Sleep

  

I still haven't figured out the whole sleep thing. I used to take sleep for granted as I've been doing it since Day One and every single other day for over sixty years now. It's the same with breathing, I do it all the time but I never take it for granted, I have a pretty good idea what the purpose of breathing is and why I need to do it so much.
   Sleep is different. Of course it gives the body an opportunity to rest and that is important but why can't you simply rest your body by plopping it down in an armchair for six to eight hours and leave it at that? Why is there a need for the human body to periodically enter a state of unconsciousness simply so that it can carry on the next day?
   Even scientists are a little vague as to why sleep is necessary. One theory has it that animals, in an attempt to avoid predators, would choose to remain still and quiet at times when those predators were out and about, in order to avoid detection. When evolution took over, this adaptive safety measure became sleep.
   Another theory is that sleep evolved as an energy conservation technique---you saved up your energy for when you really need it ie. hunting.
   Brain plasticity and the ability to grow cognitively are also touted as reasons sleep may be necessary.
   In all of this, though, there is still no hard and fast reason why sleep is necessary.
   What strikes me, though, when I really think about it is that sleep, unlike nourishment, does not simply produce a cause and effect relationship. It seems to assist the body with physical revitalization but this is not all that occurs when you sleep. You dream when you sleep.

   Is dreaming, then, also a vital by-product of sleep?
   If sleep were to be truly restful then there are lots of times when I would not want to have been dreaming when I was sleeping. I have awoken from a sleep beset by dreams which, rather than leaving me rested, only caused anxiety or fear, based on whatever it was I dreamt about. This does not seem restful to me.
   I wonder why we dream, then.
   As much as scientists have been unable to pin down exactly the need for sleep, they also have failed in the same way to discover the need for dreams.
   Dreaming occurs when you are the most deeply asleep, this occurring during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Some theories suggest that dreaming is a result of the brain trying to process the increased stimulation of the limbic system, the part of the brain which involves emotion, sensation and memories.
   Another suggestion for why we dream is that the brain, much like a computer, is simply trying to "refresh" itself. Another is the possibility that the brain is responding to and trying to interpret external stimuli in the waking world. As an example, a radio might be on somewhere and somehow the song on the radio becomes part of a dream.
   These are all theories and no-one really knows why we dream and why we sleep. Personally, I see sleep and

dreaming as the brain's opportunity to flex its muscle just a touch and show us that it's actually in control. It transports us out of the everyday flotsam of our waking lives and gives us little glimpses of what our hopes and desires are. It takes us places and puts us in situations we would never have entered, on our own. Dreams make us question our self-worth, sexuality, imagination, motivation and self-control. They show us our fears. Our brains, when we are asleep, screw with us.
   When I was younger, I tended to listen to and appreciate orchestral pieces of music. I heard these pieces in school and my parents had a couple of albums which highlighted them.
   Occasionally, as I was drifting off to sleep, I would hear music in my head---grand, sweeping pieces of music that I seemed to be in charge of and could propel in whatever direction I wished. These were always wonderful, semi-conscious moments. As an adult, I found I had the ability to sit down and compose similar music, with almost no formal training, apart from a few clarinet scales in Grade Nine. It's almost as if my brain were bridging some kind of gap between my own little dreamworld and the waking world I am familiar with.
   One of the other theories as to why we dream is that it provides an opportunity for psychoanalysis. It gives us the opportunity to look at a dream and try to figure out what it says about us that we might not already be aware of. I have some pretty weird dreams (we all do) and sometimes I have no idea what they're all about. Generally, though, if I really think about it, I can figure out why I was dreaming what I was dreaming. Often a dream will reference some occurrence from the past, even if that occurrence couldn't possibly be more inconsequential. It is up to us, then, to try and decipher the meaning of that dream. Possibly that inconsequential occurrence was a little more significant than we thought...?
   If I could choose to have dreamless sleeps I'm not sure that I would. I believe that a dream is as valid an experience as anything that might happen when you are fully conscious. They sometimes will show you a different way of looking at things. They might inspire or provoke you. Even the ones which scare you might tell you something about yourself (whether you like it or not!)