Sleep

[aresian]

Yep, sleep can certainly be a drug. Why? because it releases chemicals into your body and your body responds to those chemicals. I know this because I abused the heck out of sleep. I do wonder what the exact names of the chemicals sleep releases to be asleep because I'd like to know if I abuse it because I lack these chemicals or simply because I like the feeling of sleep. Honestly I like the feeling of sleep, at the correct dose it is most pleasing and encourages me to repeat the behavior the next night. However, I am curious if I lack these chemicals during my waking hours so my body wants to encourage sleep to gain the proper dose of these chemicals in my body. I don't know.

What I do know is when sleep is taken outside of the circadian rhythm there are some very peculiar results.

I personally lucid dream much easier when I take naps in the middle of the day because I'm not sleeping out of sheer exhaustion but because I choose to. I use it to train myself to lucid dream. I am not sure how else to describe why I do it. What I get from it is a look into my internal world made more "real" than normal dreaming would be. I can work out ideas I have by looking at them applied as if what I was dreaming was real or at least applying them to a scenario of what if. I like lucid dreaming a lot and I think given the chance I'd be fully addicted to it. The good news is that I am getting on a better sleep pattern and avoiding the naps during day so the addiction has lessened. What I describe is something that has positive and negative points. The positive is I get to play around with my subconscious the negative side is my body may feel unbalanced to the point I act more distracted in the waking world and perhaps even a bit more detached from reality than I would like. That sounds like a chemical to me, it has a physical reaction within the body, it causes a change that I can do willingly, and while it occurs within the body naturally I can encourage it to the point of abusing.

I swear there is a proper name for the chemical that the brain sends out to signal the body it is time for sleeping, it is sleeping, and what occurs when asleep/dreaming.

Something I'm wondering about as I prepare to enter the dream realm tonight.

[aresian]

I'm going to try a one-hour dose this afternoon. I want to see if I can get some dreams to help me on a decision I have to make next week.

[aresian]

I burn cinnamon, frankincense, and sweet orange oil while I sleep in this manner. I suppose it could be a meditation but it usually results in me sleeping so I don't count it in meditation. I'll make a note of these chemicals as they might be influential in some degree.

Poison path? Well, it could be I'm using this as a means to obtain the chemical dose within my body to make me sleep. Now, it isn't artificial meaning I'm not using outside substances to encourage it. But it is artificial in that I am experimenting with sleep as a means to achieve an altered state. There is currently no law against this and I find some of the trips very worth it. I am using this to explore my subconscious.

[Alice]

Serotonin and melatonin. The two hormones most directly connected to sleep.

I don't know all the details of exactly how they are meant to work in the body off the top of my head.

Seratonin imbalance causes both insomnia and chronic fatigue syndrome. It also builds in your system while you sleep, and that feeling of lethargy from oversleeping is seratonin overload.

Melatonin is available as a supplement from any drugstore, and induces both sleep and vivid (sometimes lucid) dreams. In some people it causes nightmares, in others it prevents them.

I believe the presence of melatonin (as with a supplement) causes the body to produce seratonin.

May you find what you seek,
Alice