can without sleep.

In a nutshell, there is a general understanding that bedtime is when our brain and bodies perform certain fundamental processes, that can’t be achieved while awake. It’s these functions that help us in our daily lives. In other words, like a car, we regularly require time in “the shop” for maintenance and repairs that we can’t do while we’re driving. Sleep is similar to a mechanic’s garage.

But its precise nature of what jobs the mechanic is doing is where things get more complicated.

Why we sleep

Simply to give our brain time to go through potentially hundreds of different specialized functions. The far more complicated answer to the question “why do we need sleep?” is a much less satisfying one. The truth is, we honestly are not certain as to why. As mentioned above, the brain becomes active during sleep in some unique ways, suggesting that special activities are occurring. We also tend to save energy overall while we sleep, giving rise to evolutionary speculation on the usefulness of sleep.

There are dozens of complex theories on why we sleep. Each one is focused on a specific outcome that sleep delivers. Most likely it is the case that we sleep for a combination of reasons that draw from many theories.

health-medical-CAT-scan

Here are four of the main theories about why we sleep:

  • Energy Conservation Theory:

    • This theory is based on the idea that sleep provides us with a way to save our energy in the brain and body. Scientists in this camp posit that sleep is a time for us to power down, and avoid expending unnecessary energy. It is in part derived from an evolutionary perspective that claims there is an advantage to saving energy at night before becoming active again in the day. Believers point to the slow down of physical processes (breathing, heart rate, etc.) and increase in metabolic activity. Critics point out that our brains are often just as active during sleep as they are during consciousness, save for non-REM sleep periods. A much-used anecdote is that the amount of energy you conserve during sleep is equivalent to about one piece of toast; not exactly a massive cache.

  • Restoration Theory:

    • The restorative theory of why we sleep is based on the idea that the brain and body undergo many rejuvenating and healing processes while we rest. The brain uses sleep to clear out cellular waste buildup through a complex structure called the glymphatic system. This process also clears out the buildup of adenosine, a neurochemical that is responsible for the sensation of sleepiness that accumulates anew each day. Drowsiness or that sleepiness sensation can be also a symptom of various illnesses and disorders, not simply a sleep disorder. Some researchers have also discovered that some people with high or even normal blood pressure issues encounter a 20% – 30% decrease in their blood pressure and a 10% – 20% decrease in their heart rate. These processes help us to feel more alert and aware in the mornings. On a physical level, our body regrows muscle and tissue, releases hormones, and completes other restorative functions.

      The physically restorative aspects are especially important for children and teenagers who are growing a lot.There is no hard and fast rule that determines specifically how long every kid needs to sleep, but here are some suggestions that can help you plan a good range. Infants and newborns obviously require the most sleep, than toddlers. Once your child is four years old their required sleep needs will again change. 4-year-old children need around 10-12 hours of solid sleep. Around 3 to 4-year-olds need around 10 to 13 hours each day, but no naps; they need to get all their sleep during the night. From ages 6 to 13 years old the child needs 10.5 – 11 hours, but some early teens can go 12+ hours of sleep each nice.

  • Inactivity or Preservation Theory:

    • This interesting evolutionary theory of sleep holds that we developed the habit over time as a way to keep ourselves out of trouble. Sleeping for up to 8 hours a night, scientists claim, was a good way for our evolutionary ancestors to avoid putting themselves in the way of predators or other harmful environmental forces. Since many predators are active at night and possess sensory advantages for navigating the darkness, it is plausible that there could be an evolutionary advantage for those who became inactive during this time. However, critics say that it is just as plausible that there would be an evolutionary advantage to being alert and able to react to the heightened threats in the evening.

  • Brain Plasticity Theory:

    • This theory is one of the newest, and most deeply rooted in the empirical evidence yielded by modern neurological investigations. In this theory, sleep provides a period for the brain to reorganize and process information gathered during the day, and literally rewire itself. We know that during deep sleep, and especially during the REM periods, our brain is active in sorting through memories, discarding irrelevant ones, and moving important ones from short- to long-term memory. Scientists also point to the importance of sleep for infants whose brains are rapidly developing; they need to sleep more than adults and spend more time in the REM part of the sleep cycle. The idea that sleep allows the brain to process information and change according to that information continues to gain popularity as new technology allows for ever closer monitoring of neural activity during the night.

Sleep Paralysis: Definition, Causes, Treatments

Written by Andrew

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What Is Sleep Paralysis?

Woman with insomnia can not sleep at nightThroughout the ages, sleep paralysis has been attributed to the likes of demons, aliens and even the devil himself. Before the advent of modern medicine and the creation of research tools that have allowed us a scientific understanding of brain function, it’s not hard to see why this was the case.

Sleep paralysis is one of the most disconcerting, terrifying experiences a sleeper can have. In its strange blend of sleep and wakefulness, people feel powerless and scared, unable to physically control their own bodies. Even with a 21st century understanding of why and how this phenomenon affects certain individuals, sleep paralysis can still feel like the work of a mystical force.

So what is really going on when we wake up unable to move or sense danger? What causes sleep paralysis? Can anything be done to prevent it? Is sleep paralysis a symptom of a more serious underlying condition?

There are two main kinds of sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis can be broken down into two distinct types: predormital and postdormital. Predormital paralysis occurs a person is falling asleep and slowly relaxes, and postdormital paralysis occurs as one is waking up.

Both forms of the disorder are characterized by the same symptoms. According to the UK’s National Health Services, during an episode of sleep paralysis you may feel:

  • awake but unable to move, speak or open your eyes
  • like someone is in your room
  • like something is pushing you down
  • intense fear

These episodes can last for several minutes. Some studies suggest that this disorder is very rare, with just over 6% of people reporting that they have experienced the phenom in their lifetime. While less than 1% of people reporting having episodes once a week. However, other studies have estimated that up to one-third of adults have experienced sleep paralysis at least once.

Sleep paralysis is a form of parasomnia

woman with sleep paralysis and panic while lying down under the blanket in bedroomLike sleepwalking, night terrors, confusional arousal, hallucinations, and others, sleep paralysis belongs to a broad category of disorders known as parasomnias.

These conditions are characterized by unwanted physical activities and behaviors that occur when our bodies and minds enter an abnormal state somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.

During the course of a normal night in bed, our body cycles through discrete stages, marked by slightly different brain and body functions. This is known as the sleep cycle. Though the term parasomnia summarizes a broad category of different behaviors, all of them take place when people get “caught” in between discrete stages of the cycle and become partially awake.

How it is linked to REM

Without getting too deep into the specifics of the different stages of sleep, there are broadly two categories known as rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM). Sleep paralysis is a REM type of parasomnia, meaning that it affects individuals as they enter into, or are already in, the REM stage.

During this time, dreams are more common and more vivid. Because of this, the body naturally “paralyzes” its muscles so that sleepers cannot act out their dreams in the middle of the night. This freezing of the muscles is responsible for the immobile sensation associated with paralysis.

Causes of sleep paralysis

While there is no clear cut “cause” of sleep paralysis, sleep researchers have linked this parasomnia with certain triggers and other conditions. Significant factors that can contribute to SP include:

  • Unhealthy or irregular sleep patterns: Not getting enough sleep, or getting it in irregular intervals can lead to SP. Generally speaking, the less routine your nighttime patterns are, the more susceptible to certain disorders you become.
  • Excess stress: High levels of stress can lead to insomnia, which in turn has been linked to episodes of SP.
  • Mental health disorders: Some studies have shown that the prevalence of SP is higher among populations that suffer from mental health disorders.
  • Other sleep disorders: Sleep paralysis has been linked to several other disorders, including narcolepsy, insomnia, and restless legs syndrome (RLS), among others.
  • Certain medications: Some medications might lead to episodes of paralysis, especially those taken for the treatment of ADHD.
  • Substance abuse: Along with many other sleep disorders, there seems to be a link between substance abuse and sleep paralysis, though more research is needed to establish a clear causal link between the two.

This phenomenon can happen to any person regardless of age or gender, though the first experiences with the disorder typically occur during the teenage years.

A young woman doing yoga exercise in morning in a bedroom

 

Treatment Options

Often times, this paralysis occurs so infrequently that it does not require a formal diagnosis and treatment by medical professionals. However, if episodes become frequent, or especially upsetting, there are some treatment options available to combat the episodes.

  • Improve your sleep hygiene: Try to get six-to-eight hours of rest every night. As best you can, try to go to bed and wake at the same time to set a routine your body will naturally adjust to. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine in the evenings, as well as electronics with blue light-emitting displays.
  • Treat underlying conditions: The most important thing you can do is seek treatment for any conditions that might underpin sleep paralysis. Talk to your doctor if you suffer from other sleep disorders like insomnia or narcolepsy, or if you suspect you may have untreated mental health disorders like depression or bipolar disorder.
  • Relieve stress before bedtime: Anything you can do that makes the journey into sleepless fraught will improve your chances of healthy uninterrupted rest. Try practicing meditation or yoga in the evening, or wind down with a bath and a good book. Avoid things like social media or checking emails.
  • Talk to your doctor about medication and therapy options: If you take medication for any other condition, speak with your physician about possible side effects that may cause or exacerbate sleep paralysis. They might recommend that you change your prescription. In severe cases, some doctors might recommend cognitive behavioral therapy as treatment.

 

Night Terrors: Breaking Down Symptoms and Management

Written by Andrew

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child with nightmares sleeping in her father arms

Witnessing a loved one experience night terrors can be a traumatic experience. Characterized by screaming, crying, thrashing, and other reactions to intense fear, night terrors occur as a result of the body and brain being somewhere between asleep and awake.

They can be especially troubling for parents whose young children are the most likely candidates to suffer from this strange disorder. Watching from the sidelines as a child seems to live out a nightmare can make parents feel completely powerless.

But what exactly happens during these episodes? Are they as dangerous as they look? What to do for someone who is having a night terror?

Luckily, sleep researchers know a great deal about the science of these events and have developed a list of management techniques that can keep the disorder in check.

A type of parasomnia

Night terrors, sometimes called sleep terrors, fall under a specific category of sleep disorders known as parasomnias. Parasomnias affect people as they are falling asleep, when they are sleeping or when they are waking up (as opposed to insomnia, which prevents people from falling asleep in the first place). This class of sleep disorders causes unwanted and unintentional physical behaviors that can afflict sleepers at various points in the course of a night.

Different parasomnias are associated with disruptions at various points during the sleep cycle. Parasomnias that occur during the rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep include:

  • Sleep paralysis
  • Nightmare disorder
  • REM sleep behavior disorder

Parasomnias which occur during the non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) phase include:

  • Sleepwalking (somnambulism)
  • Confusional arousal
  • Sleep-related eating disorder
  • Night terrors

Night terrors occur most often during the deepest part of the NREM phase, known as N3 or N4 sleep. Though we cycle through this phase of sleep several times throughout the course of a typical night, it’s during the earlier portion of the night that those events are more likely to occur.

Scientists are unsure about the exact mechanisms causing night terrors, though one 2018 paper hypothesized that the disorder may be the result of mismatches between our modern and evolutionary social environment.

Symptoms of night terrors

Night terrors manifest in episodes of erratic, panicked behavior during the night. The length and severity of these episodes can vary. Some claim that episodes typically last between 30 seconds and 5 minutes, though other sources report that they can last between 45 to 90 minutes.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the most common symptoms of night terrors include:

  • Frightening screaming or shouting
  • Sitting up in bed and appearing frightened
  • Staring wide-eyed
  • Sweating, breathing heavily, and having a racing pulse, flushed face and dilated pupils
  • Kicking and thrashing
  • Getting out of bed and running around the house or exhibiting aggressive behavior if blocked or restrained

Driving this behavior is a subjective experience of terror or fear in the sleeper. They are similar to nightmares in this way, though there are key differences.

For one, nightmares typically occur during the REM phase of sleep when the body intentionally paralyzes muscle activity to prevent the acting out of dreams. Also, sleepers in the middle of nightmares can be woken up relatively easily, and will usually be able to recall the scenario they were experiencing.

Not so with night terrors—it is very difficult to wake a person who is experiencing a night terror. They are likely to be very confused or upset if this happens, and will have little to no ability to recall any part of their experience.

It’s more common in children than adults

Night terrors are significantly more prevalent among children than adults. Experts claim that night terrors affect up to 30% of children. Among the adult population, that number is closer to 1 to 2%.

They are most common among children between the ages of 3 and 7 years old. Typically, night terrors dissipate on their own by the age of 10. Almost all children who experience night terrors at a young age stop having episodes by the onset of puberty.

It is unknown why night terrors affect children more than adults, though some interesting theories are emerging from the evolutionary perspective.

Little girl sleeping in bed

How night terrors are managed

Despite the apparent traumatic nature of these episodes, there is no evidence that they have any negative health effects on their own. However, since sleepers will sometimes move about when they’re experiencing a night terror, there is a chance of bodily injury if their immediate environment is not secure.

Children are most at risk of injuring themselves during night terror episodes. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia provides the following advice for parents and caregivers whose children suffer from night terrors:

  • Try to help your child return to normal sleep. Do not try to wake up your child. Make soothing comments. Hold your child if it seems to help him or her feel better. Shaking or shouting at your child may cause the child to become more upset.
  • Protect your child against injury. During a night terror, a child can fall down a stairway, run into a wall, or break a window. Try to gently direct your child back to bed.
  • Prepare babysitters for these episodes. Families should explain to people who care for your child what a night terror is and what to do if one happens.
  • Try to prevent night terrors. A common trigger can be if your child becomes overly tired. Be sure your child goes to bed at a regular time, and early enough to give him or her adequate sleep. Younger children may need to return to a daily nap routine.

For adults suffering from night terrors, similar steps should be taken to ensure that safety is maintained during an episode. Some doctors might recommend therapy or medication in addition to changes in sleeping habits for adults. Often times, adult night terrors are exacerbated by other sleep conditions such as sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, or jet lag.

 

Exercise and Sleep: How to Get the Best Rest

Written by Alex

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Happy friends exercising by running together outdoors living active healthy lifestyle

It is no secret that rest and regular exercise are both critical to overall health and wellness. But can you have one without the other? The simple answer is, not for long.

You’re probably familiar with the benefits of physical activity. And you’ve probably experienced the interdependence of sleep and exercise. Maybe you’ve had to skip your scheduled workout class because you were jetlagged or had a late night out with friends. Or you might’ve had trouble falling asleep one night when you spent the day lounging on the couch.

Sleep and exercise have been found to be deeply related, and that relationship is reciprocal. Read on to learn about how these two activities affect each other, and for tips on how to get adequate rest to help you maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.

Exercise can improve your rest

Scientists don’t know the exact physiology behind how exercise can improve sleep, but there is no shortage of evidence that it does. In fact, Johns Hopkins Medicine advises that just 30 minutes of moderate exercise per day can lead to better quality zzzs. Whether you’re running, briskly walking, riding a bicycle, or doing resistance weight training, researchers have discovered that regular exercise can help address several nighttime difficulties.

  • Insomnia: Regular physical activity regimens have been shown to improve sleep quality in older adults who suffered from chronic insomnia according to a study published in the journal Sleep Medicine. Insomnia may be acute or chronic difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up too early. To learn more about insomnia, read our article here.
  • Slow-Wave Sleep: Regular, moderate exercise can increase the duration of slow-wave, or Non-REM sleep. According to Johns Hopkins, this is the period that allows your body to recover from the day. Your sleep cycle can be broken into two major phases, random eye movement (REM) and slow-wave or Non-REM sleep. After you fall asleep you begin slow-wave, during which your body and mind recover from the day. Next, you enter REM, when the brain becomes more active and most dreams occur. To learn more about this cycle, read our article here.
  • Depression: Exercise has been shown to reduce depressive symptoms in several studies, including a 2013 study published in the Cochrane Systematic Review. The Sleep Medicine article also found exercise to improve depressive symptoms in subjects. Nocturnal disorders are major symptoms of depression, which is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health conditions in the U.S.
  • Sleep Disordered Breathing/Apnea: Moderate exercise has been shown to improve sleep-disordered breathing or respiratory issues that interfere with slumber. One of the most common examples is obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs when an individual airway is blocked causing them to temporarily stop breathing and wake up as a result. Exercise may improve the conditions of sleep-disordered breathing and apnea in two ways. For one, excess body weight has been linked to sleep-disordered breathing. In fact, as many as 40% of individuals who experience sleep-disordered breathing can attribute it to excess weight, according to a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology. And according to an article in Harvard Health, exercise is an important part of losing weight and improving sleep quality. Additionally, a study published in the journal Sleep found that regular, moderate exercise improved sleep quality for subjects with obstructive sleep apnea independent of weight loss. Subjects experienced fewer apneas per hour and better REM and Non-REM sleep.

A word of warning about exercising before bedtime: some people may have a hard time falling asleep after working out right before bed. For these individuals, Web MD suggests that a higher core body temperature and heart rate from the workout might be to blame. The good news is that it shouldn’t harm the quality of your sleep, and doesn’t affect everyone the same way. So while it is not ideal for people with a strict bedtime, if you prefer late-night exercise and it doesn’t keep you up at night: carry on!

Getting your 8 hours can improve your ability to exercise

Side portrait of a man sleeping outside

A more recent, though intuitive, finding in the world of sleep and exercise is that there are bidirectional effects. That is, the relationship works both ways.

  • Poor sleep can make it difficult to exercise: A successful exercise routine can improve the quality of sleep, but the contrapositive is also true: sleep deprivation can make it more difficult to perform your exercise routine. In a 1980 study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, researchers found that just one night of sleep deprivation had a negative impact on psychological responses to moderate and heavy exercise. After a full night of proper rest, all of the subject’s responses returned to normal. During the test, physiological measurements remained the same. Subjects felt that they were working much harder during exercise after missing a night of sleep, even though their hearts and lungs were not.
  • Quality rest may, or may not, encourage exercise: The inverse relationship, unfortunately, is not so clear. Scientific studies have different conclusions as to whether getting a good night’s sleep will make you more likely to exercise. Findings from one study in 2013, published in the Journal of Sleep Medicine, suggest that when subjects got more or better quality sleep they were more likely to exercise the following day. These results were more pronounced with individuals who got less rest to begin with. But a study the following year published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine found that improved slumber did not result in increased physical activity among subjects.

Bottom line

Regular exercise can help improve the quality of your rest, and getting quality rest can improve your ability to exercise. Rather than worry about whether the regular exercise or quality slumber came first, anyone looking to build, or build upon a healthy lifestyle, should work to incorporate both. And if you’re starting your nighttime ritual, read our eight sleep tips.

 

Your Sleep Guide to Dreaming

Written by Andrew

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There isn’t a more mysterious, more hotly debated, or more baffling activity of the human brain. For as long as we have been sleeping, we have been dreaming. For just as long, we have been theorizing and experimenting and wondering just how and why our brains take us on those strange nighttime journeys.

Dreaming 101

Some say they are a reflection of the unconscious—famously, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung built immense psychological theories around that idea. The odd symbolism we encounter when dreaming can sometimes feel like it has roots in our everyday life.

“The dream is a sort of substitution for those emotional and intellectual trains of thought”
-Sigmund Freud

But what do we know for sure about dreaming? In recent years, and especially since the advancement of modern neurological monitoring techniques, scientists know more than ever about what is really going on in our heads when we enter a dream state.

Man in bed daydreaming

What exactly are dreams?

We all know what it feels like to have one. There is the feeling of awakeness, that you are moving around in the world interacting as if you weren’t in bed asleep. Often there are little bits of strangeness to the scenarios we encounter. Symbolism, unreality, and emotional response are all common elements of imagination.

Early interpretations of their meaning were rooted in the idea that during sleep, humans were able to bridge some gap between two worlds. That idea later morphed into the Freudian concept of dreams being a portal into the unconscious mind. In both cases, dreams were seen as a way to experience some revelatory journey of meaning for the dreamer–a play of sorts designed to discern deeper meaning in our lives.

Today, scientists view them as more of an intentional act of our physical body than a passive experience for our mind. Modern technology, especially the EEG machine and discovery of sleep cycles, has allowed us to peer into the dreaming brain to discover a tremendous amount of neurological activity taking place.

What happens when we dream?

In many ways, your nighttime brain activity is simply one more piece of the complicated process of recovery which our brains undergo every night when we sleep. As we move through the sleep cycle and our brain moves from one task to another, we actually experience different types of fantasies, suggesting that our imagined experiences are linked directly to our brain activity.

During non-REM sleep, studies have shown that people do have dreams, though they are often more like hazy memories than crazy fantasies. These dreams are also much more difficult to remember, even if one is woken up right in the middle of it.

During this phase of sleep, brain activity in the hippocampus is focused on memory consolidation, or the process of taking processed experiences from the day and turning them into long-term memories. It may be the case that non-REM dreams are somehow a consequence of that function.

Woman smiling and dreamingScientists have linked the most vivid, bizarre and memorable types of dreams to REM (rapid eye movement) phase of the sleep cycle. This is likely related to the fact that REM sleep brings the highest levels of brain activity compared to any other phase. Scientists believe it is during this part of our sleep cycle that information from the day is processed so that it can later be transferred to long term memory during non-REM sleep.

Interestingly, this phase of the sleep cycle is also characterized by several physical changes, including most notably the back and forth pacing of the eyes, mixed with the relaxation of muscles elsewhere in the body. It has been theorized that this kind of intentional paralysis is intended to prevent our bodies from physically acting out our dreams.

Why do we dream?

Even though scientists have come a long way in breaking down the neurological characteristics of how we dream, the truth is that we are still not exactly sure why we dream.

Many believe, as discussed above, that dreaming is simply a by-product of the information organizing and storage processes that parts of the brain engage in as we sleep. Under this logic, dreams are a kind of abstract lens through which to view the content our brain is trying to codify and store for future use.

Another school of thought, called “threat simulation theory,” holds that our ability to dream evolved over time as a way to help us protect ourselves from threats in our environment. Scientists in this camp believe that dreams are an exercise of sorts, a kind of “dry-run” our minds can engage with and can practice reacting to threatening situations and themes.

Some sleep researchers still believe in dreams as manifestations of the Freudian subconscious and think that dreams provide our minds the ability to grapple with complex or troubling emotional concepts in an abstracted way.

All of these theories illustrate the lack of consensus in the community about dreaming’s value to the individual. But the good news is that research continues at a steady pace in this field. Much of that research will likely be published in the scientific journal dedicated entirely to the subject, aptly named Dreaming.

lady sleeping and smiling

Can sleep be productive?

Absolutely! Regardless of which theory you subscribe to, it is clear that all of them play a role in the idea that dreams have the ability to help us process complicated information. With that said, here are a few tricks to try and make the most out of your dreams:

  • Maintain a healthy sleep cycle: Good sleep hygiene will help ensure that you are getting to dream in the first place. Getting plenty of exercise, avoiding screens before bed, and limiting your alcohol and drug consumption will increase the likelihood that you move between the sleep cycles naturally.
  • Think about a problem you’d like to solve as you drift off: If you’ve ever been faced with a problem or difficult decision, you’ve likely been advised by someone, at some point, to “sleep on it.” There’s a reason this advice has endured. A good night’s sleep can be just what you need to come up with creative solutions to problems big or small. Try contemplating the situation at hand as you fall asleep and it’ll increase the chances that your brain will incorporate those concepts into your dreams. But if it is a problem that you’re meditating on, It’s important not to stress about it, as that may make it more difficult to fall asleep.
  • Keep a dream journal close to your bed: It can be hard to remember your dreams if you don’t write them down as soon as you wake up. The more time you spend trying to remember dreams, the better you become at it.
  • Try taking a nap: Short naps can be sneaky ways to hack our brain into lucid dreams. The secret to becoming a lucid dreamer lies in our tendency to fall into REM sleep quickly when napping— especially if we missed out on it the night before.