Saturday-Sunday 20-21/1/2018

This was a "good as it gets" sleep and fairly typical of the current cycle as the measurements go, although it was unusual in the number of dreams I experienced, one being particularly long, vivid and upsetting that had me wide awake at 04:20, so much so that I considered going downstairs for a mug of tea to "get over it".

 In the event I wasn't awake enough for long enough. Sleep hormones in my blood don't feel particularly pleasant - my muscles are sore and ache and I feel "ill" - which of course makes you want to stay in bed! I went back to bed after a wee and went on to have more dreams which were "neutral" in experience, and gratifyingly, I stayed in bed until the 07:00 alarm.

 Though it was not a sleep that felt nice due to the bad dream, the memory of which is still going round my head, I realize that this sleep was still good for me. In dream sleep, unrelated experiences and emotions are "cross-referenced" to make temporary new connections. These lead to increased insight and understanding, although sometimes at the cost of temporary distress!  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sunday Meditation 25/2/2018

TOTAL SESSION TIME: 14:55 - 16:48 TOTAL SESSION LENGTH: 1hr 53 mins TIME IN TRANCE/SLEEP: 1hr 43 mins EFFICIENCY: 91% TOTAL BRAIN-REST FOR TODAY: 7 hrs 56 mins (estimated) After not registering my night's sleep, meditation was dutifully recorded after wearing my tracker IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY!! This session was of high quality and deep, drifting into sleep, particularly REM sleep, with some vivid dreams. A good end at least to the week. 
Read more

Thursday - Friday 1-2/3/2018

Image
At last! A night where Fitbit, body and brain all behaved themselves! I cannot fully explain why. I fully charged the Fitbit before bed, and I got some exercise in, and was fully relieved in the marital department - these factors may have all assisted. Most amazing of all there were NO toilet calls or tea cravings. I did wake as I often do around 04:30 thirsty/horny/needing a wee, but for once sleepiness was stronger and I never got out of bed or did anything else - I simply went back to sleep having NOT GOT UP AT ALL the whole night.  The only mild downers was that deep sleep was rather short and late and sleep efficiency remains stubbornly stuck in the 80's, but by my standards this is nevertheless a great morale-boosting success to begin the weekend with. I wish I could say I'd stumbled across the "winning formula" but I can't - I've exercised and charged Fitbit before on cold nights and had bad results, so why this one went well can't be explained ...
Read more

Monday Meditation 19/2/2018

Image
TOTAL SESSION TIME: 14:30 - 15:45 TOTAL SESSION LENGTH: 75 MINUTES TIME IN TRANCE/SLEEP: 63 MINUTES EFFICIENCY: 84% TOTAL BRAIN-REST FOR TODAY: Whatever the reason for the failure of Fitbit to record meditations last week, it was fine and accurate today.  I have started experimenting with binaural beats to find the one that works for me. There is no scientific evidence as many claim that binaural beats directly affect brainwave frequency, but I do believe that they have a hypnotic effect dependent on the individual.  Today I tried a variable beat (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HePF0xlKzNE) but my experience was nothing like the level of consciousness suggested - trance was even as far as I could recollect and I woke spontaneously when I was still being allegedly stimulated to still be in light sleep. I rated it nevertheless "OK" but I have many more variations to try. 
Read more