Animal Dreaming and Substantiation-A Connection to Humanity

Oswald’s study on the restoration theory of sleep attempts to explain why animals sleep. Oswald suggests that sleep is the time when the body removes waste, replenishes its levels of neurotransmitters in preparation for the next day and carries out repairs to damaged cells and growth could occur. In regards to Oswald NREM is a time for replenishing the body , especially stages 3 and 4 which occur at the start of the night when the body is the most tired. During stages 3 and 4 we secrete greater levels of growth hormone in the blood which helps in the repair process, seeming to offer support to his theory.

The relative amount of REM sleep in other mammals exhibits in connection with their level of development at birth also supports the idea that REM sleep must aid in development. (1) Typically, animals born relatively mature, such as dolphins, giraffes, and guinea pigs, demonstrate low-amounts of REM sleep, while animals born relatively immature, such as ferrets, armadillos, and platypuses, exhibit higher levels of REM sleep. (3) Humans fall in between the spectrum of amounts of REM sleep with platypuses having the most REM sleep and some species of dolphin and whale exhibiting none. (3)

In the scientific article “Wild Elephants Sleep Just Two Hours a Night” Ed Yong, explains how researchers theorize using evidence on “why animals snooze at all.” Through his writing, Yong gives the reader insight on the complexity of researching sleeping animals, with a focus on wild elephants in Africa as the case study. The objective of the article is to persuade and educate, by using credible academic examples, anticipating tone, and a reasonable message, the author’s statement can successfully be passed onto the intended audience.

Mammals and reptiles experience REM sleep while insects don’t experience REM. Fish and all the other cold-blooded animals also do not dream. People can notice when they are dreaming is usually when they twitch their paws. They can also notice that they are dreaming because their whiskers twitch. Most of the animals that experience dreaming have the same REM as humans.

Sleep is undeniably a necessity for humans and other animals alike. At the beginning of each day, our bodies awake like clockwork in conjunction with the rising sun. Then, at day’s end, they begin to wind down into sleep until the morning. While there certainly may be plenty of mysteries revolving sleep that have yet to been unraveled, from all the way up until now and for centuries to come, it is evident that sleep should hold priority in the schedules of all people. Yet, despite all of this being true, sleep is consistently being taken for granted. And, it is not an overgeneralization to say that many people have, at least once, trudged through a late night as many people have. Even to the point of the night no longer being considered “a

This stage is believed to help people enter deeper stages of sleep (4). Stage 3 sleep consists of 20-50 percent delta activity and stage 4 sleep of more than 50 percents delta activity (4). Stages 3 and 4 are characterized as being slow wave sleep in addition to being the deepest levels of sleep. Approximately 90 minutes after being asleep, people enter rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep (4). REM sleep consists of rapid eye movements, a desynchronized EEG, sensitivity to external stimulation, muscle paralysis and dreaming (4).

Today, it has already been established that sleep is a crucial activity for animals, since the lack of it seems to be followed by serious health damage such as an increase in arterial disease, diabetes and cancer rates. Nowadays, statistics point out that about 90% of adults require between 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night to lead a healthy life.

When we receive proper amounts of sleep, we wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day’s challenges. Sleep can also affect how we feel and perform the day’s tasks as well as how we look. Sleep was once known as a passive state but is now known to be a highly active process during which the day’s events are processed and energy is restored. The sleep cycle involves two distinct phases that alternate cyclically from light sleep to deep then deeper and deepest sleep throughout the sleep period. There are two main phases of sleep: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, during which dreaming occurs.

They do sleep, but there is no clear rest periods because they are subject to predators. For the same reason, one brain hemisphere sleep at a time, so they can watch who is approaching. The sleep behavior is also affected by environmental conditions and it changes seasonally.

part of their time in engaged in REM sleep, a state that may provide them with

“Dreaming and their subsequent emotional interpretation have been investigated and recorded since the beginning of recorded history”. (as cited in Palagini; Rodenlicht, 2010). Recent experimental investigations applied to neurobiological and psychological perspectives of sleep identify a greatly dynamic arousal state, which in turn predicts a variety of physiological responses. One of the key stages associated within sleep is known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep; REM sleep at one stage was thought to be the primary dream period. However recent research and empirical evidence has shown that REM sleep does not have a direct relationship with dreaming, it is however purely and simply the stage of sleep which allows better recall of dreams.

Starting from the ancient times human was always interested in strange phenomenon of sleeping and especially in dreams. Dreams were described in different ways. For instance, dreams were explained psychologically like images of sub consciousness and feedback of neural processes in human’s brain. Spiritually, it was described like messages of god (C.S. Lewis, nd). Remarkable that not only human have ability to see dreams but several species of animals (Wilkerson R. 2003). For example, rat’s sleep is almost same as the human’s they have multiple stages of sleep starting from slow wave sleep to REM stage of sleep (Animals have complex dreams, 2001). Another fact is that living beings, including humans, have more REM sleep in

Having various animals growing up I have always wondered what they were doing while they slept. Did they just lay there in a deep sleep or could they have the capability of having a dream? This is a question I have never answered over the years and would like to explore now to find out the answer. I've watched different pets throughout my life while they slept but could never tell if they were dreaming. I noticed that different kinds of animals sleep in different positions and I ask myself, "does this effect if animals dream?" When I was younger, I had several cats, some inside and some outside, and they all acted differently. The cats who stayed indoor would find a corner or something soft to

Sleep is an important part of the everyday life of a human being. There are multiple sleep cycles but in the process one of the most important stages is known as REM Sleep. REM also known as rapid eye movement is the very unique phase of sleep where the eyes begin to randomly move, and the extremities of the body become paralyzed while vivid dreaming begins to occur. This stage is the the most important for the consolidation of different memories and also in facial recognition and other mental processes. There are many studies that have been done about sleep and why it is important, but there are also many more studies to be conducted in the future because it is still pretty unsure to psychologists and doctors why sleep is actually so

Sleep is vital for mammals and many other animals. People of all ages need regular, quality sleep for their bodies to function correctly, to maintain optimum health and fitness and to restore depleted energy levels.