Medications and foods that affect dreams. Lucid Dreams: Medications and Foods Affecting Dreams
Whether certain foods can affect your sleep has never been studied before. Professor of Psychiatry Thor Nielsen, Chancellor of Montreal's University of Dreams and Nightmares, set out to investigate the connection between products and dream content. In lucid dreams, the dream itself takes control of the actions and the immediate result. " Mindful eating" - name given to products and supplements believed to improve sleep.
Sleep and dreams
According to the National Institute of Neuralgic Disorders, there are five developmental phases of sleep. During the first phase - a person begins to fall asleep, he has dreams, for example, visual images that do not form a single plot. Most of sleep passes in the second phase, when eye movement stops and slows down brain activity. During the third and fourth phases, brain activity decreases to the delta frequency. Most dreams occur in the next phase, when your eyes are in constant motion, as if you were watching a movie. This happens 70-90 minutes after falling asleep. Most people spend about two hours dreaming.
Cheese and dairy products
Cheese and other dairy products are commonly believed to induce more vivid dreams. University professor Milena Corridge believes that there are chemicals in cheese that transmit signals to the brain. Comedian May Martin has experimented with cheese as a sleep catalyst and says brie cheese gives her wings in her sleep, and gorgonzola gives her immortality. Research conducted in 2005 confirms Martina's words - the sharper the cheese, the sharper the dreams. Studies conducted with 200 participants showed that blue cheese causes the most strange dreams.
Other products and supplements
Fruit juices, ice cream, popcorn, salty foods, and fish are the most common causes of more complex dreams. Biologically active additives, according to the manufacturers - encourage memories in dreams. Reliable evidence about herbs, vitamins, and supplements suggests that their effectiveness remains in question. Most researchers are skeptical about these studies. However, researcher Kellogg III believes that supplementing with 100-250 mg of vitamin B6 just before bed makes dreams more vivid and exciting.
Tryptophan is an amino acid that converts to serotonin. Serotonin causes vivid dreams at higher levels. Tryptophan is found in chicken, salmon, lamb, eggs, white rice and milk. Cheddar cheese contains the most tryptophan.
As many claim, Apple vinegar causes the most vivid and realistic dreams. Also, such products include pizza, cabbage and various herbs(for example, valerian and chamomile extract).
What not to eat
Drinks such as coffee and various energy drinks are more likely to negatively affect the content of dreams, says psychiatrist James McFarlane, director of the MedSleep Clinic, Toronto. Research conducted by Australian scientists in September 1992 confirms this theory in an article published in " International magazine in psychology." A group of people who took Tabasco mustard before going to bed could not fall asleep for a long time, people experienced more negative emotions, than usual. Possible reasons This could be caused by stomach upset and fever body associated with sleep disorders. Garlic also causes nightmares and rather strange dreams, according to Livestrong.
- We have already done a rather large review of Tensegrity practices and this time I would like to talk about dreaming. Our readers will be interested to know what a dream is and are there any real methods to master this art?
- The art of dreaming is the art of shifting your perception, and this can happen both in a dream and in reality. Layers of awareness become available to the dreamer that are inaccessible to our ordinary perception and of which in reality there are an infinite number. We dream all the time, and we must first learn to be aware of such moments, and then purposefully create such shifts in our own perception ourselves.
Dreaming is an exciting event, as it is not just a dream. To master this art, we need energy. The whole secret or magic of the dreamer lies in his personal power, which accumulates over the years with practice. Therefore, being aware of yourself in a dream is not a goal and is not always an advantage. For example, I know many who dream lucidly often or even every day, yet they do not practice and use this unique talent to change their lives. And just playing with your dreams is tantamount to wandering in the clouds.
The real methods known to me on how to master this art are the practices of the shamans of ancient Mexico. As in any business, the development of abilities and increase in awareness in a dream can be tied to a certain pattern, i.e., there are certain steps or sequence of actions that lead the practitioner to the result.
- Can you tell me more about these methods?
- Carlos Castaneda spoke in detail about these methods - erasing personal history, accumulating personal strength, liberation from a sense of self-importance. This is a set of exercises that includes Tensegrity. We will need to study hard to wake up that part of us that is very fast asleep.
Unfortunately, this knowledge cannot be memorized - I'm talking about the various positions of the assemblage point. It takes a practitioner years to do this. To move perception to these points we use Tensegrity®.
“Are you saying that by doing these exercises, you can take control of your dreams?”
- By doing these exercises, you can take control of your life, and dreams are part of our lives. Our dreaming begins here, in the first attention, when we go to work and when we communicate with our parents, friends, colleagues, children, etc. It is from this interaction that we can get the energy that is necessary for awareness in a dream. To be aware in a dream, we need energy, but to act in a dream, we need even more energy - it can only be obtained from our impeccable lifestyle.
“The shamans of ancient Mexico were experts in dreaming. Did they have an advantage over modern man in this matter?
In those days the world was different and people were different. The world is an integral structure that is in constant change. In the time of the seers of ancient Mexico, people lived in a different state, they felt more connected with nature, connected with intention, and they loved the Earth.
People of knowledge were an integral part of that world - this was their advantage. Nowadays, being a man of knowledge is beyond social order and is not part of it. Now people have lost contact with the source - it's like a wheat field laid with bricks - nothing will grow on such a field. Those shamans read energy and saw the many layers of life in the universe. In modern man, attention is constantly directed to increasing his own ego, and his life is meager.
Therefore, we need to clear the field of debris and revive life anew. Life and awareness within us and without. Everyone, one way or another, makes a choice when the Spirit knocks at his door.
Reconnecting with intent is magic, but it's big job, which can lead a person to the source, where he can be aware of himself night and day, always. New person will be able to learn to feel - then he will begin to see the energy and understand: who he is, why he is here, what task he faces - he will be able to find his own path and go through this path.
- Now there are a lot of training programs, books, even electronic devices have appeared - they all offer fast way be aware of yourself in a dream. Does Tensegrity® have anything to do with this?
- I do not think so. Tensegrity® offers anyone to change their life completely - and it really is effective method live. Live in a state of happiness and prosperity. I really don't know what books and programs on this topic offer. Carlos Castaneda has always said that we test everything on our own experience, I advise you to do the same - just test it for yourself.
- There is an opinion that one who has succeeded in dreaming can overcome death, is that true?
“According to the knowledge of this lineage, a practitioner can be aware of himself for as long as the Earth exists. Consciousness is life.
I want to emphasize again - dreaming does not begin in bed. The dream is happening right now. People mostly dream in such a way as to waste energy in their lives, warriors on the other hand can change perception and direct vital energy in a new way. Then we will have the opportunity to live our lives fully and consciously. And death is the other side of life, and if we live like whining baby if we do not love ourselves and the world, we will not be able to find the integrity that Carlos Castaneda spoke about.
- What can you advise to those who are not yet practicing Tensegrity, but want to develop their dreams?
— Modern man He has a strange attitude towards practices in general - if you practice something, then you are somehow strange. People are afraid of becoming anti-social and do nothing at all. This is because all the attention of a person is in the head. But in order to find wholeness, we must stand on two legs - society or our first attention is one leg, practice or our second attention is the other. I would recommend seeing where your attention is. Regarding the development of dreaming: I do Tensegrity® and can only view the art of dreaming from that perspective. After all, Carlos Castaneda belongs to a line of magicians, the beginning of which is lost for centuries. This line has its own intention - the intention of freedom, the intention to break out of the limitations in which we live ... I will not advise diving headlong into these practices, but it would be useful for anyone reading this now to simply choose one of the hundreds of Magical Passes (you can find them in the video library at practice.cleargreen.com) and do this exercise for a few minutes a day. See for yourself what happens...
I love life. Everything is so well thought out. I especially like the deterrents. For those who are not in the know, a deterrent is a set of any actions aimed at reducing the number of participants in any process. What is it like natural selection in life . I'll try to explain with an example. Let's say you want to become a millionaire. Dream of wealth. To become one, it is enough to have the necessary amount of money. Everything is quite simple. Find a million But if everyone could very quickly become the owner of a million, chaos would begin in the world. To prevent this, deterrents were invented. One of them is work. You need to work long and hard, work hard and earn money. The other is taxes. Part of the money has to be paid.
When I began to work on my emotions, critical phrases flew from all sides, aimed at unbalancing me. The majority of people are outraged by such behavior. "How can you not feel it?" And it starts. Everyone tries to hook, hook, unbalance. When you "keep emotions in a tight rein" you notice a very interesting thing. Any phrase, any words, deeds and everything that surrounds one way or another are aimed at unbalancing. The whole world is trying to get a person to give their emotions. Therefore, be careful. I am very interested in your observations on this method. I will be glad if you leave a comment.
- sexual abstinence
No matter how ridiculous it may sound, but this is also one of the ways. I'm not saying that it's forbidden to copulate at all throughout life. But for a while you will have to limit yourself. Sex is the most energy-consuming way. It squanders energy. It is written in books on yoga and the like that abstinence must be complete. Not like with a girlfriend, no, no, but in the evening with a magazine in the toilet or in the bathroom. No contacts at all. Even with myself.
I explain for those who laugh. Every psyche has a likeness defense mechanism called sublimation. That is, when internal tension is created in the body (we abstain for a month, energy accumulates), you redirect the collected energy (sublimate it) into various activities. For example, to see lucid dreams. Generally this concept was put forward by Freud. But with the development of psychology, other options began to appear. For example, if a person has sadistic tendencies, his energy can be sublimated through surgery. In this way, sadists can benefit society. Not only does he rejoice, but he also helps a person. That is, from negative, energy turns into constructive.
- Defeat an inorganic being
Enough interesting way was suggested on one of the forums. Find and defeat an inorganic being. I don't think newbies can do that. And the effectiveness of the method remains in question. But for general education I turned it on anyway. Perhaps someday someone will have the opportunity to test this in practice.
In general, there are many different opinions, practices, advice and other things about the accumulation and accumulation of energy. There is no point in describing everything. Because their practicality is still in question for me. There is no desire to check everyone. Only the two described by the first are enough. It is very interesting to know your opinion on this issue. How do you accumulate energy for lucid dreams or where do you get it from?
As many researchers of the world of lucid dreaming note, the presence of free energy is necessary for the successful use of such practices. If a person is sick or very tired, then it is better for him to give up such practices for a while. But even in a normal state, the average person may lack the energy needed to successfully enter a lucid dream. And this is precisely the secret of the failure of such practices by beginners. How can this energy be saved? Here, for example, is what Russian researcher S. Korkin writes about this in his book Lucid Dreams:
"... if your consciousness is awake, acting in a dream, then it needs some kind of energy. I also noted that part of this energy can be released by stopping digesting your problems and giving up some attachments.
Where else can you get this energy? The first thing that comes to mind is food. I do not think that the absorption of some products can give the required. And yet, in my experience, I have noticed that products that stimulate sexual desire (eg, peanuts, sunflower seeds) greatly contributed to my awareness in a dream. As Don Juan said to Carlos Castaneda, we have no other energy than sexual energy. Rather, it would be to say that the energy is one, just during sexual contact it is best felt, and therefore such an identification occurs.
Many dreamers, in particular ardent supporters of Castaneda, practice refusing to have sex, because they believe that it is during sex that an enormous amount of energy is expended. I think that here, as in everything else, it is necessary to maintain a balance and not rush to extremes. Can you free your head from intrusive thoughts about sex, if all the time to fight with your desire? Obviously, much will be spent on fighting with oneself. more strength than normal intercourse requires. Besides, there is Great chance that, having realized yourself in a dream surrounded by sexual beauties (or handsome men), you will not resist and spend your awareness in an absolutely mediocre way.
I have had many occasions when, a few hours after sexual contact, I successfully became aware of myself in a dream, and my consciousness was very stable. Probably, having sex activated my internal energy, brought it out of its dormant state. Or maybe my desire to have sex these days and my clear consciousness in a dream are simply consequences of my excess energy activity on certain days.
I do not think that sex is the main consumer of our internal energy. In my opinion, the so-called energy vampires are much more terrible - our friends or unfamiliar people who load us with absolutely unnecessary information. After communicating with such people, you usually experience a feeling of great mental fatigue. Often, our domestics also act as such vampires. Therefore, try to use any opportunities for solitude (business trips, family departure to the country or vacation, etc.) to deepen the dream practice.
Once again I will draw your attention to another absorber of our energy - television. This predator not only eats up all our awareness (after all, while we are watching a movie, we are not aware of ourselves), but also very cleverly fills our head with extraneous information rubbish, which imperceptibly grows in the form of our habits and desires.
By the way, the American anthropologist K. Castaneda, mentioned by S. Korkin, said that there are people with high energy, for whom an active sexual life does not interfere with the use of the "art of dreaming" practices. But it was with regard to himself that such a restriction was made by his teacher don Juan Matus. 'Cause it all depends individual characteristics body and determine if you need to limit sex life for OS practice, you can with personal experience. But as for drugs and alcohol, although they facilitate the separation of the dream body, however, the awareness of oneself in the dream state is extremely negatively affected. This should be taken into account by everyone who is interested in lucid dreams.
Substances that promote lucid dreaming
Lucidity usually begins in the middle of sleep, when the dreamer realizes that the experience does not take place in physical reality, but is a dream. The term "lucid dreaming" was coined by Frederick van Eyden. Lucidity usually begins in the middle of sleep, when the dreamer realizes that the experience does not take place in physical reality, but is a dream. Often this realization is initiated by the dreamer when he notices an impossible or unlikely event in the dream, such as flying or meeting a dead person. Sometimes awareness comes without any specific dream prompt; a person may suddenly realize that he is in a dream. A minority of lucid dreams (about 10% according to the studies of LaBerge and colleagues) are the result of the return of REM sleep (with dreams) immediately after waking up with continuous reflective consciousness. Basic definition lucid dream requires only the awareness that you are dreaming. However, the quality of awareness can vary greatly. With a high level of awareness, a person realizes that everything that happens in a dream happens in his mind, that there is no real danger and that he is in his bed and will soon wake up. At a low level of awareness, a person may be aware to a certain extent that he is dreaming, which may be enough to start flying or to change what he does in a dream, but not enough to understand that people in a dream are a dream manifestation that the sleeper cannot receive any physical harm, or that he is actually in bed.
Substances and dreams
In the circumstances described above, it is highly recommended in this area to develop safe way helping dreamers achieve higher states of awareness in their dreams more frequently. For this, neurotransmitter modulators such as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors can be used. Several substances have been proposed to increase the likelihood of lucid dreaming, from vitamins to prescription drugs. There are several good scientific research confirming these assertions. lucid dreams highly dependent on the placebo effect; believing that something will stimulate lucid dreaming is very effective. Many prescription drugs, as well as alcohol, alter the sleep cycle, usually by suppressing REM sleep. This leads to a phenomenon called "REM backlash" where a person experiences intense long periods of REM after the substance has worn off. This may manifest as nightmares, or perhaps as lucid dreams, as the brain is very active at this point.
Acetylcholine and Lucid Dreaming
It is known in the scientific literature that acetylcholine and its agonist, as well as acetylcholinesterase and its inhibitors/antagonists, can affect REM and sleep itself 14). J. A. Hobson, in his 1988 book The Dreaming Brain, says: "The cholinergic mechanisms of the brainstem cause sleep and dreaming." It has also been found that microinjection of the acetylcholine agonist carbachol in certain areas of the brain, such as the pons, induces long periods of REM sleep, and that many of the neurons critical for REM sleep respond to acetylcholine. Neither Hobson nor other scientists discussed the possibility of altering cholinergic levels with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors as a means of enhancing memory recovery and awareness. Historically, there are many cultures in which naturally occurring substances have allegedly been found to alter dream awareness in some way. One such substance, calea cazatecci or "Dream Weed", according to a 1986 article in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology by Lilian Mayagoitia et al., is "a plant used by the Indians of Juntal origin in Mexico to receive divine messages in their dreams." The neuroactive substances from this herb are sesquiterpene lactones and, to the best of our knowledge, are not associated with acetylcholinesterase inhibition or acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.
Herbs and plants
Both ancient methodologies and modern popular medicine attribute "oneirogenic" or "hypnotic" properties to numerous herbs and other natural substances, including herbs such as valerian, wormwood, mallein, kava kava, kitta of Crete, St. John's wort, salvia divinorum, Scutellaria indica, licorice root, verbena, jasmine, honeysuckle, cabbage, bee pollen, catnip, hops, skulikap, mimosa, lavender, damiana, santania somnifera, passionflower, chamomile, cardamom, gotu kola, ginkgo biloba, ibogaine, verbena, rose, cinnamon, calendula, nutmeg, peppermint, holly, yarrow and anise. There is little scientific evidence to support these putative effects.
Other supplements and/or medications also claimed to be associated with mindfulness include B vitamins, melatonin, DMAE, and the psychedelic dextromethorphan. Some of these substances may be addictive, poisonous, and/or illegal. Lotsof, in U.S. Patent No. 4,499,096, issued Feb. 12, 1985, states " Quick method to interrupt the syndrome drug addiction" by using medicinal product Ibogaine. According to the patent, this drug induces "an intensification of dreams or a hallucinatory effect." This claimed "oneirogenic" effect is due to the fact that it induces dream behavior while leaving the ego perspective relatively intact. As stated in the patent, this is more of a hallucinatory effect than a lucid dream effect. However, because of these hallucinatory and other side effects, this drug is illegal in the US and thus not a desirable sleep aid. This drug is also not considered related to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors or "drugs that improve mental capacity". DMAE (2-dimethylaminoethanol) is Chemical substance, which has been proposed for the treatment of a number of conditions, affecting the brain and the central nervous system. It is supposed to work by increasing the production of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, although this has not been proven. It is believed that DMAE improves memory and mood, improves intellectual functioning. There are several good clinical research confirming this assertion. Such substances are known as "cholinergics" due to the fact that they increase the level of acetylcholine. They are traditionally used to treat conditions such as Alzheimer's dementia, tardive dyskinesia, and Huntington's chorea. Because DMAE is considered cholinergic, it has been proposed for the treatment of these disorders, although placebo-controlled studies have produced essentially negative results. There is an ongoing debate about whether DMAE increases acetylcholine levels. However, Sergio, W. stated in the August 1988 edition of Medical Hypotheses in the article "The use of DMAE (2-dimethylaminoethanol) to induce lucid dreams" subjectively allowed him and his wife to experience heightened sleep lucidity. It is not clear from the article to what extent its purported results stem from a placebo response or any specific or cholinergic effect.
Other devices
Also well known in the art is a US patent. No. 5,507,716, awarded to LaBerge and colleagues on April 16, 1996, for equipment and methods used to induce lucid dreams in sleeping people. This patent uses a device to help people achieve lucid dreams by detecting and monitoring eye and head movements of sleeping people, where eye movement activity in the absence of head movement is used to indicate the presence of REM sleep. By applying sensory stimuli to REM sleepers, you can let them know they are dreaming. Keith M. T. Hearne illustrated and described his respiratory measuring instrument in 1983 (Pat. No. 4.420.001). His device sensed changes in the temperature of a person's breathing in the respiratory passage, or in the flow of air into and out of the respiratory passage. Thermistors have been used in an electrical circuit to detect temperature changes in human breathing. When the rate of these temperature changes reached a high predetermined level, the signals created in the electrical circuit initiated an audible sound to help bring the sleeping person out of an unpleasant dream, waking them up or helping them enter a lucid dream state.
Actylcholinesterase inhibitors
None of the above descriptions describe a method for enhancing lucid dreaming that involves administering a class of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Therapeutic agents for Alzheimer's disease such as donepezil (Aricept®), rivastigmine (Exelon®), galantamine (Reminyl®, Nivalin®), tacrine and huperzine result in a low incidence of side effects such as insomnia and gastrointestinal symptoms At the same time, these drugs significantly improve cognitive dream lucidity, clarity, self-reflection, recall, control, quirkiness, and visual vividness. The new patent relates to the field of lucid dreaming and to improving dream recall and dream lucidity through memory enhancement, including a class of substances that include acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEls). Lucid dreaming means dreaming in which you know you are dreaming. AChE inhibitors (AchEl) inhibit the normal metabolic inactivation of acetylcholine (ACh) by inhibiting the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), resulting in accumulation of Ach. AchEl is most commonly used to improve memory, especially in Alzheimer's patients. Ach well known also that he plays important role in REM and is therefore suggested to improve dreams and awareness. When investigating the efficacy of donepezil (Aricept®) as an agent to improve lucid dreaming and cognitive clarity during REM sleep in normal patients, the following experiment was conducted with following results: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study was performed with ten normal volunteers selected for their good memory and interest in lucid dreaming (7 males, 3 females aged 22-55). Patients were required to collect dream content data and demonstrate other self-report measures for three nights separated by a drug elimination period of at least one week. At bedtime, they took capsules containing 0 (placebo), 5, or 10 mg decepil in a balanced order of three doses. After each spontaneous awakening for three nights, Ss assessed sleep content on a range of measures, including bizarreness, complexity and intensity, affect, cognitive awareness, clarity, and control. They also assessed sleep quality, insomnia, and the degree of any adverse impact. Nine of 10 Ss (90%) reported one or more lucid dreams on the night of the experiment, and only one S reported lucid dreaming on the placebo night. Cognitive clarity, awareness, recall, control, quirkiness, and visual vividness were all significantly improved with donepezil compared with placebo. Effects were generally associated with the 10 mg dose of doepisil, giving significantly more high levels of these variables than the 5 mg dose, which in turn resulted in significant increases over placebo. The likelihood of lucid dreaming for these three conditions increased from 0.031 for placebo to 0.429 for dopil 5mg and 0.754 for pipetyl 10mg. The odds ratio for the 10 mg dose versus placebo was 24.3 (p
Other substances
In addition, there are reports of successful use of nicotine patches. There is also evidence in the scientific literature showing the initiation/intensification of REM sleep with arecoline. It should be noted that REM alteration, mindfulness-enhancing effects, may be due to a number of neurophysiological effects induced by these "nootropics" in addition to acetylcholinesterase inhibition. These include: 1. The use of a cholinergic agonist (eg, nicotine). 2. Muscarinic receptor agonist use: drugs that mimic the effect of ACh on muscarinic receptors: Inc: muscarinic (M1), M2 and nicotinic agonists. (such as arecoline or recoline, a muscarinic receptor agonist) 3. Use of a presynaptic receptor antagonist to activate the remaining acetylcholine neurons. (That is, there are desensitizing oligonucleotide sequences in rats that block muscarinic M2 (but not M4) receptors, increasing extracellular levels of acetylcholine. This effect (desensitizing nucleotide sequences are complementary to a messenger RNA sequence. When desensitizing DNA or RNA is added to a cell, they bind 4. Use of allosteric modulators (such as allosteric potentiating ligands) of acetylcholine and nicotinic receptors (drugs that interact with the receptor through binding sites other than those used for acetylcholine and nicotinic agonists and antagonists) Other strategies for potentiating acetylcholine function to improve dream lucidity, including the use of other classes of compounds that work in a similar way, should be apparent to those skilled in the art. Awareness-enhancing effects may be due to a number of neurophysiological effects induced by these "nootropics" in addition to acetylcholinesterase inhibition. They include:
Use of a cholinergic agonist (eg, nicotine).
Muscarinic receptor agonist use: drugs that mimic the effect of ACh on muscarinic receptors: Inc: muscarinic (M1), M2 and nicotinic agonists. (such as arecoline or recoline, a muscarinic receptor agonist)
Use of a presynaptic receptor antagonist to activate the rest of the acetylcholine neurons. (That is, there are desensitizing oligonucleotide sequences in rats that block muscarinic M2 (but not M4) receptors, increasing extracellular levels of acetylcholine. This effect (desensitizing nucleotide sequences are complementary to a messenger RNA sequence. When desensitizing DNA or RNA is added to a cell, they bind with a specific messenger RNA molecule and inactivate it.
