NEWS LINKS
 Good Morning Sleepy Heads: A jump-start on waking up in the morning
 Send ideas for getting better sleep or unusual sleep stories to Sandman
 Wise sleep a little eastern philosophy
News Flash
Discovery Online is doing a terrific, month-long story and activities about
sleep! It is titled 'One Man's Quest for a Good Night's Sleep.' This is a
MUST see! So please take a look and pass the word around! The address is:
www.discovery.com
Return to
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Sleepy Animals
How do dolphins sleep? Part2
Will humans ever learn to sleep like dolphins? Dolphins do not have REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. During REM sleep we dream and one process during REM causes paralysis which keeps us from acting out our dreams. So if dolphins had REM sleep they wouldn't be able to swim. Somehow they became capable of living without REM sleep. In humans studies have shown that we need to dream. REM deprivation studies have shown that dreams come out in the waking state making the subjects act and seem a bit looney so to speak. For some unknown reason we need to dream. At best, we will be able to decrease the amount of time we need to sleep by half. Studies are going on now that are focusing on different methods to decrease total sleep time while increasing alertness. I predict it will be after 2010 before we can master this task. Until then get all the sleep you need. Life will be much more pleasant.
 This is Sandman, signing off for now. Sweet dreams.
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past issue Dec.
