Bum Grasshopper Posted May 9, 2009 So, is this napping every day a common practice between people who are working at strange times? Because I know plane pilots that have long east west route have a shorter lifespan on average. Many thanks, Pietro This is common among brainwave entrainment enthusiasts. They use brainwave entrainment tools to achieve specific brainwave patterns of sleep, notably theta and delta. It is said that 20 minutes in theta is equivalent to 4 hours sleep. It is prevalent during REM sleep when we dream. Delta is the slowest brainwave pattern and is prevalent when the body repairs and restores it's self. Practitioners have good results getting as little as 2 hours sleep in the short term, but it catches up to them in the long run. Problem is that we are wired to sleep at night, and be active in daylight. The brain produces melatonin after dark, which makes us drowsy and sleep. When sunlight hits our retina in the morning, it changes the melatonin to seritonin, a hormone associated to feelings of joy and well being. Babies produce a lot of melatonin and the production gradually slows. That is why babies sleep a lot and seniors don't. When you mess with your circadian rhythm, your brain quits producing melatonin like it should. Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant. That is why shift workers have shorter life spans. I would only mess with my natural sleep cycle if I had to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pietro Posted May 12, 2009 This is common among brainwave entrainment enthusiasts. They use brainwave entrainment tools to achieve specific brainwave patterns of sleep, notably theta and delta. It is said that 20 minutes in theta is equivalent to 4 hours sleep. It is prevalent during REM sleep when we dream. Delta is the slowest brainwave pattern and is prevalent when the body repairs and restores it's self. Practitioners have good results getting as little as 2 hours sleep in the short term, but it catches up to them in the long run. Problem is that we are wired to sleep at night, and be active in daylight. The brain produces melatonin after dark, which makes us drowsy and sleep. When sunlight hits our retina in the morning, it changes the melatonin to seritonin, a hormone associated to feelings of joy and well being. Babies produce a lot of melatonin and the production gradually slows. That is why babies sleep a lot and seniors don't. When you mess with your circadian rhythm, your brain quits producing melatonin like it should. Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant. That is why shift workers have shorter life spans. I would only mess with my natural sleep cycle if I had to. Shift workers are not so much hacking their system, but forcing it to behave according to an external regimen which has little compassion or attention for their needs. So they keep on changing system. Doing one night, and then 1 day of sleep. As if you could just move around the sleeping time like boxes. Said that, I found interesting what you say about melatonin and serotonin. Maybe we need to learn to activate and reactivate melatonin. What practices do we have to activate the melatonin more? What do we know about how the melatonin is released during a polyphasic period? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bum Grasshopper Posted May 12, 2009 Shift workers are not so much hacking their system, but forcing it to behave according to an external regimen which has little compassion or attention for their needs. So they keep on changing system. Doing one night, and then 1 day of sleep. As if you could just move around the sleeping time like boxes. Said that, I found interesting what you say about melatonin and serotonin. Maybe we need to learn to activate and reactivate melatonin. What practices do we have to activate the melatonin more? What do we know about how the melatonin is released during a polyphasic period? Melatonin is produced by the pineal gland. It is activated by dark and light stimulus. You can take melatonin supplements, and use a blue- wave high intensity light such as used for treatment of SAD. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrei Posted May 12, 2009 What practices do we have to activate the melatonin more? http://www.scribd.com/doc/7052360/Mantak-Chia-Dark-Room Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
