The sleeping, dreaming brain is a profound mystery. In researching how left hemisphere functioning differs from right hemisphere functioning, I came across some information about what happens in the brain during dreaming and sleep.
I feel that this information may somehow be related to the subject of epiphanies and awakenings. This is because of the relationship of the dreaming brain to rational thought (commonly referred to as a “left brain function”).
During dreaming there is only one part of the brain that virtually shuts down, and that is our logic center.
This seems significant. For the brain to actually develop a mechanism within itself that purposely, and actively, SHUTS DOWN rational thought is amazing.
It seems logical that the brain is doing this for some particular reason, and that reason must be that the logic center of the brain might “interfere” somehow with the important activities that take place in the brain during sleep.
It doesn’t seem to me that the brain would actively force the shutting down of a particular function (logic), if that function was incidental, or would not interfere with the purpose of the overall functioning of the brain at the time of sleep.
The overall activity of the brain during sleep actually increases significantly. During REM sleep our brain grows so busy that blood flow to it nearly doubles.
Here are a few other facts about dreaming that may, or may not, be related to our study here:
- We dream in “bursts”, a few minutes at a time
- Dreams store memories, perhaps by sifting through the days experiences somehow, discarding non-essentials… filing things that are important, discarding those that aren’t
- REM sleep is “almost like a filing system” – (Michael Salemi)
- Events occurring while we’re awake are only stored in temporarily memory. In dreams we throw away irrelevant material and file useful information into permanent storage
- “Study and then sleep, you will do better on the test”
- Sleep is critical for memory and learning
- During sleep there is no logic to impose order, so “thoughts can collide, unleashing creativity, and generating fresh ideas”
- Scientific discoveries and other breakthroughs and insights are regularly reported to be linked to dreams
And finally there is a story I came across that ties this together in a way -
Bruce Damer is a NASA designer, and founder of DigitalSpace. At one time he was working for months on a big problem that had been perplexing him and seemed to have no solution.
Then one night he consciously said to himself; “Ok, everything is in there, go for it! – boot up the dream processor, and give me SOMETHING!”
The next morning when he woke up he began sketching. He had found an idea that put everything together, and had a concept that would work. He presented his idea to his colleagues at work and they thought the idea was intriguing.
“The NASA civil servants have written reports about how innovative the work is, and how forward thinking it is – and I credit this to, sort of the, unfettered world of dreaming.”
Unhindered by the rational, compulsive mind, the brain can process information in a more efficient, perhaps more holistic way during sleep.
Perhaps this overarching principle could play a part in our search for significant factors relating to breakthroughs, epiphanies and awakenings.
I may get back to this in the future if it has a role to play. For now I think it is interesting to note these fascinating characteristics of the sleeping, dreaming brain.
(Note: The source for much of this information was “Brainpower“.)
