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by Anonymous
For any of you who have ever seen the movie Inception, directed by Christopher Nolan with Leonardo DiCaprio acting as the central character, you will have no difficulty at all relating to my dream. However, for those of you who have not had the pleasure of watching this movie, I will have to provide a quick summary of the parts that pertain to this particular dream of mine: Essentially, the movie is about being able to go into the dreams of other people. One of the complications of this is, however, increasing confusion as to what is the real world and what is the dream world. I won't ruin the movie as a whole for you, but I can tell you this becomes quite convoluted.
With that said, my dream involves a similar distortion of reality and dream. The other day, I was taking a long and luxurious nap. At least I was trying to do so. Every few minutes one of the people I live with (there are three total) would do something obnoxiously loud and either wake me up or simply prevent me from falling asleep. If the disturbance continued for more than a few seconds (eg. playing music loudly through a computer), then I would proceed to get out of bed and nicely ask the perpetrator to "try to be a bit more quiet." However, no matter how much I politely pleaded or tried to block out the various sleep-depriving noises, they continued.
Eventually, my alarm went off and was forced to get up. Needless to say, I was a bit frustrated that my nap had been ruined, so I confronted my roommates later on about their lack of consideration. They had no idea what I was talking about. As it turns out, out of the dozens of rude awakenings and starts that I had experienced, the only one that was real was the last one right before my alarm clock went off. The seamlessness with which my dream had flowed into reality and the detail of that dream had me completely convinced that it was real. In fact, two days later, I'm still pinching myself every couple of minutes to try to make sure that what I'm experiencing is reality and not just another realistic dream.
It's honestly very disconcerting to not know reality from a dream, and, as I've found, can lead to some awkward encounters. Maybe there's some foolproof method to see if you're dreaming or not, but I haven't found it yet. Without it, I fear my life may dissolve into a replica of Nolan's Inception, which those of you who have seen it know, will be more than a little bit strange.
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Welcome! This site is continuously being created by students of Dr. William C. Dement's Sleep And Dreams course at Stanford University.
We made this site as a call to action for people all over the world to live healthier, happier, safer, and more productive lives by learning about their own sleep. We have faith that reading the information provided on this site will motivate you to be smart about your sleep deprivation and strategic about your alertness in order to live life to your fullest, most energetic potential.
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Interviews With Sleep Specialists: Insights Into the Worlds of Sleep Medicine & Sleep Business
America's Most Dangerous Disorder: What Is Sleep Apnea Doing To Your Sleep?
Sleep Debt: How Much More Will You Achieve When You Reduce Yours?
The Stages Of Sleep: The Journey Through The Night
Delayed Sleep Phase: You Want To Sleep But You're Not Tired Yet
Paralyzed at Night: Is Sleep Paralysis Normal?
Sleep In Words: Smart, Strange, and Funny Quotes About Sleep
Sleep Disorders In Children: What's Keeping Your Child From A Full Night's Rest?
Attacks of Pavor Nocturnus (a.k.a. Sleep Terrors, Night Terrors, or Incubus Attacks)
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A revolution in personal sleep tracking, the Zeo is a wireless headband that transmits your brainwaves in realtime to a dock (pictured here) or your smartphone. The result? You can wake up and see exactly what stages of sleep you were in during the night! Unprecedented personalized sleep knowledge.
Ever woken up paralyzed? A surprising number of us have, believe it or not. But few know the actual causes of this phenomenon, and fewer still how to exert control over it. Dream researcher and sleep paralysis expert Ryan Hurd shares breakthrough insights into how to do just that.
In 2007 I discovered a guide to website building that would change my life. After learning from it diligently, it would eventually empower me to help Dr. Dement take his life's mission of spreading education about sleep health to the online world. Now, several years later, this site reaches over 100,000 visitors per month and counting.
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