I don't understand all this bullshit about REM sleep
happening hours into the sleep cycle. Supposedly
the body goes through five phases of the sleep cycle, repeating a few of the
early cycles until it hits REM sleep after about ninety minutes. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
I hate going overnight anywhere with anyone. I walk the floors when I sleep. I'm up almost as much as I'm down, waking approximately
four to seven times in a regular sleep cycle. Once in a great while I will get up twice in a
night. Rarely will I only get up once,
but I always get up. This freaks people
out who don't REM sleep the way I do.
I usually make my first "floor walk" within twenty
minutes after I fall asleep. Sometimes
it is after only five minutes. However,
the pattern is always the same. First, I
fall asleep almost immediately; Next, I am plunged into REM sleep. Then I wake up, look at the clock, and I am
astounded. Where are the other sleep
stages? Why am I having full-scale, Technicolor
dreams within moments of succumbing to slumber?
I do a little online research and discover that there are
more people like me out there -- more Instant Dreamers -- so we must be normal. Right?
Then I continue reading about how psychiatrists are treating them
because this is considered a huge deviation.
Deviation? I'm dreaming; I'm not out stabbing people
(though that has come up in REM sleep). These Others Who Are Like Me are seen by
psychiatrists and medical doctors and told that something is wrong with them. Instant Dreamers are diagnosed as being bipolar, having Paranoid
Schizophrenia, PTSD, or Generalized Anxiety.
Either this bullshit is true and millions (more?) of us
every day immediately fall into REM sleep, or else the people who do NOT dream
at all invented stages that we humans "have" to pass through to achieve
REM. For crying out loud ... I'm in REM while typing up most of
this post.
I just don't see what the hoopla is about immediate REM
sleep, and I certainly don't see why it has to be considered a "symptom"
of something psychologically dire and incurable. It is quite clear to me that those who study
this have way too much time on their hands and way too many psycho-trophic drugs at their disposal..
They should try dozing and dreaming. It's immediately satisfying and not too unusual.
