Sleep...

I write a lot about my sleep. From sleep anxiety to REM sleep behavior disorder to falling asleep uncontrollably to dreams to not getting enough sleep due to medicines to getting too much sleep due to Parkinson's to sleep apnea, I spend about a 1/3 of my time talking about the 1/3 of my life that I should be sleeping. Actually, it's not quite a 1/3 of the time discussion, but that similarity in numbers says something. I also have been sleeping more than 1/3 of my time asleep lately. That says something, too.

I blame that (in a very positive way) on the Himalayan salt lamp I've been using. I also blame this on air conditioning and a fan keeping me cold like I'm permanently visiting New Orleans.

If you'd like to try it for yourself, the link above goes to a lamp. You can read about my trip to the Salt Lounge in Wyomising HERE (also includes info about sleeping disorders). Let's just say, since that 12 hour doze off after coming back from my half hour nap in the lounge, my room is now perfect for sleeping.

And what's more, I don't miss the sleep apnea mask that didn't work anyway.

So why do we sleep? The theories are out there, but we're not sure if it's brain plasticity, restoration, energy conservation, or protection. That said, we do, and it's won-der-ful!

Unlike the days in Basic Training, I don't bolt out of bed with enthusiasm and a salute as I exclaim, "Sir, Airman Glass reports as ordered!" Then again, I don't tend to get woken up to be yelled at or motivated unless my wife wants to go out to eat and I'm still asleep!

For me, I don't always wonder why I dream, though theories speculate on whether it's about memory formation, an extension of wide-awake consciousness, protection, making sense of past / present / future, biochemicals in the brain, or problem solving.

I'd like to hope I could dream like Edgar Cayce (if that could really be done) or astral project (if that could really be done), but they seem a little out of my league right now, despite my connection to Parkinson's lucid dreaming world.

This is a question your neurologist will ask you, so whether you're feeling the wild psychedelic dream world or not, you might want to see the link above.

I love knowing I'm dreaming so I can respond to things and do things. I will talk to myself in dreams, which is kind of cool. Occasionally, I will think about doing things in dreams. I know that my ability to do this has made me fly and survive battles in the surreal. If you go to the article above, you can see the kind of things that lucid dreamer Berit Brogaard has been able to do.

I should add that I write a lot about this kind of dreaming in my last book The Rules of the Game, and I am writing more in Intersections, which is the followup.

Thankfully, with the more peaceful rest of the salt lamp and salt therapy, I sleep deeper, longer, and get more in the REM sleep (dreaming state).

Thus, the only question left is where should I go tonight?