A recent study (Speth & Speth, 2017) took a look at cognition across different stages of sleep (sleep onset, REM, and Non-REM)and found some interesting things. By taking samples of subjects' thought content at different time points over the night, they found the presence of self-reflective thought at sleep onset decreased through nonREM and REM sleep, whereas motor imagery was low at sleep onset and increased through nonREM and REM sleep.
The authors of course didn't take into account the greater degree of self-reflective cognition found in lucid dreaming, though accounting for lucidity wasn't a focus of the study. This also contrasts Bulkeley & Grave's (2018) recent publication that found lucid dreams had more references to cognitive processes than visual imagery.
Check out the Psychology Today article for a synopsis of the Speth & Speth study.
Let me know what your reactions in the comments, and share a little about what you have noticed about your own sleep "thinking" during the night--whether you were dreaming, falling asleep, or just having random mental activity while dozing. The topic is fascinating not just in the realm of science but also in relation to sleep yoga, when you are "lucid" and aware in meditation during other stages of sleep besides during the vivid story-like dreams we typically associate with REM sleep.
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Everytime I see references like this I see a researcher so close. Research is also our aim. In my country people say "amanecerá y verás" something "sleep and a better desition will come"
Right! We say, "Sleep on it!"
I just want to say out one thing from my own experience.. Even when someone really deep down sleeping on their bed, their brain still reflecting the images on what someone had done before bed and that maybe relate to some arguments with their emotional..plain English they brought it into their sleep and dream about it ...
Yes, I share that experience, and I'm sure lots of others do too. Emotional processing is very much a part of sleeping and dreaming cognition. The more stress in the day, or the more stressful things on the mind before bed, the more we bring that into our thinking during sleep.
One thing that helps make my sleep time more peaceful is writing daily diary and reviewing and processing the day before sleep. As a lucid dreamer, it helps me lessen emotional reflections and memory allocation during sleep leaving me free to lucid dream.
This is a really good tip to clear your mind before bed. I also like to make a to-do list before I go to sleep so I don't have wake up thinking about all the things I have to remember to do tomorrow. The night is NOT the time to think about my tasks for tomorrow. The night is for remembering my task for TONIGHT! which is TO REMEMBER I AM DREAMING!
Our thinking does change when we are asleep. We are not that restrained by logical thought or control. It often manifests into various dreams as well. Sometimes the thoughts themselves may be symbolic and confusing. It may be dealing with stuff that happened years ago. I observe my thoughts during onset of sleep and while dreaming. Sometimes things I avoid thinking about bubbles up rather easily.
Hi @omnithumbs, I appreciate your enthusiasm for this topic and thoughtful comments.
One of my favorite things about my day is to to meditate on my thoughts as I fall asleep. It's so fascinating to watch them unravel from being reflective and cohesive into being random, abstract, and dream-like.
In my sleep and dream yoga practices, it has been interesting how mindfulness of "thinking" has helped me understand meditation on much deeper levels. It takes me more time in waking life to induce these states in meditation to this degree, if at all, but I know that both my waking and dreaming meditation practices have an enhancing effect on each other so of course I am not siding with a preference for meditation in one state over the other. They both have value and purpose in tandem. : )
I like how you notice emotional things that you tend to suppress comes up rather easily at sleep onset or while asleep, and agree with you. I think it says something about how we relate with emotions in general, and there is a lot to be learned from what the imagery and thoughts we observe the mind to create in these states.
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