Rem Sleeping, Dreaming, And Creativity

Since scientists discovered a sleep stage called REM, their research and examination of this sleeping stage brought our minds some questions like “Does REM sleep affects our creativity?” or “Is this true that REM sleep provides realistic dreams?”. So here we are to understand better this REM sleep stage and how it works to know if it affects our creativity and dreams.

REM sleep (rapid eye movement) can have definitions like a brain, dream, behavioral state, and a unique phrase. It is a movement of the eyes collaborated with low muscle tone of the body and an inclination of the sleeper to be able to dream vividly1,2. For many years, scientists did uncountable research; however, science has an open question about the functional role of REM sleep. It differs from species to species, but they believe they have understood some main parts3.

REM sleep is related to the word ‘paradoxical’ because it has similarities with consciousness2,4. Even though the body is sleeping or paralyzed, the brain functions as if it is conscious2,4. REM deep sleep has fast, low amplitude, and desynchronized brainwaves, similar to the pattern seen during wakefulness2,4. It also differs from the slow delta wave pattern of NREM deep sleep (non-rapid-eye movement deep sleep)2,4,5. A necessary data is that 3-10 Hz theta rhythm in the hippocampus and 40-60 Hz gamma waves in the cortex have been observed in the wakefulness stage2,4,6. The thalamic and cortical neurons of REM sleep are less polarized than the NREM sleeping brain. In last, human theta wave activity preponderates during REM sleep in both hippocampus and the cortex4,5,6.

Waking and REM sleep involves a higher dose of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which can be caused to have faster brainwaves when we compare them with slow-wave sleep (deep sleep)4,6,5,7,8. Monoamine neurotransmitters like serotonin, norepinephrine, and histamine are unavailable during this stage4. Injections of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, which increase more available acetylcholine, have been found to cause paradoxical sleep in both humans and animals, even in low-wave sleep9,5,7,8Carbachol, which imitates acetylcholine’s effect on neurons, has a similar impact. In waking humans, the same injections are produced in paradoxical sleep only if the monoamine neurotransmitters have been finished. Two other neurotransmitters, orexin and gamma-Aminobutyric acid seen to provide wakefulness2,4,7,8.

Most of the eye movements in REM sleep are less rapid and shorter than those usually shown by waking humans. Approximately seven loops take over one minute during paradoxical sleep.9,8,4,10 In slow-wave sleep, eyes usually drift apart, whereas eyes move in tandem during REM sleep. Those eye movements may be affected by the vision of the experience they have in a dream4,9,10. Also, before we have any questions about blind people, they still move their eyes even though they don’t have any imaginary vision. Due to some research, an explanation suggests that REM sleep movements are only a side effect of the brain processing an eye-related procedural movement4,10,8,11.

Muscle atonia is the complete paralysis of the body made by motor neurons. Motor neurons go through hyperpolarization when the body is in the REM sleep stage (a cell membrane change that makes the potential more negative)4. The membrane potential decreases by about another 2-10 millivolts10. Muscle inhibition may result because of the unavailability of monoamine neurotransmitters and might be the mechanism of waking muscle inhibition10.

When we talk about REM sleep, it’s always collaborated with Lucid dreams and creativity. Since we are all interested in these topics, although we don’t have much information, we can say that when people awaken from REM sleep, people tend to be better at the creativity and completing some tasks8,4. High levels of acetylcholine in the hippocampus suppress feedback from the hippocampus to the neocortex4,12,10. During this time, lower levels of acetylcholine and norepinephrine in the neocortex help the uncontrolled spread of activity in neocortical areas.4 This is opposite to the process to provide waking consciousness, and during this process, REM sleep provides creativity by allowing neocortical structures to reorganize associative hierarchies4,13.

A lucid dream is a process during REM sleep that many sleepers can experience and report a plan, and where a person knows that they are dreaming so. As a result, they gain control of the dream. Researchers can easily take narrative and more extended reports when they wake up the sleepers during the REM stage. Those dreams may be affected by the person’s recent or past experiences4,8,11,14. Even though 80% of dreams happen in the REM sleep stage, light-sleepers may experience a lucid dream in stage 2 of the NREM sleep4,12,15,16. It contrasts with deep-sleepers, more likely to report it but not dream during this stage12,15,16.

The timing of the REM sleep stage differs based on age. An adult usually experiences four to five periods of REM sleep stage which are first short (approx. 15 min.) and then longer at the end (approx. 25 min.)4,8,12. Also, it equals 90-120 min per night, whereas a newborn baby sleeps in REM for about 80% of their total sleep time. And then, a few weeks later, the baby’s neural patterns begin to show a rhythm of REM and NREM sleep4,8,12.

REM sleep still has many unknowns to find, observe, and demonstrate. As it’s written in paragraphs in a more detailed way, REM sleeping is a neurotic reaction, and it most likely influences our dreams and creativity, which is linked with our learning skills. In a dream state, we have a high dose of some neurotransmitters even though some are not available at that moment. To continue, we can lastly add and conclude that some reactions at the dream stage may differ between light sleepers and deep sleepers. We’ve successfully gathered this information, yet we know it is hard to prove scientific findings because it is like a brain process between the conscious and unconscious mind. We’ve found much helpful information that we can scientifically improve ourselves and low on. I believe in the future, we will be able to do more research on this topic and find out that it’s much more than an unconscious reflex.

References:

  1. Blumberg MS, Lesku JA, Libourel PA, Schmidt MH, Rattenborg NC. What Is REM Sleep? Curr Biol. 2020;30(1): R38-R49. doi:10.1016/J.CUB.2019.11.045
  2. Deboer, T. Technologies of sleep research. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2007;64(10):1227-1235. doi:10.1007/s00018-007-6533-0
  3. Peever J, Fuller PM. The Biology of REM Sleep. Curr Biol. 2017;27(22): R1237-R1248. doi:10.1016/J.CUB.2017.10.026
  4. Rapid eye movement sleep – Wikipedia. Accessed April 9, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_eye_movement_sleep
  5. Lomas T, Ivtzan I, Fu CHY. A systematic review of the neurophysiology of mindfulness on EEG oscillations. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2015;57:401-410. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2015.09.018
  6. Hinterberger T, Schmidt S, Kamei T, Walach H. Decreased electrophysiological activity represents the conscious state of emptiness in meditation. Front Psychol. 2014;5(FEB):99. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00099
  7. Mallick BN (Birendra N. Rapid eye movement sleep : regulation and function. Published online 2011:478.
  8. Monti JM, Pandi-Perumal SR, Sinton CW. Neurochemistry of sleep and wakefulness. Published online 2008:482.
  9. Hasselmo ME. Neuromodulation: acetylcholine and memory consolidation. Trends Cogn Sci. 1999;3(9):351-359. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(99)01365-0
  10. Steriade M, McCarley RW. Brainstem control of wakefulness and sleep. Published online 1990:499.
  11. Wagner U, Gais S, Haider H, Verleger R, Born J. Sleep inspires insight. Nature. 2004;427(6972):352-355. doi:10.1038/nature02223
  12. Pace-Schott EF. Sleep and dreaming : scientific advances and reconsiderations. Published online 2003:360.
  13. Cai DJ, Mednick SA, Harrison EM, Kanady JC, Mednick SC. REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009;106(25):10130. doi:10.1073/PNAS.0900271106
  14. Markov D, Goldman M, Doghramji K. Normal Sleep and Circadian Rhythms: Neurobiological Mechanisms Underlying Sleep and Wakefulness. Sleep Med Clin. 2012;7(3):417-426. doi:10.1016/j.jsmc.2012.06.015
  15. Jouvet M. The paradox of sleep : the story of dreaming. Published online 1999:211.
  16. Moorcroft WH, Belcher P. Understanding Sleep and SDreaming. Springer; 2003.

Inspector: Süleyman ŞAHİN

Yorum bırakın

E-posta adresiniz yayınlanmayacak. Gerekli alanlar * ile işaretlenmişlerdir