I Had A Dream
Last night, I had one stellar dream. I won’t share the deets on it–besides, it’s TMI. But, my awesome off-the-chain dream reminded me of my previous day job, where I had the luck to hang around sleep researchers and learn about–sleep. More importantly, I learned the true value of sleep, and how without it, our lives can really become one big hot mess. Lack of sleep can lead to a myriad of other health problems–everything from decreased immune system issues all the way through to other mental health disorders.
Most fascinating during my time in sleep research was the research about dreaming. Why do we dream? What purpose does dreaming serve? A lot of researchers say that it’s mere memory consolidation. I’m not totally sure I buy that (especially on the super cool dreams). There’s also lucid dreaming, where you can be aware that you’re actually in a dream. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced this, but it sounds cool.
Some say that dreaming portends the future. (If we could pick and choose which dreams fit into that category – sign me up!) Sometimes, I have hyper-vivid dreams, about a particular person, and I usually feel compelled to email them or call them when I have a particularly vivid dream about them, just to make sure that: 1. they’re OK and 2. I’m not suddenly becoming part of the psychic friends’ network. (Which isn’t all bad, I suppose!)
The brain is really one of the medical final frontiers we have yet to totally understand. Furthermore, sleep researchers themselves don’t totally understand WHY we need to sleep. So, for now, I guess we’ll just have to be glad we have the good dreams, and check up on our friends during the vivid ones. The best dreams? Maybe we should just keep them to ourselves!
Hopefully, tonight? I’ll have yet another great dream.
Night night!
