Yoga and Psychotherapy by Swami Rama Rudolph Ballentine Swami Ajaya & RUDOLPH BALLENTINE & SWAMI AJAYA

Author:Swami Rama,Rudolph Ballentine,Swami Ajaya & RUDOLPH BALLENTINE & SWAMI AJAYA
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780893892999
Publisher: Himalayan Institute (NBN)

EEG FREQUENCIES AND WAVE FORMS

SLEEP AND HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS

Modern sleep researchers say that sleep includes two distinct states.27 One is associated with dreaming and is identified in experiments by the observation of rapid eye movements (REMs). The other state, which seems less related to dreaming has often been called “deep sleep.” There are no REMs and the brain wave pattern reaches its slowest rhythm. During a night’s sleep one usually alternates between these two states, moving from a dream state down into deeper sleep and then back again. Such a cycle will ordinarily last about ninety minutes.

In many ways, dreaming is the most “aroused” of the sleep phases. The eyes begin to move rapidly and the mind seems busy with the imagery of the dream world. A person awakened at this point will describe scenes of life-like events involving persons and places that are reminiscent of the waking world. During this state, the heart rate becomes irregular, seemingly influenced by the dream events as it would be during the day by shifting situations and circumstances. The pupil opens and closes as though reacting to what it “sees” and there are sharp fluctuations in penile erection. The whole body seems on the verge of activity when it is compared with dreamless sleep.nt7

The dream state seems to be the crest in the sleep cycle, that which lies just below wakefulness. The waking person will ordinarily slow his brain wave rhythm only to the alpha state, whereas during dreaming the still slower theta waves are seen. As dreaming progresses, theta becomes more pronounced. During this time it reaches its maximum. The eyes begin to move jerkily with the REMs which seem to indicate that the mind is busy with the imagery of the dream world. But this doesn’t last all night. Gradually, after a half hour or so, the brain waves become even slower and the eye movement comes to a halt. Sleep now becomes “deepest” and the EEG moves into the delta range. During this period if one is awakened, he may have trouble orienting himself. It may even be difficult to rouse him. He’s usually not aware of having been dreaming and may report little mental activity of any kind.

If the deep sleep is allowed to continue, it reaches a certain depth and then the process reverses. The EEG begins to speed up again, the waves become faster and the eye movements reappear. Now, once again, when the sleeper is awakened, a dream is interrupted and he is able to describe it. The sleep cycle has made a full swing and returned to dreaming. During a night’s sleep this cycle is repeated a number of times. Each time the dip into deeper sleep is a bit less and the “peak” into dreaming sleep is a bit higher. With each cycle more time is spent in dreaming and less in deep sleep. After the first five or six hours most of the deep sleep is finished. When a need is felt to sleep longer than this, what this really seems to indicate is a need for more dreaming.

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