Wenatex Blog :: Healthy Sleep for a Better Life

Can we solve problems in our sleep particularly in the REM sleep phase? Some researchers believe so and this article looks at some major discoveries made in dreams. One of the examples that interested me was the writing of the song ‘Yesterday’ by Paul McCartney.

Please also read some of the comments at the bottom, they support the article really well.

Personally, I am convinced I solve problems during sleep… or at least mull them over and wake up with a clear idea on how to solve them.

The full article was published by BBC News in the UK and can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8092029.stm. Let me know what you think.

I have often wondered why our dreams contain sexual images, dog fights, and car chases a la James Bond etc, but when I did some research, I couldn’t find a non-dream interpretation answer. That is, until I read a book by Dr. Norman Doidge, The Brain that Changes Itself. It states that tests have demonstrated that when we dream, the part of the brain in charge of processing emotion, and our sexual, survival, and aggressive instincts is very active. At the same time, the part that makes us human, which is responsible for inhibiting our emotions and instinct shows very little activity.

There you have it; it looks like during our REM sleep phase, the mind puts the “bouncers” to rest so that all the rest can enjoy the wild party.

What do you think?

Until tomorrow, be wise and have fun.

PS: Is Jane Teresa around?

Information provided in this blog is to be used for educational purposes only. It should NOT be used as a substitute for seeking professional diagnosis or treatment of any disorder.

Browsing the net this evening, I found a company that sells dolls with the faces of Down Syndrome(DS) children. The company is called Downi Creation and their website is http://www.downicreations.com/. I didn’t know how I felt about this, so I sent the article to a Mexican friend of mine who has a son with Down Syndrome… I will let you know her answer.

Nevertheless, I realised that I had absolutely no idea about the sleep patterns of children wth DS, so decided to do further research. This is what I have found out. At SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Baltimore USA, Dr. Nicole N. Phillips presented a study that she performed comparing the sleep patterns of 38 children with DS with 38 normally developing children.

The results are as follows:

1. Children with DS sleep poorly and have more fragmented sleep compared with normally developing children
2. Children with DS may also have an altered sleep architecture characterized by less total sleep time, more stage 1 sleep, and less REM sleep
3. Poor sleep quality and decreased amounts of REM sleep may further impair cognitive, behavioural, and physical growth. This is important to recognise as it is not only valid for children with DS, but for everybody.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Until tomorrow be wise and have fun

Information provided in this blog is to be used for educational purposes only. It should NOT be used as a substitute for seeking professional diagnosis or treatment of any disorder.