Throughout chapter five, Lilienfeld touches on the different stages of sleep we go through each night. Along with these five stages of sleep, chapter five includes explanations about different kinds of dreams and sleeping disorders. Particularly interesting was the idea about "lucid dreaming" and how our minds realize that we are dreaming. I think it is odd that we only experience these types of dreams once or so a month. I find it ironic because we know we are going to sleep, so how would we not realize it is a dream. Another thing I was interested in was the sleep disorders, especially insomnia. I'm interested in it because I feel like I have these disorder to an extent because my sleep habits are so unusual. Chapter five also touches on things like out of body experiences and near death experiences. These are especially interesting because out of body experiences are in a way dreams within a dream. It brings into mind the movie Inception and how dreams in a dream could be possible. The near death experiences could be compared to a dream while we are not asleep. It depends on the person, but near death experiences generally change depending on the person's religion. I think one of the most interesting thing this chapter touches on is déjà vu. I think this is the most interesting because most people have had an experience at least once in their life.
Chapter 5
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I find dreams very interesting. I especially enjoy waking up remembering my dreams. I always try to depict what they are suppose to be telling me, if anything at all. Thats definetly one thing that I would really like to learn about while taking this course. In regards to deja vu, your right how almost everyone has had to have had one. When they do happen to me, i try and think when and where I saw this before. I always think about the movie The Matrix when i have a deja vu. lol. Now you mentioned how with near death experiences , for one depends on the person, but the most intriguing aspect of the experiences is how it depends on the persons religion. That makes me curious how that works. Definetly something I look forward to reading in chapter 5 now that you mentioned it.
It's so fascinating that even near death, culture plays a huge role in how we interpret our experiences. I received a lot of questions on sleep and that's because while we've made great advances in studying sleep and it's physiology there are still many mysteries--lucid dreaming being one of them. Really nice chapter summary
I've heard it said before that dreams are a way for the brain to make memories concrete and I really wonder if this is true. It's can be so difficult to study dreams and sleep. Especially dreams because they are somewhat an abstract concept even though everyone does dream. This is a bit of a tangent and would not, I believe, be possible but what do other animals dream about? Do they dream for the same reason humans do? Do they have a similar dream and sleep cycle as human do? And, also, what are some theories on why we dream lucid dreams and only one a month or so?
This chapter sounds really interesting. I enjoyed reading your summary about it and I am looking forward to learning more. I find dreams so interesting because it seems so much more is possible when we are asleep. Its amazing how our brains can create truly magnificent worlds and such odd creations. I also agree with you about out of body experiences. It seems weird how this can happen when we are awake. I also am looking forward to learning more about deja vu also. I have experienced it and it is definitely a very weird feeling. I look forward to learning what could be the cause of it.