Euphoric Nightmare!

A few months ago I experienced something very unusual. You probably all experienced having nightmares at least when you were kids since children do have more nightmares than adults. The intense feeling of fear makes us wake up suddenly and out of breath as our heart rate is flying. Also, there are other instances when we wake up suddenly from our dreams as when our alarm clock gives us a reality check ;). The rest of the time, dreams end and we don't even remember most of them as they are part of the normal sleep cycle. It is mostly when we wake up in the middle of a dream that we truly remember it vividly. In that matter, some months ago I had a dream that I would not explain in details here since the events are irrelevant. I was passively going around in my dream when I arrived somewhere I didn’t expect and it made me surprisingly and suddenly very happy. The feeling was so strong and sudden that I immediately woke up in a very agitated state. Just for the record, it wasn't a dirty dream as you might be thinking right now! After some light swearing @#$%^&!, I got perplexed by what happened and it made me wonder...

Most of us know that the brainwaves generated during sleep are different than when we are awake. However, when we dream, we enter a specific stage (among other stages) called the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep where the waves resemble most those when awake than any other waves produced during the rest of the sleep cycle (1 cycle = about 90 minutes). My theory is that since REM sleep is the closest to being awake, any strong emotions could disturb sleep and wake you up since the body reaction is strong and the brain is not able to compensates for factors that might wake us up (such as loud noises) at that stage (compared to earlier stages such as deep sleep when practically no loud noise disturbs our sleep). I would explain in more details each stage and theories on the sleeping brain later.

New Disorder on the Horizon of Problems

You probably heard of people suffering from somnambulism that drove a car, killed people or just hurt themselves in their sleep walking. Now, there is a new harmful thing you can do while asleep. As some people make awkward calls when drunk, others just sleep email. This can be very disturbing as you are not aware of what you sent and to whom.

[http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/40970/113/]

Tip for a Good Night Sleep

I know this is hard for you chocolate lovers out there but you know it disturbs sleep. Thus, AVOID chocolate before going to bed! However, if you absolutely have to have that special desert after supper, you might as well take white chocolate as it contains little caffeine and no theobromine which increases heart rate. :P
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/health/13real.html?ref=science]