Contents
REM sleep is a great stress reliever
REM sleep has been scientifically linked to decreased levels of the chemicals that have been associated with a higher level of stress. According to research, the dream phase of REM sleep may allow the sleeper to safely process all of their previous emotional experiences in a softer environment than the real world. The environment that the sleeper experiences their past emotions happens in an environment of low norepinephrine. After the sleeper awakes from low norepinephrine sleep, they have been able to reprocess emotions that may have been initially challenging to face in a much more calm and collected manner.
Dreams during REM sleep can be manually manipulated
The dreams that a person has during the REM sleep are capable of being controlled. The state in which a person having low norepinephrine REM sleep is able to control their dreams is formally referred to as lucid dreaming. Certain clinical researchers have suggested that one of the ways to manually enact lucid dreaming is through activities like video gaming. Because video gaming is essentially an exercise in virtual reality, the brain is trained to create its own virtual reality at night.
The eyes move and process images during REM sleep
While your eyes may be closed during sleep, in truth, your eyes are still seeing different things even while you are in REM sleep. Every time that your eyes are moving during REM sleep, your eyes are still processing new mental images in the darkness. Essentially, the objects that you observe in your dreams are being processed in the same fashion that your eyes would process real life objects.
REM sleep is essential for developing children
REM sleep is much more critical for the proper development of the brain then many people are aware of. If a child is not allowed to get the adequate amount of REM sleep, then they might actually have their most critically developmental phases stunted. The amount of REM sleep that a child receives has a direct impact on their potential to perform at their best ability in school and extracurricular activities.
REM sleep can facilitate more creative capacity
REM sleep is deeply involved in creative processing. It has been shown that when a person has gotten a sufficient amount of REM sleep, they exhibit an increased ability and drive to come up with creative solutions to problems that were far more challenging before they had an opportunity to sleep on it. The reason that REM sleep can stimulate better creative thinking is due to the fact that REM sleep has an ability to galvanize the neural pathways that facilitate the connection of seemingly unrelated ideas. In addition to facilitating a better creativity for past problems, REM sleep also encourages higher creativity for new problems as well.
Thrashing and dreams of violence can be a warning
It has been found that there are certain rare disorders that cause certain individuals to act out in particularly violent ways during their REM sleep cycle. If the violent outbursts during sleep are severe enough, then it just might be the indication of a future neurodegenerative brain issue that may manifest to a greater degree down the line. Some of the particular disorders that can be predicted by violent REM sleep behavior are Parkinson’s and dementia.
