The Sleep Cycle

One sleep cycle comprises of four stages and lasts for about 90-120  minutes.

Dreams can occur in any of the four stages of sleep, but the most vivid and memorable dreams occur in the last stage of sleep (also commonly referred to as REM sleep). The sleep cycle repeats itself about an average of four to five times per night, but may repeat as many as seven times. Thus, you can see how a person has several different dreams in one night. However, most people only remember dreams that occur closer toward the morning when they are about  to wake up. But just because you can’t remember those dreams do not mean that they never happened. Some people believe that they simply do not dream, when in reality, they just don’t remember their dreams.

The Stages of Sleep

The stages in the sleep cycle are organized by the changes in specific brain activity.

Stage 1: You are entering into light sleep. This stage is characterized by Non-rapid eye movements (NREM), muscle relaxation, lowered body temperature and slowed heart rate. The body is preparing to enter into deep sleep.

Stage 2: Also characterized by NREM, this stage is characterized by a further drop in body temperature and relaxation of the muscles. The body’s immune system goes to work on repairing the day’s damage. The endocrine glands secrete growth hormones, while blood is sent to the muscles to be reconditioned. In this stage, you are completely asleep.

Stage 3: Still in the NREM stage, this is an even deeper sleep. Your metabolic levels are extremely slow.

Stage 4: In this stage of sleep, your eyes move back and forth erratically as if watching something from underneath your eyelids. Referred to as REM sleep or delta sleep, this stage occurs at about 90-100 minutes after the onset of sleep. Your blood pressure rises, heart rate speeds up, respiration becomes erratic and brain activity increases. Your involuntary muscles also become paralyzed or immobilized. This stage is the most restorative part of sleep. Your mind is being revitalized and emotions is being fine tuned. The majority of your dreaming occurs in this stage. If you are awakened during this stage of sleep, you are more likely to remember your dreams.

These stages repeat themselves throughout the night as you sleep. As the cycle repeats, you will spend less time in stages 1 to 3 and more time dreaming in stage 4. In other words, it will be quicker and quicker for you to get to stage 4 each time the cycle repeats.

Types of dreams

There are five different types of dreams: ordinary, lucid, telepathic, premonitory, and nightmare. They often blend and merge with one another.

ORDINARY DREAMS

During the day our conscious minds are active, but at night the subconscious takes over. Ordinary dreams are based on the activity of the unconscious in response to what we have seen or heard in our waking hours. Even a single thought can trigger a dream. Automatic unconscious stores of knowledge that have made an impression remain filed in the brain and unperceived until “read” by dream symbols, which are “the language of the soul.” Events of the day and from years past are mirrored in the sleeping mind, as seemingly long-forgotten memories can resurface in dream imagery. The soul is particularly susceptible to the bygone memories that are brought to light through pictures in the mind’s eye. In addition to being clairvoyant, dreams are also clairaudient, as we hear souls speak in our minds’ ears. Clairvoyance means “clear sight.” It is the supernatural ability to see people and events far away in time or location. Clairaudience means clear hearing. It is the faculty to hear with the mind’s ear. Words spoken to us in our dreams should be taken literally, because such spiritual communication can show us how we should be when awake. You can get the best out of your future by understanding what a dream is saying to you pictorially and verbally.

LUCID DREAMS

A lucid dream is one that you can control because you are aware that you are dreaming. You can also decide what to dream about before going to sleep and then dream about the very thing that you planned to.

TELEPATHIC DREAMS

Telepathy, known as “the language of the angels,” allows the dead and the living to speak in dreamland. In this meeting place, death is no barrier, and the living cross the threshold into a heavenly sphere of existence. This mental communication can also occur mind-to-mind between two living people. We may send our own or receive others’ intentional or unintentional thoughts as mental visions in dreams. Extended telepathy during sleep is a communion between two worlds, the nighttime world of the soul and the daytime world of the body.

PREMONITORY DREAMS

Premonitory dreams are similar to telepathic dreams in that your spirit leaves your body and ventures on a voyage of discovery. Premonitory dreams are special because they reveal the future and allow the dreamer to see truths that are not accessible in waking life. In telepathic dreams, we can also detect information about an imminent event. Dreams are the catalyst that put your body into motion to follow and fulfill your wishes and desires.

NIGHTMARES

Most nightmares are linked to early childhood, when we are inexperienced and therefore dependent on others. Before the age of three, we have not yet developed a sense of conscience and of right and wrong. Nightmares are representations of a suppressed, original fear commonly created by excessively strict parental or sibling moral standards and the threat of punishment in the face of innocence.

In nightmares you may perceive a warning for yourself or for a loved one. To be forewarned is to be forearmed: if you first see a frightful event in a dream, you can prevent harm from happening in waking life. For example, nightmares can warn against acting on impulse, as well as show that certain feelings and emotions are unhealthy. Not all nightmares are nasty predictions or unwholesome signs.

A nightmare may also relate to an old, unsolved problem that is so frightening to face that we are unable to continue to dream and the emotional terror wakes us in distress without offering a solution.

Excerpted from The Dream Book: Dream Spells, Nighttime Potions and Rituals, and Other Magical Sleep Formulas