Why REM sleep is your brain's superpower-and 3 ways to trigger more of it

Why REM sleep is your brain's superpower-and 3 ways to trigger more of it | Patrick McNamara

Рет қаралды 136,395

Күн бұрын

This interview is an episode from @The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the @JohnTempletonFoundation.
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Watch Patrick McNamara’s next interview ► • The evolutionary signi...
Neuroscientist Patrick McNamara emphasizes the importance of REM sleep, during which we dream, in fueling human creativity and cultural progression. He explains that during REM sleep, our brains cultivate an atmosphere conducive to fostering connections between unrelated concepts, leading to uniquely human, innovative outcomes.
A notable feature of REM sleep is its ability to merge disparate ideas to generate inventive solutions to problems. Despite the modern world’s diminished appreciation for dreams, McNamara points out that traditional societies have always respected their transformative abilities. By effectively utilizing REM sleep, we can potentially unlock hidden creative abilities and address significant challenges that humanity confronts.
Given the significant value we place on innovation, McNamara’s insights regarding the power of the dream state could revolutionize our strategies toward problem-solving. He posits that by reassessing our engagement with the dream state, we could discover novel solutions to global issues, thereby facilitating cultural evolution.
0:00 “REM sleep is what has made us special.”
1:15 22% of our sleep time is in REM state
2:04 Why did we evolve for REM sleep?
3:17 3 ways to harness REM sleep
4:09 Reverence for the dream state
Read the video transcript ► bigthink.com/the-well/evoluti...
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About Patrick McNamara:
Patrick McNamara is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northcentral University. He also holds appointments in the departments of Neurology at the University of Minnesota and Boston University School of Medicine. He is a founding editor of Religion, Brain & Behavior, the flagship journal for the emerging field of neuroscience of religion. McNamara's current research centers on the evolution of the frontal lobes, the evolution of the two mammalian sleep states (REM and NREM), and the evolution of religion in human cultures.
McNamara is the editor of Where God and Science Meet and Science and World Religions, and the author of The Neuroscience of Religious Experience (Cambridge University Press), Religion, Neuroscience and the Self: A New Personalism (Routledge), and numerous publications on the neurology and psychology of religion. McNamara is a John Templeton Foundation award recipient for his research project The Neurology of Religious Cognition.
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Пікірлер: 130

@shadw4701 Жыл бұрын

Dreams are the most underrated human experience

@Goddibaba Жыл бұрын

Am telling you, bro. God speaks to us through dreams

@iam_GOMPA Жыл бұрын

some of THE best experiences i have ever had were in dreams. and i am a kind of person who remember most of the details, feelings and visuals ( the camera angels , transitions and lighting yo .. the world's and people etc.) from dream after walking up. Sometimes I dream whole movie with multiple characters , perfect dialogues and amazing story. And i never watched a movie like that and it don't exist in real world. And sometimes I remember i am sleeping and having a dream while ..in a dream but the dream looks so realistic and i keep sleeping so I can finish that dream.

@GogosUTube Жыл бұрын

@@GoddibabaCan you prove that God is involved?

@Hollowed2wiz 11 ай бұрын

No not really. Even dogs can dream.

@shadw4701 11 ай бұрын

@Hollowed2wiz I'm not referring to the ability to dream but the experiences we have while dreaming. Have you ever woken up from a dream with the most euphoric feeling?

@piercewierschem2906 Жыл бұрын

The most interesting facet of REM sleep to me is actually what causes people to miss it, nearly all recreational drugs decrease rem sleep and then when the individual stops usage for a week or longer there is an uptick in it. I think this is relevant for understanding the psychological dependency people develop on these drugs as opposed to the physical dependency we usually diagnose addicts with.

@leonestello8519 11 ай бұрын

Deep insight... But Drugs induce Waking Cholinergic in sometimes Hugely Significant and even therapeutic results when the right ones are utilized. And being of the PTSD side of the aisle, I attest to the inherent increase of activity in the brain altogether and the creative properties 🎸 that can be harnessed are Outstanding, especially when one embarks on a Trip😏 with purpose, but Burnout happens with overactivation all the time leading to consequences, i.e. the same way caffeine for the adrenals and ginseng and biloba for the brain as well. I argue the biggest problem is lack of QUALITY Sleep. I'd even argue the lack of quality sleep due to the epidemic of Trauma that's been Left Unchecked and Perpetrated Carelessly, often with blinding results, has left us blind as well. We dance around trying to figure it all out, but it's already known "Surprises" are the Biggest reasons people fall down the rabbit hole. And a lot of things people don't understand... 🐇 ⏳ 🕳️🍄🚪🌊🏠 🐱🎩💐😵‍💫👸♥️ 🤔 I'll see myself out... 🚪 🐐 🕳️ 😅

@coolbreeze5683 Жыл бұрын

Funny how there are still people that find meditation weird yet going unconscious for 8 hours a night while weaving in and out of different worlds is perfectly normal.

@gastonangelini8352 Жыл бұрын

Well , for start , humans cannot survive if they don't sleep . That is the principal reason for people to not even think about what you have said. You can , and most human that have lived , live a life without meditate not even once. It's the best life? I know that without meditation, we cannot be fully aware and happy. Just my opinion

@mmm__we Жыл бұрын

I mean in meditation you’re just sitting there staring at darkness and trying to keep your mind in the present whereas in dreaming you can experience interesting stories.

@GoogleAccount-zf3cy Жыл бұрын

Try praying instead of meditation

@coolbreeze5683 11 ай бұрын

@@GoogleAccount-zf3cy prayer is a form of meditation. Religions that try to separate the 2 are just trying to be exclusionary.

@coolbreeze5683 11 ай бұрын

@@gastonangelini8352 my point is that there are people who refuse to slow down and focus on breathing when they are in stressful situations (which is a form of meditation) because they see it as too weird. They'd rather take anti-anxiety meds or hbp meds instead of meditating to calm themselves down but they ignore that fact that they are going unconscious every night for 8 hours while their minds go somewhere else. Where I live, there was a protest a while ago when schools proposed to teach kids meditation to help them learn stress management. Some parents complained saying they didn't want their kids engaged in "devilish, Eastern practices". These parents are the people I'm referring to. Sleeping is normal yet meditation that brings the body into a relaxed state is seen as "evil" by backwards people.

@lawrencefrost9063 Жыл бұрын

I always say to everyone; I can't wait to go to sleep and dream it's my favorite thing about life! I do love life in all it's myriad forms and experiences but dreams to me are the best thing ever. I mean I get to visit alien worlds, weird and unreal experiences that I could never come up with, see another dimensions and impossible realities. I even love nightmares because they are so interesting. I also love psychedelics for very similar reasons. I don't do them often, maybe a couple times a decade. Yet I can dream every night. I get to dream every night. I am very very grateful and blissful of that. I feel bad for those who can't, those who don't see dreams often.

@funnytv-1631 Жыл бұрын

Every tiny habit, repeated regularly, over time, will change your life. It is like taking tiny steps up a tall mountain. Sprint and you’ll collapse. But take each step without losing your breath, and incredible new vistas will open up to you. Each vista is anchored in the previous one, like Sherpa stations in the Himalayas. And at each level, a wealth of celebration is waiting for you. All you need to do is be kind to yourself from here on out. Take things one step at a time, and remember to celebrate each one.

@thismanthisman6044 Жыл бұрын

Yeah, thanks ChatGPT.

@buffshepherd1540 Жыл бұрын

My dreams are important to me. I seem to be the odd one out amongst people I know. If I don't set an alarm and wake up naturally, I have very vivid, creative and occasionally lucid dreams, which upon waking I reflect upon, and end up have a lasting effect on my perception and mood - at least until my next sleep cycle. The things I value aesthetically and socially have been heavily informed by my dream worlds.

@lawrencefrost9063 Жыл бұрын

Here here! I am exactly the same way.

@HarbingerH Жыл бұрын

The opposite for me. If I don’t set an alarm and wake up naturally, then I don’t remember my dreams at all

@aarohipundir1842 3 ай бұрын

Yes me too , I love dreaming

@Blarijeci 2 ай бұрын

Yep, here it is... I go even more like a bisupersticious lik

@judgemagister Жыл бұрын

Dreaming is one of my favorite activities.

@3yebeams 11 ай бұрын

I can almost always trace elements in my dreams back to things I have seen or experienced in waking consciousness even if only experienced for a millisecond. We then piece these together in a narrative. For many years I didn’t get enough REM sleep and consequently began to develop brain fog. I now use a combo of meditation, slow release Melatonin - nootropics like Lion’s Mane extract or tincture and stable bedtime routines. I still wake a lot at night (about every 90 mins) but I get enough REM to heal the brain because I can sleep longer to get enough.

@dinopaleshusseini2887 Жыл бұрын

“What is REM sleep?” Man way things have been lately I don’t think I even know what normal sleep is anymore 😪

@BPBomber 11 ай бұрын

Holy crap this guy was gonna send me into REM with his droning

@nitroptics 11 ай бұрын

after a big drink i usually have the most realistic dreams, used to think it was withdrawals but it was rem building up bc you can’t enter rem while on alcohol, i remember them so vividly i often think that they are me but in their universe, some were super scary i love dreaming

@m.f.richardson1602 Жыл бұрын

I've been a dreamer since the 70s. I love my dreams. Interesting Thank you Peace 💕🇺🇲

@SearchOfSelf 11 ай бұрын

Dreams serve as portals to alternative simulations of reality, fueling our pursuit of a better world 💥

@luisd7636 11 ай бұрын

It's true. I've never met anybody who has any reverence for dreams. Most ppl could care less. I have always been fascinated by dreams.

@HeroTed- 7 күн бұрын

I just stopped smoking weed 20 days, and my rem sleep has just started working properly again. I’m dreaming about things that happened 20 years ago, I’m waking up with a sore frontal cortex and having insane real crazy dreams but in work g through it and feeling 1000x better it helped me move past my x wife and sort out all of my problems.. in my sleep lol

@Jhawk_2k Жыл бұрын

I feel like I must have woken up during REM last night from allergies. My brain was going 100mph but my symptoms prevented me from falling asleep quickly. Felt like a waking dream

@debuchhaha7452 2 ай бұрын

I used to dream vividly and I thought that was what makes life bearable for me. It’s devastating when I know that people will dream less as they are going older. If that world is also taken from me, it’s too cruel. Here I am years later, that nightmare came true. What robs the dream is not only being older but many factors. I thought it is given and the “old” part is somewhre in the faraway future but regardless the age, to be able to dream vividly and remember it is a gift. How is life without a “much dreaming” then? Well, I am still breathing but I feel like I never turning a page. It’s an endless and long day without “rise and shine”

@qc4738 Жыл бұрын

Dreams are better than all the highs we seek with different drugs n sorts.

@jordansamuels2052 11 ай бұрын

Guys voice is great for sleep too!

@michaelbartlett6864 11 ай бұрын

Humans are not the only animals that dream! You can watch your pets dream.

@hanawana 11 ай бұрын

beautiful video thank you

@gursimransingh5275 11 ай бұрын

I sort of found a strategy myself where i will set an alarm of say 3-3:30 at night and then wakeup for a minute and sleep again. I realized this helped me dream things which i was not able to when i went through a continuous non intrusive sleep.

@GVisionnn 3 ай бұрын

Does it drain your energy in morning

@rhondahuggins9542 11 ай бұрын

My physical pain seems to always trigger nightmarish dreams. Even when I am deeply asleep (or as deeply as I am able at times) I wake up usually remembering those vivid images.

@oscarross4337 11 ай бұрын

They really are I got into meditating and dreaming freshman year of college and had couple pretty cool Lucid experiences but stopped soon after I need to work in my spirituality more

@shadw4701 Жыл бұрын

Lucid dreaming is actually the most useful skill you can learn as it can help you practice other skills, solve probelms, learn more about yourself, come up with ideas ect. Not only that but it iften feels like real life, sometimes more real and with enough control you can experience practically anything. It's nature's VR. Everyone can learn how to lucid dream and I highly recommend it. Just be careful because there is way too much misinformation out there

@Messi10947 11 ай бұрын

How do I learn to lucid dream

@leonestello8519 11 ай бұрын

This is the untold gem of human evolution... 10% increase over night. That's HUGE! 🐘

@Derby08 Жыл бұрын

Very interesting thank you. I love my dreams always have!!!!

@theguy9967 6 ай бұрын

I remember being in a hospital, and we were in a group. The doctor was asking one at a time what made us happy? The woman sitting next to me and said when I'm asleep. Everyone changed their answer to her answer, including me. The doctor was shocked, lol.

@eerohughes Жыл бұрын

100% agreed 👍

@berwynkay 11 ай бұрын

love the background of the sets you guys film at, do a BTS video in these series to spice up how you do the set up process, i think it would be cool.

@pratik_kumbhare 10 ай бұрын

insightful!

@vinzent998 11 ай бұрын

So awesomeeee

@Jess67865 Жыл бұрын

Everyone interested in this should read the Alchemy of Your Dreams.

@mmm__we Жыл бұрын

I have had dreams that feel realer than reality for the past year after quitting THC.

@m.f.richardson1602 Жыл бұрын

Nooo, say it isn't so. I've had dreams most of my adult life. I've been smoking for thirty years.

@sophiemandese6989 11 ай бұрын

Bro same! I was addicted for about 3 years, and after quitting I can remember 1-5 fairly vivid dreams nightly AND I get dream like sleep hallucinations as I'm falling asleep which I never got before (which I'm sorta grateful for because they're cool to experience and they tell me when I'm about to fall asleep lol). It sucks that 3 years sorta went down the drain but the fact my brain dreams like crazy now even 8 months after quitting makes it at least partially worth it imo.

@anneteli 11 ай бұрын

Seek out surprise...well ever since the unexpected death of my loved one I can remember my dreams and I tried to track my sleep, i had more than double the amount of REM wrt deep sleep...i just believe my body is trying to cope with my trauma...i have tried to look for answers but couldn't find much info out there

@juju8119 11 ай бұрын

Very interesting, awake and dreaming are two states of mind. Are memories a third state that crosses the other two?

@barnabycollis6963 Жыл бұрын

I've heard from a video that make in the day, we used to sleep 12 hours a day in two short periods. I've thought that sleeping that long was just to recover energy, but as expressed in this video it is more than that, and that surprised me. Sleep equals evaluation, I guess, yawn. 😪

@knl654 Жыл бұрын

Since I learned about lucid dreaming I have had several dreams that were beautiful and nightmarish.

@Goddibaba Жыл бұрын

How does it work bro?

@knl654 Жыл бұрын

@@Goddibaba I will recommend you read the Book called Exploring the world of lucid dreams instead of watching KZfaq on how to get lucid dreams, I use to watch but they are not as good as the book because the book is an depth look inside our brain, sleep and lucid dream. I recommend you start writing your dreams in a journal from tonight.

@Messi10947 11 ай бұрын

Thanks for the book suggestion

@jaci7974 11 ай бұрын

I feel like I have so many vivid dreams every single night.. I want to love that, but it’s often exhausting and stressful. I wish I enjoyed dreaming

@walid6329 11 ай бұрын

I rarely dream but when I do they are lucid and crazy long

@elizabeth9443 11 ай бұрын

My watch says I’m not getting enough REM sleep. And I think it’s almost correct. How to harness more REM in the video does not feel enough 😅 or will those really work?

@fganimed 11 ай бұрын

I need someone to explain Hypnagogia, i have it for long time it's amazing but still i want to know more

@see2saw 11 ай бұрын

I saw a dream of a place and it was secluded with no human presence...after years i saw the same place with the same night lights in a french series..with police chase scene..so weird

@janklaas6885 Жыл бұрын

📍2:49

@dawnr7798 11 күн бұрын

Too much REM results in feeling very tired. I have narcolepsy and I get waaaay too much REM. I have to take medication that forces my brain into a deeper sleep state.

@kp6215 Жыл бұрын

I can verify this have experienced the loss of REM my body deteriorated.

@God7OD 11 ай бұрын

I am a strong advocate of letting people sleep in everyday. Rest fully then work.

@hippieparents420 Жыл бұрын

What about individuals that have narcolepsy and experience REM related events while fully conciousness?

@mariamisayan8 Жыл бұрын

That is due to so-called REM dissociation. There is a group of neurons (brain cells) that are responsible for sleep and wake phase regulation, they're called orexinergic neurons (operating through orexin called substance). Narcolepsy happens due to damage of this group of cells. They're really few of these cells, and even the smallest damage leads to narcolepsy. The problem is that the regulationbetween sleep and wake disrupts, and sleep fragments intervene with wakefulness, whereas sleep gets instable with frequent awakenings. So during REM sleep you typically see dreams, the body is paralyzed. While in narcolepsy some of the REM features happen in wakefulness, such as cataplexy - sudden muscle weakness due to strong emotional stimulus (like REM paralisis in sleep), or hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations - not really hallucinations but dreams that get intermixed with wakefulness when falling asleep or waking up. Sleep paralysis freuqntly happens in narcolepsy (can be also seen in non-narcolepsy people), which is basically the state when you wake up from REM, but REM atonia (paralysis) continue for a while, sometimes mixed with dreams. There's this thing, calles REM sleep without atonia, when REM loses the paralysis and people "act out dreams". Can also be seen in other neurological disorders, but in context of narcolepsy this phenomenon represents loss of muscle tone suprpession, and activation of movements identical to the dream contents. And, of course, sleep attacks, daytime sleepiness, again due to orexin loss and disrupted sleep regulation (brain uncontrollably tries to put you to sleep).

@chem7553 11 ай бұрын

Stuff like this is the best!!

@AtticTapes14 6 ай бұрын

There are better rem videos

@mlmyhre 11 ай бұрын

His voice is making me sleepy.

@shanedenslow9945 2 ай бұрын

I start my REM in 60 seconds.

@briancufishin24 2 ай бұрын

Job 33:14-18

@isabellelindenfelser9569 Жыл бұрын

Don't almost all species experience REM sleep? Like Dolphins for example

@carolwillissimsak758 Жыл бұрын

And dogs, cats, a lot of animals do

@emiliox210 Жыл бұрын

Like he said in the beginning of the video it’s the amount humans have that’s the difference.. we have 22% the highest amount

@isabellelindenfelser9569 Жыл бұрын

@@emiliox210 but not in relation to our bodyweight so idk

@mickmccasker6401 Жыл бұрын

Dolphins? No

@jeremiahnoar7504 Жыл бұрын

You might say that sleeping made us awake.

@AdifferentHarry 11 ай бұрын

That's a good one. I like it

@adriaanb7371 5 ай бұрын

Dreams feel overrated, I doubt that any Einstein dreamed his idea before developing it. Couldn't dreams just be maximally engaging entertainment to keep us distracted while some regenerative processes are working? Our sensors for sound and light might well wake us up if it wasn't for the entertainment provided by our dreams. This would explain how entertainment like movies, books etc seem to have an almost hypnotic effect on us and why dreams are mostly about everything and nothing.

@dannyiskandar 8 ай бұрын

seek out surpirise + keeping a dream diary

@dannyiskandar 8 ай бұрын

seek out surprise means go to outside comfort zone, this needs being vulnerable and brave towards what the mainstream cultures are

@gropatapouf5998 Жыл бұрын

I hate dreaming. I absolutely love dreamless nights.

@br5448 Жыл бұрын

I have these nightmares where I read the comments

@432hzbreno7 Ай бұрын

For the first way what do you mean seek out suprise I still don’t understand, please and thank you😁👍

@leonestello8519 11 ай бұрын

P.S. 5.2mil views and only 2.9k likes n 92, 93 comments... Wtf Guys, very Creative! This is the Audience... 🎶 🦗 🕳️

@EmilyOman 2 ай бұрын

I agree that dreams are invaluable for our lives. However, how can we say it is critical to the "evolution of special cognitive capacities" and that it makes us special when in fact, all terrestrial animals that have been studied have REM sleep. (Crustaceans do not).

@davidseo677 Ай бұрын

Is anyone else here because they are quitting marijauna and want to gain back their REM sleep?

@rickshearer Жыл бұрын

👀🖌🛏Don't fall asleep on this one! He has great things to say. Even the most bizzare and "unrealistic" r.e.m. experiences have a message which pertains only to those who dream!

@jlc1167 11 ай бұрын

My cats experience REM sleep,,, and so do dogs

@tabathastaples7884 9 ай бұрын

Shepherd's Chapel Network !!!!!!! Pastor Murray is an Anointed Servant of GOD who teaches the Word of GOD with Authority!!!!!!!

@dreamervanroom Жыл бұрын

Rem sleep is not something that makes humanity different from other animals. I looked it up and both dogs and cats have rem sleep. Edit: I looked it up more. All mammals and some birds have rem sleep. On one site. Another says the dolphins don’t have rem sleep. So how do we know if they dream or not? My point is, this is not something that makes humanity different from other animals.

@Goddibaba Жыл бұрын

OMG

@mariamisayan8 Жыл бұрын

There's also the concept of NREM sleep dreams, but they're much different from the REM ones. REM dreams are intense, vivid, yet NREM dreams are a bit "monotonous". This is mostly due to differences in memory encoding processes in the brain, as REM and NREM serve different memory types.

@gmlgml780 11 ай бұрын

Yeah. That was very useful. Do they pay you for this ?

@funkykong9001 Жыл бұрын

Yay, no more religious mumbo jumbo from this guy

@edwardboyd4584 Жыл бұрын

Reverenced? Does he mean Revered? xD

@AtticTapes14 6 ай бұрын

What is he talking about

@75blackviking 11 ай бұрын

"We're forced to watch these things we call dreams. So why would Mother Nature do something like that?" ---Because she has a really dark sense of humor. That's why.

@johncaiwa 5 ай бұрын

so he gives 2 ways, the title says 3 ways. is the title a dream?

@bubblegumgun3292 Жыл бұрын

>evolution made us dream 😂🤣 yeah totally

@kevinsayes Жыл бұрын

I mean, by definition, didn’t evolution “make” us do everything we do? There’s no separate guiding hand behind or agenda to anything we do, so what else could it be?

@shadw4701 Жыл бұрын

Evolution makes sense when you study it

@SuperShiwi Жыл бұрын

The neanderthals aren't our ancestors. The image at 1:03 is misleading..

@o-o8052 11 ай бұрын

This feels like there is a lot missing. Also, many misunderstandings happen when he talks about how "REM makes humans special", he never talks about the dreaming of other species (aside from our ancestors). Why post something that is too cut down to even mention the thesis in the first 3/4 of the video? This is not enough. A few years ago you did better, now it feels as if you are just pumping out content. Please return to your old quality of videos, that are like, 10 minutes long or so. Also, i can barely understand him because he talks so quietly. And thats not my speakers fault.

@Icouldntcomeupwithaname1212 26 күн бұрын

huh? whos rem?

@ehudshapira2745 Жыл бұрын

This feels like a lot of big words about very little. No attempt to prove causality. Primates' sleep is 20% REM and ours is 22%. Whoopty doo. If you wanna talk about REM and why it's important or special or underappreciated that's fine, just say what you have to say that is based on evidence or at least on actual arguments and save us the baseless hyperbolic mumbo jumbo.