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Re: Kuhn - The Science of Sleep and Dreams
Lähettäjä: Robert Lawrence Kuhn
Vastaanottajat: jeffrey E. <[email protected]>
Aika: Wed, Feb 15, 2017 at 1:27 AM
Pardon the formality below - I want to approach your very legitimate questions / concerns in a serious manner. Attached and below the same. Dear Jeffrey: As requested, the following addresses your two questions / concerns about our proposed Closer To Truth TV series "The Science of Sleep and Dreams": (i) Have there been sufficient breakthroughs in Sleep and Dreams (significantly beyond traditional understandings) to justify a major TV series? (ii) Even if 'yes' to (i), is now the proper time for such a foundational series, or are more years needed for corroborative studies and further research to solidify the breakthroughs? In preparing this response, my primary source is Professor Patrick McNamara, Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, with whom CTT Producer/Director Peter Getzels and I spoke with at length today. Patrick is one of the leading sleep and dream researchers (he himself more dreams). More importantly, he is perhaps the leading chronicler of the field, with many publications (including 26 entries in related encyclopedias). He is co-editor-in-chief of the "Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreams" (2012) and the sole author of the forthcoming "An Introduction to the Neuroscience of Sleep and Dreams" (Cambridge University Press, 2018), which intends to present the latest science and to become a main textbook for graduate courses/seminars. Patrick is a CTT contributor and colleague. When we asked Patrick, his first response — "This is the ideal time to tell the sleep-and-dreams story" — and he cited (in essence) your two questions, in that (i) the multiple breakthroughs are now sufficiently well corroborated by numerous independent labs such that a substantial foundation for the new, deeper understanding of sleep and dreams is now for the first time (over the past few years) confirmed and established, and (ii) there are now interesting application and critical clinical questions to pose, explore and pursue, such as for the treatment of various mental-related illnesses that have known sleep-related syndromes (e.g., PTSD and Depression). To understand the significance of recent breakthroughs, a defining characteristic of sleep and dreams is that there are two distinct kinds of sleep — REM (rapid-eye-movement) Sleep and NREM (non-rapid-eye-movement) Sleep. Most dreams are associated with REM sleep (though complex). The eye movement gives the eponymous name, but a more important designation defines the two stages in terms of brain waves (electroencephalograph — EEG): REM is Fast-Wave Sleep (similar to the waking state) and NREM Sleep is Slow-Wave Sleep (very different from the waking state). This difference between REM and NREM sleep has been known since 1953 (different EEGs since 1937), but its deep significance has only been discovered and confirmed in very recent years (as explained below). Following are the key areas of breakthrough in sleep and dreams (from Patrick). Patrick states that these are now reproducible, non-controversial, and well-accepted among experts, although still not appreciated by the public - hence the high value of our CTT TV series. The organizing idea is why and how are sleep and dreams essential for normal memory consolidation and bodily health / well-being. Memory Consolidation. There is a fundamental difference between REM and NREM Sleep for memory consolidation: REM is for emotional memories, whereas NREM is for declarative and procedural memories. Hence, understanding and dealing with REM emotional memories can lead to treatment for the many neuropsychiatric illnesses that have sleep/dream-related disorders or syndromes (Parkinson's Disease, Anxiety, Substance Abuse, many sleep disorders such as Nightmare Disorder, etc., in addition to PTSD and Depression). Research shows bi-directional causality between neuropsychiatric disorders and sleep disorders. This is a superb example of how fundamental science breakthroughs lead to clinical breakthroughs. This fact that REM is associated with emotional memories is nicely consistent with the apparent psychotic nature of dreams, because in REM Sleep the frontal cortex is 'down-regulated' (and the frontal cortex is associated with rational planning, reflection, controlling impulses), while in REM Sleep the limbic system is 'up-regulated" (and the limbic system is associated with emotions and feelings) — see Neuroimaging below. This is why dream states flood the ego with emotional fantasies without rational control. However, it is also true that the limbic system enables creative ideas, thus grounding in science the long-suspected idea that sleep and dreams can enhance creativity. As Dr. Robert Stickgold, our other advisor