so sorry to say that i haven't remembered any of my dreams. thought i was gonna have some this weekend, but the limited amount of sleep hindered my ability to conjure up anything. but there was good reason for limited amounts of sleep. anyways, i will continue to try, i shall see what happens.

REM cycle

man, haven't remembered any dreams lately. sleep has suddenly become a blur and somewhat difficult and tiresome. anyways, after mentioning the REM cycle to kathee i thought i'd explain what it actully was. so technically, this blog has nothing to do with my dreams, i just made it for my super cool roommate kathee!

Since the early 20th century, human sleep has been described as a succession of five recurring stages: four non-REM stages and the REM stage. A sixth stage, waking, is often included. Waking, in this context, is actually the phase during which a person falls asleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is marked by extensive physiological changes, such as accelerated respiration, increased brain activity, eye movement, and muscle relaxation. People dream during REM sleep, perhaps as a result of excited brain activity and the paralysis of major voluntary muscles.

Stage 5, REM
REM sleep is distinguishable from NREM sleep by changes in physiological states, including its characteristic rapid eye movements. However, polysomnograms show wave patterns in REM to be similar to Stage 1 sleep. In normal sleep (in people without disorders of sleep-wake patterns or REM behavior disorder), heart rate and respiration speed up and become erratic, while the face, fingers, and legs may twitch. Intense dreaming occurs during REM sleep as a result of heightened cerebral activity, but paralysis occurs simultaneously in the major voluntary muscle groups, including the submental muscles (muscles of the chin and neck). Because REM is a mixture of encephalic (brain) states of excitement and muscular immobility, it is sometimes called paradoxical sleep. It is generally thought that REM-associated muscle paralysis is meant to keep the body from acting out the dreams that occur during this intensely cerebral stage. The first period of REM typically lasts 10 minutes, with each recurring REM stage lengthening, and the final one lasting an hour.

ok, well that's just some website's simple explanation. for more info on the other stages and dreaming/brain stuff check out the site, http://www.sleepdisorderchannel.net/. it seems to be a fairly informative site. hope you enjoyed reading this kathee! :)

ps. sorry kathee no dreams with you yet :(

confusing reality and my dreams

i had a dream last night that i actually remember. it was very short and there were only a few things i remember. the only person i remember being in the dream was cristina.

the dream started with lots of people at some apartment. we were all in the kitchen, which was huge. there were people i knew from high school and lots of people from irvine. everyone was sitting on one side of the room and then one by one a person had to go in front of everyone and dance. it was really funny because everyone was making up their own dances. some people got applause while others didn't. that was kind of sad. then finally i went up and i had no idea what to do. so i just did something really quick and got it out of the way. after i finished i remember cristina storming out of the kitchen. she seemed mad. so i asked someone what was wrong and they said she was really mad and tired. then i heard her yell, "her dance was soo freaking long. gosh!" in the dream i felt bad and i was sad, but i didn't know what i did wrong. sadly that's all i remember from that dream. so today, cristina called fran's cell and i answered it. even though i knew that was only a dream, i was still a little uncertain about answering. sometimes i tend to confuse reality with my dreams, so i had the feeling that cristina was mad at me. i did answer, but i hope she didn't sense fear in my voice. haha, well of course she wasn't mad at me, i'm just very strange and confused by my dreams. hopefully my dreams won't be filled with angry people all year through.

the other dream i remember involved gandalf and frodo with seals at the edge of a cliff, but that one's not as interesting. ok, that's all for now.
happy new year everyone!!!