Post is All About Sleep & Dreams!
OK, why the hell is it so hard to catch up with damn sleep debt! Was dog tired yesterday, but had to go out to this prearrangement. Anyway we get back but I don't fall asleep straight away, so I'm just clicking and listening to music. Thankfully I fall asleep around my goal time which is 12am or sooner. Woke up today at 8:30am automatically. So I roughly had 8-8.5 hours sleep last night. Yet I still woke up tired! This includes me using easy breath strips to help breath more easily and get a better sleep during the night.
Sleep Debt Since My Nicotine Experiment?
Here's my nicotine experiment: http://www.longecity...-my-experience/
I've honestly felt the sleep debt since my nicotine experiment, and smoking in general too close to bed would disturb my sleep/give me insomnia.
Pushing my Brain Too Hard with Amygdala Clicking?
Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click. That's all I've pretty much been focused on doing since starting this experiment. I don't care about anything else. Need to click so I can pop and unleash my brains full potential. Then I have many many ideas on how to move on from there, but first I need to pop those frontal lobes.
But even though clicking is a simple visualization technique, it's also a very powerful one which is meant to activate dormant parts of the brain. I'm not going to get into the whole 10% debate or how we use all of our brain; because I can say without a doubt, that we're not the full potential of our brain, no where near. Don't forget I've experienced a mini pop in 2010, it's a different reality, it's like your brain wakes up from the sleep it was in, super awareness, super happiness, super brain function. Sure it only last 15-20 minutes before I came down, but you know what you experience, just like if you tried to describe an orgasm to someone that's never experienced one before.
Anyway all this clicking could be pushing my brain extra hard, meaning it requires so much more energy and rest to grow new neurons & connections. Because I can't remember waking up this tired for a long time, but there are a lot of other factors too (sleep debt from my nicotine experiment) so I can't be sure it's just from the clicking.
How I've Improved & Continue to Improve My Sleep
Things I've Done So Far -
1. So quitting smoking is the first thing. No more stimulant nicotine near bed!
2. Taking B12 (methylcobalamin) the under the tongue kind has helped me fall asleep much quicker.
3. My wife bought this lavender spray she's been using on the pillows, to helps me fall asleep.
4. Taking all my supplements in the morning, including magnesium (which stimulates me now).
Things I Need to Do -
1. The most important one is getting some cardio exercise in everyday. Since amygdala clicking (and experiencing insomnia), I've felt more motivated then ever to get my fat ass on my cross trainer and burn some of my tired energy. Tonight is going to be the night. Also the last time I did 10 minutes on the cross trainer, I found it relatively easy when done to music (rather than TV); so I have confidence that I should be able to hit 30 minutes a day now. The only problems with the cross trainer is I have to wait until I come home around 7pm before I can use it, and a lot of the time I start getting really tired by then. The other problem is my toes go numb, which really annoys me to be honest because I'm quite paranoid of cutting blood circulation to any body part; hence while I think I could do even 20 minutes non stop on the trainer, I have to stop for my toes sake.
2. Magnesium supplement will now be moved up from morning to around 5-7pm. Though it stimulates me now which is why I can't take it right before bed. I can't ignore the possibility it might contribute to daytime tiredness also, so need to move it in the evening sometime.
3. Lavender spray. This stuff might help me fall asleep, but I need to consider the possibility this may contribute to daytime tiredness as well. For now I'll keep using it, as it allows me to fall asleep quicker than usual, but will keep it in mind.
Plenty of Nightmares Which Aren't Scary, & Remembering a Large Portion of Them
I remember noting this years back and asking Neil Slade about them. I later discovered in one of the writings by TDA Lingo, that neurosis will try to work itself out in your dreams/nightmares. I need to read more into this to be honest.
Anyway I've been getting a lot more dreams/nightmares is seems, let's see what I can recall (feel free to skip this):
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Dream 1:
So I remember being in this place, I think a mall, where a Mexican was trying to kill me. He got shot and died, I think I was the one who shot him. Then I realised this was one of my step fathers cronies, and he gathered all his cronies to his house to discuss the incident, he didn't realise his Mexican crony was trying to kill me or that I killed him first, but I was there while he was discussing it, and I kept quiet on the whole matter. You see I some reason lived with my step father, and note that this isn't my real step father, this was the same main bad guy gangster from the Snatch the movie, for some reason he was my step father. We also lived in a house which I recognize as my friends old house. Anyway I needed to get out of the house and see my mum. My mum for some reason was Bianca from Eastenders. Made an excuse to my step father and then drove to see her, I think I might of rang her before then. I pick her up from what looked like part of the street you see on Eastenders, we drove to her house where her other children were (which were her kids from Eastenders). We talked, and I wanted to leave there with her into a safer place. You see she was living with her new husband who was an eastern European asshole (looked like my wife's father). He was tough but scary, and I didn't like him. Also I remember worrying it was late, and my step father (the bad guy from Snatch), would wonder where I am and come looking for me. I also slightly remember talking to one of my step brothers (Bianca's kid) about school or something.
Dream 2:
I remember playing football or fifa with my friends. A lot of the dream revolved around this. Then later 2 dead "aliens" were in my bed (the exact same places me and my wife were sleeping and I was dreaming this). One alien was recovered from Area 51, the other one unknown. These aliens had 1 eye. So I pointed out these weren't aliens, but were more like giants with one eye, cyclops'. Can't remember much more, but I pretty much woke up after this dream.
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So What are the Main Lessons About These Nightmares/Dreams?
I'm not going to bore you with dream interpretation. What I want to direct you to is things I find more fascinating about this whole ordeal.
1. The nightmares were not scary. My emotion of fear was much less, and I was more neutral in the whole thing. Remember when you're dreaming, you think you're the person you're dreaming of (unless you become lucid and realize you're dreaming). When I've had nightmares in the past, they are scary, you feel the fear, whether it's fighting a Mexican in a gun fight, or your step father's a gangster with cronies, or your mother's new boyfriend who is a scary strong eastern European asshole, or you have spooky dead aliens/cyclops' in your bed. Usually after a nightmare like that, you would never want to experience it again because it was just so scary. Yet when I dreamt that last night, because the emotion was more neutral than scary, I wouldn't care if I experience the exact same dream tonight. So basically nightmares (bad/evil things), but without the fear attached to them (or at least very reduced fear).
2. My dream recall seems to have increased without needing much willful effort on my part; and I feel like I'm dreaming a lot more (though this could be due to increased recall). Feels like a lot more going on in my dreams, and they're more vivid.
3. Due to a combination of factors, i.e. Sleep debt, lavender spray on pillow, B12 etc..., I can't just point to amygdala clicking with 100% certainty for these dream effects. However I'm pretty confident amygdala clicking is the main factor driving these effects, due to past observations with amygdala clicking causing nightmares with little to no fear (and writing and email to Neil Slade about it years ago), and also reading TDA Lingos work on how your brain will try to work out neurosis in your dreams.
None Sleep/Dream Related
Multiplications Brain Training
So like I said yesterday I was going to start brain training with multiplications. I ended up doing 250 before I got bored and starting losing concentration and stopped. I got 2 incorrect. I still need to optimize my sleep and wakeful energy. You know, waking up not tired, but rather like I've just had a brilliant nights sleep.
I'm Tired, but it Seems Like I'm Functioning at a Good Level Brain Wise
Pretty much in the title.Even though I feel a tiredness in me, I did end up doing 250 multiplications this morning, and am now writing up this whole report which seems to have taken a couple of hours. Yap yap yap yap yap. Seems like something I was good at before I started clicking my amygdalas and taking vitamin c. Now I'm doing both those things (clicking, vitamin c), and even with a slightly tired brain, I have plenty of energy and clarity to yap yap yap yap! Hopefully I will be able to put this to better use in the future. However even though this topic may not be interesting to read for most people, I'm sure this is going to benefit me in the future by looking back at my observations/conclusions when I need to, as well as being therapeutic for getting these ideas/brain energy out of my head and into digital paper.
That's it for now, keep clicking my neurotic friends!