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Your brain is even more active during dreaming (REM sleep) than when you’re awake. As your eyes are moving back and forth, it’s stimulating the visual cortex area of your brain and your brain is sending out signals to your muscles to move, as if you were awake. Luckily, another part of your brain blocks these signals to move or you would be acting out your dreams.

Adults spend about 90 minutes in REM sleep whereas infants spend half their sleep time dreaming. Dreams are thought to be used by the brain to make sense of the days’ events and to create new memory pathways while stimulating the brain.

Why We Dream

The notion that dreams are predictions of the future later gave way to the idea that dreams are used to resolve personal issues.

Freud believed that dreams explained the working of the unconscious mind and that by understanding our dreams we could better understand ourselves and what motivates us. He believed that our dreams were often symbolic of our unfulfilled dreams and desires.

Freud also had a tendency to reduce most dreams to some repressed sexual desire.

Two British scientists, Christopher Riche Evans and Edgar Arthur Newman compared our dreaming to the working of a computer. Our dreams were used to process the days events, the emotions we experienced and our troubles, and our brains would keep the useful information and store it as a long term memories and get rid of the other junk so our neural pathways would not get clogged up.

If this were true then how do explain people would seem to have perfect memory? They have eidetic or photographic memory and can recall everything that has happened to the on every day in their life.

Maybe our dreaming involves random electrical firings in our brain to maintain the memory pathways. It’s kind of like a classic car collection in an airplane hanger. You can’t just leave the cars there unattended or the batteries would go dead and parts would cease up so you start them up and take them for short drive to keep them in working order.

Our brains have a routine of maintaining our memories during our dreams by recalling them. Since there is not a part of our brain devoted to remembering cats and another for bananas, the random firing in our brains may touch upon may different, unrelated thoughts at any one time. Then the dream is composed of the memories that are available. And as weird as some dreams can be, at the time, everything makes perfect sense.

Dreaming may be an important component in solving our problems as it is often best to “sleep on it” before making an important decision.

Our dreams may be important for the ideas that come to us in our waking hours, known as our creativity.  Where did that original idea come from?

Remembering Your Dreams

If you are interested in finding out if there is any meaning to your dreams the first thing you have to do is record them. Keep a pad and a pen beside your bed and when you awaken, record your dreams with as much detail as you can in your dreams journal.

Some people have found that they can remember their dreams better if they actually tell themselves as they are winding down and relaxing in bed that “I will remember my dreams.”

Speed can also be important. You might want to use a personal recorder to verbalize as much detail as you can before your dream fades and dissolves into the ether.

Rather than there just being one, all encompassing theory for why we dream, I think it’s quite possible that our brain uses all of the above while we are dreaming. One moment our dreams are solidifying memories, at another moment dealing your emotional issues of the day, and later routine memory maintenance or after a dull day, just make something up for it’s own amusement.

Since our brains are so complex, why not all of the above at once? Or in combination one night and in another combination the next.

Maybe our dreams will give us insight into our future or symbolize our desires. And maybe, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Dead tired

One of the hardest things students have to learn in school is how to stay awake during class. Everyone has been there and it’s funny to watch someone else fight falling asleep in class, a victim of “The Bob”.

First your eyelids seem to be getting heavier by the minute, your breathing is getting shallower then your eyes shut even as you fight to keep them open. Then you’re momentarily jolted back into semi-consciousness as you snap your head back upright after it had fallen forward onto your chest or back until you were looking at the ceiling.

Maybe it was a late night studying, yeah right, stick with that story. More likely some gaming that couldn’t end until the end of the next round, or level 9000, whichever came first, or some late night TV, watching videos or visiting your favourite social networking sites.

High school is where many poor sleep habits start and they are many times worse in college. Apart from missing a lot of information, these bad habits will often follow you into adulthood and possibly dog you for the rest of your life.

25 Ways to Help Stay Awake in Class

1. Participate in discussions or ask questions. The teacher doesn’t have to know you’re doing it to stay awake
2. Sit up straight. Slouching is a sleep precursor
3. Chew gum or mints
4. Suck on cough drops
5. Concentrate on what the teacher is saying
6. Doodle
7. Take lots of notes
8. Bounce your crossed leg up and down
9. Shift around in your chair
10. Sip cold water
11. Sit at the front of the class
12. Move your feet
13. Pinch yourself
14. Stare wide-eyed into a light
15. Bite your tongue
16. Play with your pen
17. Don’t lean on your hands
18. Work on your to-do list or shopping list
19. Avoid mid-week late nights or all-nighters
20. Maintain a regular sleep schedule
21. Try to get 8 ½ to 9 ½ hours of sleep every night
22. Exercise in the morning or walk/ride to school
23. Eat breakfast for an extra energy boost
24. Eat healthy snacks instead of chocolate bars or chips
25. Eat a light lunch – avoid the hoggie or turkey sub

If you follow this list of 25 time-tested ways to help you stay awake in class, you may develop some good sleep habits and Buddha willing, maybe you’ll learn something.

What works best for you? Leave a comment below.

For foods that help promote sleep, this list is the one for you. Combine this list of sleep promoting foods with moderation and you will be sleeping better in just days. One major key is to not to go to bed hungry or bloated like Cool Hand Luke after eating 50 hard boiled eggs.

Almonds
Almonds are heart-healthy nuts that contain arginine to help reduce and control stress, the amino acid tryptophan that acts as a sedative and magnesium that helps to relax your muscles. One small handful of almonds is all you need. Don’t eat too many because although healthy, they are high in fat. Another added benefit is the intestinal scrubbing you’ll receive.

Bananas
Bananas are another super sleep inducing food because they contain the sleep inducing chemicals melatonin and serotonin and muscle relaxing magnesium. Forget the sleeping pills and try a banana with a small glass of milk.

Chamomile Tea
The most celebrated of the herbal teas is Chamomile. It has been consumed for centuries for its sedative effect that helps relax a person’s body and mind.

Flaxseeds
Flaxseeds may be small in size but they are big in omega-3 fatty acids that will lift your mood and make getting to sleep much easier.

Honey
Try adding a small amount of sugar to your herbal tea, milk or oatmeal as it will signal your brain to stop producing the neurotransmitter orexin that keeps people alert. Too much sugar at bed time can be stimulating to you body so keep the amount you use to a teaspoon or less.

Milk and Dairy Products
Milk and cheese both contain sleep promoting amino acid tryptophan as well as calcium which your brain uses to synthesize more tryptophan. You can try a small glass of warm milk and or a small piece of cheddar cheese because cheese also has a high fat content.

Oatmeal
Another melatonin containing food is oatmeal. For a blast of sleep inducing foods try a small bowl of oatmeal with a little milk and top it with a dusting of ground flax seeds and drizzled with honey.

Peppers
Eat vitamin C packed yellow peppers to help control your stress level.

Popcorn
A small amount of air-popped popcorn will provide your body with the carbohydrates it needs to help you relax as aid in the production of serotonin. Don’t use the oil popped popcorn and drown it in butter. The idea is a light snack not an extra thousand calories that will gravitate to your thighs as you sleep.

Potatoes
A small baked potato has carbohydrates and will also help your body use tryptophan.

Sesame Seeds
Grind up some tryptophan rich sesame seeds and add them to whole wheat, peanut butter sandwich.

Tuna
Tuna is high in tryptophan that will help you get to sleep.

Turkey
Combine the tryptophan boost in turkey breast with a whole wheat bun for a sleep inducing snack.

Whole Wheat
Whole wheat bread in a sandwich or as a slice of toast will release insulin which will help your body’s tryptophan be converted into serotonin.

Eat a few of these sleep promoting foods a half hour before bedtime and you will be more likely to have a good night’s sleep. Just remember to keep your snack small because you want the sleep inducing benefits without the excess calories or heavy fat content of a meal that may have you awake with heartburn a few hours later.

1. At an airport
Many a passenger has spent a night or two sleeping at an airport because their flight was cancelled due to a snow storm, strike or their airline went under. People can be found sleeping in chairs in the departure lounge, along the wall, in the food court or on a luggage carousel (if it’s moving, please put a toe tag on the sleeper).

2. In a Coffee shop
If you have fallen asleep in a coffee shop then you have to say something about the service. If you’ve gone lala before your latte, maybe you should think about coffee by the pot.

3. While at a meeting
You know a meeting is going long and is way off topic when people start falling asleep during a meeting at the office. If the person running the meeting is asleep, it is all right and acceptable office procedure to slowly leave the room. But take a picture with your camera first.

4. In your car, truck or van
You could be truck in traffic that hasn’t moved in hours or you’ve locked yourself out of your house and your roommate won’t be back until the next day or you cheap out while camping.

5. During an argument with your spouse
The only thing you can say here is that this is never a good idea. If you thought you were in trouble before, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

6. While a guest at the local jail
If you’re sleeping off too much happy hour, you could end up missing your shoes, various other pieces of clothing and possibly your dignity when you wake up in the arms of your new BFF.

7. During class
I remember the good old days when a teacher could peg off a dozing student from across the room with a piece of chalk or crack some knuckles with a yardstick. Now things have gone too far the other way when the kid falls asleep in the principals office while being lectured about falling asleep in class.

8. In the dog’s house
My brother-in-law has claimed to have spent the night curled up with his Saint Bernard in the dog’s house after coming home wording his slurs and being banished by my sister. No wonder my sister has so many diamonds.

9. In a closet
Maybe you were playing hide and seek and you are too good or the person just wanted to get rid of you for a while. Never fall asleep in a closet while waiting for your lover’s mate to leave or you may miss your chance. Snoring during this period is also not recommended.

10.  Face down in your dinner place
You either had a really tough day on the job or you have to work on your dinner conversation skills.

So when you find yourself falling asleep in an unusual place, remember the moment as it could make for an interesting story.

Most people would just like to find a way to calm their mind and soul and live each day with a little more peace and understanding rather than being wound up tighter than a piano string. If you’ve had more than one heart attack this week, read on.

A lot of western people are a little wary of meditation because they don’t understand it or think that it may be to too complicated to learn or are worried they may end up selling flowers at the airport. Not to worry.

You can begin by sitting in any position that you find comfortable and don’t worry about crossing your legs in some pretzel like lotus position and making sure your palms are up and that your thumb and index finger are making a circle and you’re facing the right direction and that you don’t smell. It really doesn’t matter at this stage.

Close your eyes, take in a few deep breaths and try to quiet your mind as you exhale. Don’t worry about your past mistakes or any future issue, just let it all go and let your mind go blank.

Slow your breathing and concentrate on your breath. Some people direct their attention to the rise and fall of their chest or stomach and others feel the air moving in and out of their nostrils. Keep your mind as blank as you can and concentrate on your breathing. If your mind wonders and a thought comes in, and it will, acknowledge the thought, let it go and return to your breathing.

At first you will find that you can’t go very long before a thought comes into your mind. Don’t worry, it just takes practice. Over a few weeks you will find that you can go longer and longer without any thoughts creeping. Start by meditating for 10 minutes twice a day, in the morning and in the early evening. Work up to 20 minutes, twice a day.

You will soon be reaping the benefits of meditation. You will be calmer throughout the day, things that used to upset you won’t seem as important any more and you will find that you sleep has improved. And if you do find enlightenment, send me a card. And if I see you at the airport, I’ll buy some flowers.

Amount of sleep