Dreams may have an important physiological function

Dreams have long been assumed to have psychological functions such as consolidating emotional memories and processing experiences or problems, but according to a Harvard psychiatrist and sleep researcher the real function may actually be physiological.

According to Dr J. Allan Hobson, the major function of the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep associated with dreams is physiological rather than psychological. During REM sleep the brain is activated and "warming its circuits" and is anticipating the sights, sounds and emotions of the waking state.
Dr Hobson said the idea explains a lot, and likened it to jogging. The body does not remember every step of a jog, but it knows it has exercised, and in the same way we do not remember many of our dreams, but our minds have been tuned for conscious awareness.

Hobson said dreams represent a parallel consciousness state that is running continuously, but which is normally suppressed while the person is awake. Dr Mark Mahowald, a neurologist from Hennepin County Medical Center, in Minneapolis, said most people studying dreams have started out with fixed ideas about the psychological functions of dreaming, and try to make dreaming fit these ideas, but the new study makes no such assumptions.

Who and Where the DREAMers Are, Revised Estimates

There are roughly 1.8 million immigrants in the United States who might be, or might become, eligible for the Obama Administration’s “deferred action” initiative for unauthorized youth brought to this country as children. This initiative, announced on June 15, offers a two-year, renewable reprieve from deportation to unauthorized immigrants who are under the age of 31; entered the United States before age 16; have lived continuously in the country for at least five years; have not been convicted of a felony, a “significant” misdemeanor, or three other misdemeanors; and are currently in school, graduated from high school, earned a GED, or served in the military. Within this population of potential beneficiaries, however, are three distinct groups:

1.) Those who are between the ages of 15 and 30 who are either in high school or already have high school diplomas. This group is immediately eligible for deferred action.

2.) Those between the ages of 5 and 14 who will be eligible at some point in the future if the deferred action initiative remains in place.

3.) Those between the ages of 15 and 30 who are not in high school and don’t have high school diplomas. Members of this group might be eligible for deferred action if they get a GED.

A previous IPC analysis described in detail the demographic characteristics of the first two of these groups of potential beneficiaries. This analysis captures the third group as well. More precisely, potential beneficiaries are broken down by age, gender, and nationality at the state and national level. In reviewing these numbers, it is important to keep in mind that they are approximations and not precise figures.

Taken as a whole, unauthorized immigrants who qualify for the deferred action initiative are commonly referred to as “DREAMers” because they comprise most (though not all) of the individuals who meet the general requirements of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. As our analysis shows, most DREAMers are Mexican and are found in big immigrant-receiving states with large unauthorized populations, such as California and Texas. Yet DREAMers are also found in virtually every state, and significant numbers are non-Mexicans who hail from all corners of the globe. Just under half of DREAMers are female. The majority of DREAMers are 15 or older and are eligible to apply for deferred action right now. However, nearly a quarter of DREAMers are 14 or younger and are not yet eligible to apply, but will be eligible at some point in the future if the deferred action initiative still exists. And close to another quarter of the DREAMer population could become eligible for deferred action if they earn a GED. Demographic details such as these should inform the decision-making process of the federal government as it implements the deferred action initiative, as well as community groups assisting the populations they serve in taking advantage of this opportunity.

Why Your Dreams Are Suddenly So Intense After You Stop Smoking Weed

Maybe you, like me, decided at some point in your life that you'd had enough of soft drugs for a while. Whether this was the beginning of a smoke-free existence or just a hopeless case of hubris is irrelevant here; the point is that you stopped smoking weed for a bit. When you did, you probably also experienced a plethora of positive effects: You felt more energetic, found it easier to remember things, and stopped spending $20 a day on cheeseburgers and Doritos.

A few days after I quit smoking weed for the first time, I started dreaming again and those dreams seemed more vivid than ever. I realized that as a stoner, I actually hardly ever dreamt at all, and that the few dreams I had weren't half as intense as my dreams these days. What's up with that?

I decided to call Dr. Hans Hamburger, neurologist, somnologist (sleep expert), and head of Holland Sleep Research—a specialist research center for sleep disorders in the Netherlands.

According to Hamburger, this resurgence of dreams is common among former smokers; weed suppresses your REM sleep. When you put your rolling papers, pipe, or vaporizers away for a while, your REM sleep suddenly gets the free rein it had before you became a superficially sleeping stoner.

Teenagers Are Losing Confidence in the American Dream

In 1996, when asked a series of questions about the brightness of her future, one high-school senior in an unnamed Midwestern state said, “There’s been extraordinary examples of people that have been poor and stuff that have risen to the top just from their personal hard work … not everybody can do that, I realize, but I think a lot of people could if they just tried.”

In 2011, a survey with identically worded questions was done in the same state, with the same age group. “You can always work hard, but if you aren’t given the opportunity or you don’t have the funds to be able to continue working hard then you never get the chance to get out of where you are,” said one student.

What a difference 15 years makes. In the 1990s, those loosed upon the world after high-school graduation faced a booming economy and relatively sunny job prospects; more recently, high-school and college graduates have faced less hospitable conditions. A study published recently in the Journal of Poverty juxtaposes adolescents’ perceptions from those two eras, and the results, while qualitative and limited by their small sample size, suggest that young Americans’ outlook on social mobility has gotten bleaker. (The study’s findings align with a more-expansive survey of young people suggesting an erosion of confidence in the American Dream.)

How to Have Lucid Dream Sex

Lucid dream sex is often the #1 reason that motivates people to learn to control their dreams.

Lucid dream control means being able to fulfill your ultimate fantasies, often just as tangibly and vividly as waking life. Between sex and flying, we've covered the two most desirable features of dream control.

The question is, are these erotic dreams really all they're cracked up to be? And are beginners even capable of them? Because as all lucid dreamers know, a different set of rules operate inside the dreaming mind...

THE VIRTUES OF DAYDREAMING

Humans are a daydreaming species. According to a recent study led by the Harvard psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Matthew A. Killingsworth, people let their minds wander forty-seven per cent of the time they are awake. (The scientists demonstrated this by developing an iPhone app that contacted twenty-two hundred and fifty volunteers at random intervals during the day.) In fact, the only activity during which we report that our minds are not constantly wandering is “love making.” We’re able to focus for that.

At first glance, such data seems like a confirmation of our inherent laziness. In a culture obsessed with efficiency, mind-wandering is often derided as useless—the kind of thinking we rely on when we don’t really want to think. Freud, for instance, described daydreams as “infantile” and a means of escaping from the necessary chores of the world into fantasies of “wish-fulfillment.”

In recent years, however, psychologists and neuroscientists have redeemed this mental state, revealing the ways in which mind-wandering is an essential cognitive tool. It turns out that whenever we are slightly bored—when reality isn’t quite enough for us—we begin exploring our own associations, contemplating counterfactuals and fictive scenarios that only exist within the head.

Have a dreamy weekend!