Understanding and Using Dreams to Learn and to Forget | Huberman Lab Podcast #5

Summary

• Dreams can be used to learn and to forget troubling emotional events
• Lucid dreaming is the experience of dreaming while aware that you are dreaming, and in some cases being able to control the dream
• The Dream Mask is a product that is claimed to help trigger lucid dreaming
• During REM sleep, the brain is highly active and can be used to learn and to practice skills
• REM sleep also appears to be important for emotional regulation and to process and integrate emotional experiences
• Dreams can be influenced by events and information encountered during the day and can be used as a tool for problem solving
• Research suggests that lucid dreaming may be helpful in reducing the impact of distressing events
• Further research is needed to understand the potential benefits and risks of lucid dreaming and the use of products like the Dream Mask.
• Slow wave sleep is characterized by slow brain waves and is associated with physical and mental restoration
• Neuromodulators are chemicals that influence brain activity and can be thought of as "playlists" for brain circuits
• Acetylcholine is associated with focus and attention, norepinephrine with alertness and movement, serotonin with bliss and stillness, and dopamine with goal-pursuit and pleasure
• During slow wave sleep, acetylcholine production decreases almost to zero, there is some norepinephrine present, and there is a lot of serotonin present
• Slow wave sleep is dominated by slow brain waves and is associated with physical and mental restoration, and occurs mostly at the beginning of the night
• REM sleep is characterized by rapid eye movements, increased brain activity, and vivid dreaming, and occurs later in the night
• During REM sleep, acetylcholine production increases, norepinephrine production increases, serotonin production decreases, and dopamine production increases
• REM sleep is associated with vivid dreaming, emotional processing, and memory consolidation
• Deprivation of slow wave sleep can lead to physical and mental issues, while deprivation of REM sleep can lead to emotional issues and difficulty with problem-solving and creativity.
• Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is characterized by rapid eye movements and paralysis
• In REM sleep, serotonin and norepinephrine (which are involved in feelings of calm and alertness, respectively) are absent
• REM sleep is characterized by hallucinations and the absence of the chemical signature of fear and anxiety, epinephrine
• REM sleep is important for learning and unlearning
• REM sleep is more prevalent towards morning
• Slow wave sleep is important for motor learning and detailed learning
• REM sleep has a dream component during which the person is paralyzed and unable to experience anxiety
• Lack of REM sleep can lead to irritability and an inability to unlearn emotional events
• REM sleep is involved in generating detailed spatial information and is also important for deleting unnecessary information from the brain
• A lack of sleep can lead to changes in the immune system and increased risk of physical illnesses.
• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) was developed by Francine Shapiro
• It involves having patients move their eyes from side to side while recounting a traumatic event
• It is approved by the American Psychological Association for the treatment of trauma
• The theory behind EMDR is that the eye movements help people dissociate from the emotional experience of a trauma and recall the event without feeling stressed about it
• The eye movements used in EMDR are reflexive subconscious eye movements that occur when self-generating movement, such as walking or running
• Studies have shown that EMDR can be effective, but it is not a 100% success rate
• The exact mechanisms behind why EMDR works are not fully understood
• Ketamine is used to remove emotion from experiences in a clinical setting
• EMDR suppresses the amygdala to remove emotion from experiences
• REM sleep is involved in attaching emotions to experiences and unlearning intense or severe emotional responses
• Sleep disturbances can cause emotional and psychological disturbances
• Menopause can disrupt temperature regulation and sleep regulation, which can impact emotionality
• Stress and exercise can affect sleep and emotional regulation
• It is important to manage one's sleep life to properly unlearn troubling emotions and move forward in life
• Peeing in one's sleep is a sign of a failure of circuits to mature in some children and can be disrupted by having a full bladder before sleep
• Drinking water before sleep can increase recall of dreams because it causes fractured REM sleep
• Serotonin supplements can disrupt the timing of REM and slow wave sleep
• Resistance exercise can increase the percentage of slow wave sleep, which is involved in motor learning and acquisition of detailed information
• Lucid dreaming can be increased by setting a "queue" or intention before sleep, setting an alarm for the middle of the night, and practicing meditation and mindfulness during the day
• Dreams can be influenced by setting an intention before sleep, sleeping in a certain position, and listening to binaural beats before sleep
• REM sleep is important for emotional regulation and memory consolidation, and slow wave sleep is important for memory consolidation and learning of motor skills.
• REM sleep is associated with intense experiences without the chemical epinephrine that allows for anxiety or fear
• REM sleep is thought to play a role in uncoupling emotion from experiences
• Slow wave sleep is important for motor learning and the learning of specific details
• Consistency of sleep is more important than the total amount of sleep
• REM sleep is associated with theories of mind and emotional unlearning during dreaming
• Consistency of sleep is achieved by getting a consistent amount of sleep each night, rather than sleeping more on some nights and less on others
• The speaker recommends Thorne supplements, which can be found at thorne.com/u/huberman
• The speaker corrects themselves on the fact that testosterone is made by the leydig cells of the testes, not the sertoli cells
• The speaker apologizes for misstating that typical temperature is 96.8 when it is actually 98.6
• The speaker thanks the listener for joining in on the journey of understanding the mechanisms of the nervous system in biology.