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Sleep can follow a physiological or behavioral definition. In the physiological sense, sleep is a state characterized by reversible unconsciousness, special brainwave patterns, sporadic eye movement, loss of muscle tone (possibly with some exceptions; see below regarding the sleep of birds and of aquatic mammals), and a compensatory increase following deprivation of the state, this last known ...
Dreams have a foresight function, enabling us to find a way out of an immediate conflict. [ I 2 ] To reduce the polysemy of the term, Jung sometimes speaks of the "intuitive function" of dreams. [ G 3 ] This prospective function is not in fact a premonitory dream, but teaches the dreamer a path to follow. [ 2 ]
One significant shortcoming of dream studies is the necessary reliance on verbal reports. The dream event is reduced to a verbal report which is only an account of the subject's memory of the dream, not the subject's experience of the dream itself. These verbal reports are also at risk of being influenced by a number of factors.
One of the important questions in sleep research is clearly defining the sleep state. This problem arises because sleep was traditionally defined as a state of consciousness and not as a physiological state, [14] [15] thus there was no clear definition of what minimum set of events constitute sleep and distinguish it from other states of partial or no consciousness.
A dream has all features of primary consciousness but is produced in the brain without external stimulation. Unlike the waking state, the brain cannot recognize its own condition; that it is in the midst of the dream and is not the same as the real world. [1]
Many people consider dying in one's sleep is the most peaceful way to die. [148] Phrases such as "big sleep" and "rest in peace" are often used in reference to death, [148] possibly in an effort to lessen its finality. [148] Sleep and dreaming have sometimes been seen as providing the potential for visionary experiences.
Most modern dream study focuses on the neurophysiology of dreams and on proposing and testing hypotheses regarding dream function. It is not known where in the brain dreams originate, if there is a single origin for dreams or if multiple regions of the brain are involved, or what the purpose of dreaming is for the body or mind.
Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams (or simply known as Why We Sleep) is a 2017 popular science book about sleep written by Matthew Walker, an English scientist and the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in neuroscience and psychology.