Duration 1:25:41

The Mind After Midnight: Where Do You Go When You Go to Sleep

by World Science Festival

5 234 553 watched

42.3 K

Published 18 Mar 2015

We spend a third of our lives asleep. Every organism on Earth—from rats to dolphins to fruit flies to microorganisms—relies on sleep for its survival, yet science is still wrestling with a fundamental question: Why does sleep exist? During Shakespeare and Cervantes' time, sleep was likened to death, with body and mind falling into a deep stillness before resurrecting each new day. In reality, sleep is a flurry of action. Trillions of neurons light up. The endocrine system kicks into overdrive. The bloodstream is flooded with a potent cocktail of critically vital hormones. Such vibrant activity begs the question: Where do we go when we go to sleep? Based on new sleep research, there are tantalizing signposts. We delved into the one-eyed, half-brained sleep of some animals; eavesdropped on dreams to understand their cognitive significance; and investigated extreme and bizarre sleeping behaviors like “sleep sex” and “sleep violence.” The World Science Festival gathers great minds in science and the arts to produce live and digital content that allows a broad general audience to engage with scientific discoveries. Our mission is to cultivate a general public informed by science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for all the latest from WSF. Visit our Website: http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/ Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldsciencefestival Follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/WorldSciFest Original Program Date: June 3, 2011 MODERATOR: Carl Zimmer PARTICIPANTS: Carlos H. Schenck, Matthew Wilson, Niels Rattenborg Video Introduction. 00:00 Carl Zimmer's Introduction. 03:13 Participant Introductions. 04:03 Human sleep vs Animal sleep. 05:40 Sharing sleep traits with animals. 10:03 Ducks sleep with one eye open... but why? 13:22 What is the reason everything needs sleep? 18:30 Are there limits to our dreams? 19:55 Where do we currently stand with dream research? 22:06 The brain never turns off. 26:16 Is daydreaming the same as normal dreaming? 32:18 REM sleep dreams are crazy. 38:57 Dreaming through memory models. 44:41 REM sleep behavior disorder. 46:08 Mel and Norma Gabler and his dream killing 51:58 Sleep fighting footage. 54:20 Sleep state dependent sleep activation. 01:00:28 Extreme animal sleep. 01:02:35 The Curious Case of Kenneth Parks 01:12:10 What is the next step for sleep science? 01:20:38

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Comments - 4218

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@WorldScienceFestival7 years ago Hello, YouTubers. The World Science Festival is looking for enthusiastic translation ambassadors for its YouTube translation project. To get started, all you need is a Google account.
Check out The Mind After Midnight: Where Do You Go When You Go to Sleep? to see how the process works:
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The World Science Festival strives to cultivate a general public that's informed and awed by science.Thanks to your contributions, we can continue to share the wonder of scientific discoveries with the world. .. ...Expand 311
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@KC-dr4qz3 years ago My blind sister liked to sleep cause she could see again while asleep. Lost eyesight at 30. 579
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@mae88614 years ago I like to sleep because my dreams are much more exciting and interesting than my real life. Sad but honest. 2095
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@knutknutsen62493 years ago I had a dog many years ago.
dogs and cats sleep a lot.
never seen this with a cat, but my dog was clearly having the most vivid dreams. talking to himself and legs moving like he was running after some dream vision.
i can only conclude that dogs dream just like we do. ...Expand 14
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@deloeranoreen3 years ago Has anyone ever woke up from a dream not remembering the dream, but feeling it? I know it doesn' t make sense. Idk how to explain it. 626
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@dapperdanman19794 years ago I like to imagine that when you dream you are actually getting a glimpse into the multiverse. The dream is like seeing through the eyes of one of the infinite . ...Expand 156
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@vincenturquhart13703 years ago Video: after midnight you are asleep
me watching this at 4am: interesting. 328
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@IVIetaI9 years ago This little girl is brilliant: " when you' re asleep, you prety much awake, but you dont know it" best simple explanation possible i think. 1113
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@toneshalay61964 years ago I was in a coma for a while and i gotta say, " my brain never cut off, " during that time. Although, i felt like i was in the most relaxed state, . ...Expand 467
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@ronaldkooch7603 years ago Amazing that this video is almost 3 years old and never gets old. I am a person with a well known sleeping disorder and in my mind (while asleep) i do a lot of time traveling. Which is incredible. 35
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@hunkaboomer4 years ago I love listening to people talk about what they are passionate about! Science plus articulation plus pragmatism. Time well spent. 10
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@robert_costello3 years ago I recently had a dream reveal something to me, as to why does all life on this planet need to sleep. I understand it was a dream, but it all made so much . ...Expand 64
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@waynefarley874 years ago The reason why i like to sleep is to forget about this world for a moment. 123
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@FishingtonBurpPuzzle8 years ago Fell asleep during this. Woke up and felt refreshed. Thank you. 40
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@donnacabot35505 years ago Its amazing how we sleep and dream while forgetting about this reality. Wake up and go, " yeah. Shit. Back here again. " lol. 590
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@ThunderMuffinMan6 years ago " when you' re asleep you' re pretty much awake, but you don' t know it. " head explodes. 337
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@ataru44 years ago I once dreamt i was eating a big marshmallow, and in the morning my pillow had disappeared. 249
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@mazariqbal95144 years ago When am sleeping my soul is awake, it travels throughout the world, sometimes recognizing faces and places, sometimes not. 396
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@andyandcallie4 years ago What always has fascinated me is that when you' re asleep, part of you is still awake. Some people can tell themselves to get up at 7 am the next morning . ...Expand 181
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@francis67ferguson4 years ago Super interesting. I will see this again and again. When i am asleep i actually think we are in another dimension. 36
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@tikyreol9783 years ago In second grade, i woke up knowing the solution to an algebra problem we had to solve as homework that i' d thought about for most of the previous day. . ...Expand 3
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@taz-on-the-looseyusef55264 years ago Dreams gives us the opportunity to travel out and meet others into the spirit world, when u die u are actually getting into that spiritworld permanently, the people we see in the dreams are actually the spirit people. 11
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@lisa-shitsakwibjnie5 years ago I love my dreams. I almost remember every one of them. I love the fact that when i' m having a bad dream, i can tell myself it' s a dream in my dream and change my scary dreams. 131
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@mynamejefe76863 years ago In my dreams ill be in places that im very familiar with. But in reality i never seen these places in my life. 42
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@moiramackenzie40254 years ago Sleep for me can be addictive in a depressive state. 446
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@scamwitness65945 years ago You know when you are just dying for something special to eat? That is how my brain is feeling right now - hope this video is good. 39
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@alloneword1544 years ago Its all an illusion. We are here to wake up. To wake up and realize we are consciousness expressing itself. This life is a gift. Consciousness is fundamental. 65
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@mrfrancis73644 years ago Sleep is what keeps sane people sane. I wish they would of gotten around to talking about lack of sleep also-but it was a real good video and talk. 1
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@delorashepard5115 years ago Our soul wonders as we sleep and sometimes we are aware of it. 25
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@tamarabrackett57684 years ago My brain doesnt want to rest! It keeps me awake! I have always had problems getting my mind to shut up! 35
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@carolynvines20279 years ago Actually, i' m not bored by other people' s dreams. I find dreams fascinating both mine and yours. I love for people to share their dreams with me. . ...Expand 9
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@michaelraeuber9514 years ago Sleep is the time when you, being an expression of the whole, reconnect with the common consciousness. 22
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@jelliott84244 years ago These guys have a calm sense of assurance and clarity of purpose that isn' t apparent in other wsf videos.
studying sleep science might be the secret to all human contentment. 1
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@keithmetcalf9523 years ago Dreams are so bizarre, trying to explain a dream you really can' t put words to them. And the feelings i get sometimes areso strange the chemical reaction with rem sleep. 13
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@MKMusicGroupWorldWide3 years ago Shoutout to this channel, 90 minutes docu and no ads at all, salute. 1
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@christina85754 years ago I' m watching this instead of sleeping. 166
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@chuckiemoreo85 years ago I dream every single night. Mostly very vivid dreams. And some recurring.
i love my dreams, ive also be trying different sound frequencies while i sleep to induce lucid dreams. 22
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@orange703836 years ago I' m retired and have settled into a 32 hour day, i' m up for 24 hours then sleep for 8 hours, been doing this for several years now. 24
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@SuperMichelleDJ5 years ago I like sleeping because i can relax and escape from reality for a while. 46
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@katherinefoster56594 years ago Sometimes when im sleep my eyes is closed but my brain still working thinking to many things and traveling. Still working! This very interesting! 3
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@MarkTitus4208 years ago This discussion panel and subject are actually a good remedy for insomnia because i' m getting very sleepy just listening to this. I' m going to put this on the next time i' m having trouble falling asleep. 180
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@blazejm833 years ago Ive got a love hate relationship with sleep. I like to dream and feel alive or not dream and feel dead, and im grateful for waking up, but also hit by anxiety as soon as i realise im awake. 8
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@delfossehomes17804 years ago This totally blew my mind. I had a dream that i was having for months and never could figure out why. But now i see it was taking current memories and bringing past memories into the fear that was happening nb at the time. 4
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@user-lucariogirl4 years ago My medication causes my dreams to be more vivid and memorable. I hear and have read in my dreams as well. It' s crazy as hell. 3
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@bassoguitar54003 years ago When he started talking about night terrors it gave me chills, when i was younger i wasnt diagnosed with adhd yet, so i wasnt prescribed anything for d . ...Expand 6
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@marymaheco4 years ago I used to dream the same dream for many times and finally i knew that i was dreaming of that dream while dreaming and aware of how my brain was creating the scenarioit was weired experience. 6
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@TheMsLady4Real5 years ago " when i' m asleep, i travel in space and live other lives" my mind travels far away at times into other realms! Why i don' t know! 188
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@AliciaM794 years ago Someone once asked me, " what if our dreams are actually our realities and when we' re awake we' re actually. 272
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@nadinepurdis32124 years ago I have dreamt about being in such situations that when i wake up from that dream i am so thankful. 12
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@cherriesaregood81465 years ago I literally used this in my night videos for sleep playlist hehe. 7
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@autotrance8 years ago Wonderful discussion. It is a great pleasure to listen to intelligent people speak about the interesting topics they research. 113
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@Pastor4all524 years ago I remember as a child in bed at night i would think about god-quot; but where did god come from" after thinking about this as i lay on my bed i id="hidden22" had thethat i had a very little head laying on a huge pillow. Even as a young child i interpreted that to mean that god was simply too big for me to comprehend. What say you?. ...Expand 25
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@chrismccullough51075 years ago Some one needs to do a study on shared dreaming and seeing into the next day/future (psychic) dreams. 70
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@samanthadutoit12474 years ago We only sleep to rest our bodies, but our spirits never sleeps. This explains why our we dream. 14
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@Agnochisspahettisfan4 years ago Dreams are what ever you want them to be. With me i can dream what ever i want and have full control of what i do and what happens. I am also able to dream . ...Expand 1
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@Debaseme4 years ago Going to sleep is a little like dying. Going on a journey alone. Into the unknown. 70
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@peterkay74588 years ago Matthew wilson is a gifted lecturer. Really fascinating material on the maze during rem sleep. 14
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@ingenuity1684 years ago I' m amazed by the realness of my dreams.
i think sleep is to rest parts of the brain, but other parts are still awake to go on some fantasy conscious experience.
grateful to these scientists. 1
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@patriciakelly694 years ago My dreams are confusing. I dream about people i seem to know well in my sleep, and i interact well with them. When i wake up and remember some of the id="hidden25" dreams i have no idea who these people are but they were known to me in sleep. I sometimes wonder if there is such a thing as a past life and that im remembering people from that life!. ...Expand 20
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@jennifergamayaodeletina47453 years ago Thank you for the great discussion and learning god bless you all. Have a nice day. 1
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@LordTetsuoShima3 years ago The cries i have in my dreams feel like they have more emotional impact than in reality. 4
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@tame56604 years ago When i' ve dreamed, many dreams as a kid, i got told by my siblings i would talk in my sleep, sometimes laughing, sometimes arguing. I would like to . ...Expand 5
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@akirawilliams61404 years ago Lol when the guy said 2+2 does not equal 4 i choked on my blunt. 46
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@aini-aini6 years ago i love dreamsi love learning about it. I' m a ~~lucid~~vividdreamer and i love my dreams, the goods and the bads they' re all vivid and beautiful. 3
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@P.willow4 years ago This podcast is soo sothing i eventually dozed off to sleep. 28
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@E-Kat3 years ago I had a lucid dream where i was walking on a beach with a person i wasn' t allowed to look at. He said that when we dream, we really go to that place after a long talk given to me by this man, i was told that if i think of a place i want to go, i' ll be transported there very quickly, upwards. Silly me, i thought of home ( but really didn' t wanted to go yet! And instantly, i felt being pulled upwards! The shells i had in my hand, were changing from solid to liquid like and i felt them sipping through the space between my fingers during the acceleration! This all had happened so quickly, but i had enough time to marvel how amazing it felt to be subjected to this force, i suppose like on some fast fairground ride but probably faster.
when i woke up i had my hands still closed, as i tried so much to hold on those shells, to bring a survener for my family. I could feel and see an bluish imprint on my hands, corresponding to the pattern of the sharp, poking bits on these shells.
i wish i were allowed to remember everything the man had said to me about dreams, but he said i won' t be allowed to remember it.
so what was the point even telling me this, i keep asking myself?
i remember this dream so well although it took place many years ago.
thank you for reading my rather clumsy report. ...Expand 4
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@tradelogikk81825 years ago What if we' re all connected to a kind of massthat we only have access to while we sleep?
a realm for our energy while our physical body regenerates.
where time does not exist.
that dream that one day gives you dejavu because you glimpsed the future. That feeling of having had been in that place before even though you know you were not in that place before, but you were in your dream 3 years ago. But you only vaguely remember that after the fact and then brush it off as nonsense.
food for thought. ...Expand 60
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@jodlyabsolu24743 years ago Sometimes i force myself to sleep just to enjoy or to experience what i like and it' s just great. 2
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@SpiroTitan77148 years ago The mind, the most beautifull creation! 203
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@pauletteyearout29584 years ago So glad to hear that there is non- rem sleep. I have had non- rem sleep my whole life and when i heard we only dream during rem i just didnt or couldnt believe it. 1
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@raw4373 years ago I am 56, and i remember my very first dream when i was 2 years old. And also i remember many of my other dreams i had during my life.
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@78tag2 years ago When i was 13, i was visiting family at a lake. We played hard all day chasing each other/hiding under and around one of the boat docks. One of the nights . ...Expand 1
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@akamalo6615 years ago Our phones update at night while on the night stand. Signals and waves we cant see but are there. Dreams are a huge part of our life yet alot of people don' t even question why. 1
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@StephiSensei263 years ago Highly interesting discussion. This would seem to bring into question, what it means to be a conscious being. And then one step further, what it means . ...Expand 2
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@anonimenkolbas13058 years ago Very amusingly, i found myself drifting into a nap as the video progressed. Not because it' s boring, it is quite engaging. Simply because of sleep deprivation. P. 13
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@user-wn8ub9qh7g3 years ago Imagine the day when one' s dreams can be watched by others. Total loss of freedom. Terrifying. 1
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@danielmartin54403 years ago Omg! I have some serious sleep disorders and he explained exactly what i' ve been experiencing for about the last 5 years or so. I' ll be working . ...Expand 1
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@conniechen37674 years ago Excellent speakers thank you all. Is it
possible to carve our sometimes for us to ask questions? Connie sp chen? 3
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@argandzero04 years ago I really loved this. I really did, thank you. But i have two comments to make on it and do correct my view if its way off. My first pick up is that the . ...Expand
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@bustamango8634 years ago When you dream you think its real when youre awake you think its real. Think about that. 31
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@sitamoja11644 years ago When you' re sleep you are still awake you just don' t know it. Little girl had the best answer. 47
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@hypnocilicdreams5 years ago I' m so glad i subscribed to this fascinating & enlightening channel: thank you. 2
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@d.b.87493 years ago I' m an electrician. I' ve been shocked hundreds of times in my 25 year career. Nothing major, 120v finger in a light socket type stuff. />the . ...Expand 1
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@bobvedder24513 years ago Sometimes i go to sleep with an unfinished problem that i had been working on. My mind must figure out the problem so when i wake up i know how to do what i was thinking about. " just sleep on it" 2
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@GrammaJo3607 months ago These guys are a hoot! Funny sense of humor! Great show! 1
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@elizabethwilde11434 years ago When i sleep i have no dreams. I relax completely. My sleep study said they' d never seen a brain shut down so completely. 3
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@robertjohnson78955 years ago I believe that when we dream, we go back home, until we wake up and resume our destiny here in this reality. Just a hope a dream. 175
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@jameszelaznysr.26814 years ago Every time i have a real good one something always wakes me up, and i live alone you would think there would be peace and quiet. 9
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@memeagain34293 years ago I don' t dream that often, but when i do dream i don' t like it. Sometimes it' s nothing and then sometimes it' s critical, but no mater the . ...Expand 1
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@iamarohax4 years ago For aslong as i can remember i' ve always found dreams fascinating. There' s a few i have vivid memory of and most i' ve instantly forgotten. . ...Expand 2
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@DaniqueMaurison4 years ago I sleep over 12 hours per day. My dreams are more real and interesting than reality. I dream every night and seem to be able to make decisions in the dreams. . ...Expand 11
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@wifeoftheparty98393 years ago .SAME! And I thought I was the only person that experienced that. I hope this seminar answers why that happens!
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@loristrachan86339 years ago When i asa horriblesituation that was impossible to deal with. I dreamt one time, that i was being chased by vic them bymaking my wayup a tall ladder. As igot to the top, there was a snake, ready to strike. I felt so cornered, i grabbed the snake by its tail and slew the dogs with it. That was the most victorious and memorable dream in which isignificantly to the emotional upheavals i was living!. ...Expand 76
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@AverageHuman70264 years ago Wow, great talk but i am super duper disappointed they didnt cover anything about sleep paralysis or out of body experience during sleep. Im seeking answers / knowledge on those topics. 1
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@j.c.28564 years ago I have dreams that come true sometimes the next day, or sometimes two weeks later, exactly as i viewed it in my dream, sometimes its a dream without being asleep, fully awake. 9
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@Colhogan063 years ago This in a way provides some insight on the 2nd dr' s question regarding taking what we dreamed and having it change what we do when awake. I was just . ...Expand
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@ellanadelmar61743 years ago Love psychology! Most precise and objective view on human brain! 1
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@alanstarkie20013 years ago I quite like the idea that we live in some kind of simulation or constructed reality. I' m open to this idea. Who knows? When we dream, we are truly . ...Expand 2
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@danielovercash10934 years ago I have no problem sleeping 99% of the time, and i have no knowledge of my dreams 99% of the time. 34