We need sleep and dreams to balance out the psychological and physical activity within us. During the day we take in far more information than we can process from the activities in our environment. We have anywhere between 12 000 and 80 000 thoughts per day, and we cannot possibly attend to even half of those thoughts. We store that information during the day, and the subjects of the thoughts come randomly into our dreams.
When we sleep, we go through different phases, from light sleep (when your muscles relax) to slow wave sleep (when growth and appetite controlling hormones are released) to deep sleep (when your body recovers and regenerates), to REM sleep (when your brain is active and “scans an information database”). You dream during the REM (rapid eye movement) phase of sleep when your brain is active. This happens even when you cannot recall your dreams.
REM sleep is a highly active phase for your brain. Not only does your brain do a lot of organizing, processing, and storing of information from your day, but neuro-connections that strengthen your memory also form.
Sleep reduces your anxiety and depression
Research has shown that a deprivation of REM sleep results in increased tension, anxiety, and irritability. You will also struggle with concentration and feel empty.
Lack of sleep tends to result in an increase in appetite, with subsequent weight gain. People who are deprived of sleep even tend to hallucinate, and sleep deprivation eventually results in mental and physical breakdown.
Mood-boosting chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine are also replenished by your body during REM sleep.
To put it simply, REM sleep helps you focus, but you cannot go straight into the REM sleep phase while feeling stressed, with a tired body and a shortage of hormones that leaves you feeling out of control. You need the whole package - all the phases of sleep.
Increase your creativity
When we get enough REM sleep, we think more clearly, are more creative and are in a better mood during the day. The reason for this is simple: we allow our brains during sleep to process the overload of thoughts that we had during the day. When we wake up, the thoughts that are important to us are foremost in our minds, and the overload has been discarded. Rather than feeling tired, you feel refreshed and focused.
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