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Doctors predict that you'll spend one third of your life asleep. Scientists still don't quite understand what function sleep serves, but they have been able to document the four stages of sleep. During stage one, your body and mind are relaxing, but you are not really unconscious. Many thoughts fill through your mind, and if you are awakened during this stage, you will probably feel as if you were never asleep. In stages two and three, your brain waves become considerable wider, and you have no conscious thoughts. If someone opened your eyes during these stages, you would not see. Stage four is the REM stage, the profound state of unconscious and the most fascinating and confusing stage of rest. Your eyes and mid-ears vibrate, your pulse quickens, and your brain temperature and blood flow increase. You have your most vivid and creative dreams during this stage. Most people spend twenty to twenty-five percent of their sleep time in the REM stage. It takes about an hour for your mind to go into REM the first time, then you go in and out until you gradually return to consciousness.
The stories you tell yourself in your sleep say a lot about what's bothering you when you're awake. When you dream, you're much more open and willing to say what you don't in waking life. If for instance you are having marital problems with your spouse, you might have lots of dreams about your life and also might dream a solution to the problems in your marriage. Sometimes a spouse will dream about the marriage breaking up long before it happens.
We can analyze our dreams if we try. First of all, figure out what the images remind you of.
Consider if the dream means you might need to de-stress and take life a little easier. Share the dream with someone close to you in case that person can lend a thought or two on the dream and its meaning.
Some experts say you can take an active role in dealing with your anxious dreams, in fact they say you can learn to stop or to change a bad dream midstream. Try to tell yourself before you go to sleep that if you want to wake up from the dream that you can. This actually works with some people in controlling their dreams.
Some experts who have done studies tell us that dreams have no power and just dismiss them. They claim that the images conjured up are too random to bring solutions to any problems. But I would think it is up to the individual to try to control his dreams and his sleep patterns and it may work for some and not for others.
In dreams the brain is actually spinning a tale and bringing up images from your memory network. These dreams are complete at times, just like in your "real" life. Sometimes these dreams will say a lot about what is really bothering you in this "real" life.
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