By Harsh Dave
Are there times where you feel like your dreams pack more of a punch? Dreams often exist as faded reflections of our psyche, but sometimes the experience can fill our world with color even hours after waking. If you had a dream like this, it’s likely that you’ve gotten a great night’s rest, filled with plenty of REM sleep.
REM stands for rapid eye movement, and during REM sleep the body uniquely changes with increased eye movement and brain activity. This usually happens 90 minutes after falling asleep, and continues in cycles, each cycle increasing in time from ten minutes at the first cycle of REM sleep to as long as an hour.
In these cycles, our dreams are more vivid and the vibrance of our minds organic inventions seem all that more meaningful. If you want to increase the time that your body enters REM sleep while you are sleeping, there are a few things that you can do, and all of them lend to a happier healthier lifestyle!
- Try to exercise every day! Even a twenty-minute walk consistently is enough to activate your body during the day and encourage a more restful sleep at night.
- Keep a regular sleep schedule! Every day the sun rises and sets, and every being on the planet has an internal clock that keeps track of that occurrence every day. By respecting our bodies internal clock and doing our best to sleep and wake at the same time every day, our bodies will understand the time we typically enter REM sleep and will do its best to keep to that schedule.
- Express your creativity! Stress is what often keeps us in bed counting sheep instead of falling asleep. By finding an outlet to release our stress, our bodies will be able to enter that restful state without anything else pestering our minds.
- Try not to drink alcohol before bed! There have been many studies that have shown that alcohol before bedtime delays restful sleep and inhibits the onset of REM sleep. A nightcap isn’t such a bad thing, but if you enjoy it every night, REM sleep will be harder to come by on a daily basis.
Dreams are an incredible privilege. They can tell us the things that we don’t want to tell ourselves and open our hearts to realities we’ve closed ourselves off to. Let’s embrace our dreams and try our best to take care of ourselves so we can sleep well!
