XII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2020

Resume: Tadeusz Kotarbinski: «Sleep is a reduction in life for the sake of prolonging it.». If we calculate how much time a person spends to sleep, it turns out that up to a third of our entire conscious life we ​​spend in a dream. Over his entire life, a person sleeps on average from 15 to 30 years, depending on how many years he will live.

As a child, I was very afraid of the dark. When I went to bed, I had a fear that some scary monster from the cartoon «Monster Corporation» would come out of my closet or from under the bed and drag me away. Sometimes I woke up in the middle of the night and felt that someone was looking at me. I was very scared, and I could not open my eyes. My body was paralyzed.

In mythology, a nightmare is often explained by the action of otherworldly forces. In European mythology, mara is an evil spirit, a demon, sitting on his chest at night and causing bad dreams, accompanied by suffocation under the weight of a demon, that is why the bad dreams themselves also began to bear the name of a nightmare. In the Russian people, a nightmare is considered a brownie prank. In German mythology, elves were considered guilty of nightmares, as they were responsible for dreams. Elves were portrayed as sleeping on a chest, creating an unpleasant feeling of pressure.

Proponents of paranormal phenomena are convinced that the similarity of night stranglers among different nations confirms the existence of otherworldly forces. In films with paranormal phenomena, we often see how someone, after meeting with demons, turns to exorcists, priests and other people who provide religious and mystical services.

Now I will prove that paranormal phenomena are just our imagination. As Charles Darwin said: «We stopped looking for monsters under our beds when we realized that they were inside us.».

Different people can see the same nightmares due to the same sensations that occur with sleep paralysis. This is a condition where your muscles are paralyzed. Sleep paralysis occurs before falling asleep, or after waking up. Touching or sounds can interrupt an episode of paralysis, and the episode itself can last either seconds or minutes. According to studies, among the population at least once in a lifetime 7.65% of people have experienced sleep paralysis.

About 20-25% of night sleep is the REM sleep phase. It is characterized by increased activity of the brain and the rapid movement of the eyeballs, which is observed during wakefulness. About 85% of the subjects who were awakened 4 minutes after the onset of the REM sleep phase said they had colorful dreams. During the REM sleep phase, the skeletal muscles of the body are relaxed, and the motor neurons that send them signals are inhibited. Thanks to this, if we start running in a dream, we will not fall out of bed.

If you wake up during the REM phase, you can fall into sleepy paralysis. There will be a feeling that your body is paralyzed, and your incompletely awakened brain will try to explain this unusual sensation. Moreover, the brain often comes to unusual conclusions, including a mystical one. For example, the brain may suggest that our movements are fettered by demons or ghosts, or decide that the shadows on the walls are monsters, and the tinnitus is the sound of their steps. Unsuccessful attempts to take a deep breath create an image of a strangler. But do not worry, such a meeting with monsters does not pose a serious danger, although it indicates a poor quality of sleep.

It is worse when during the REM sleep phase, the muscles are not paralyzed. Often these are simple and safe actions: getting up in bed, walking, cleaning, but can be quite dangerous: cooking, driving, cruel behavior, grabbing for imaginary objects. For example, a man dreamed that he was riding a motorcycle, and another motorcyclist was trying to ram him. In a dream, he kicked off the attacker, but in reality his wife got the blows.

Known examples of killings and assassinations allegedly committed by sleeping people. In 1987, twenty-three-year-old Kenneth Parks fell asleep while sitting in front of the television. At one point, he put on his boots, a jacket, got into a car and drove around the city fourteen miles to the house where his father-in-law and mother-in-law lived. After that he came, all splattered with blood, to the nearest police station: «I just committed a murder with these bare hands.». Kenneth Parks, a young man who fell asleep and then discovered that he had committed a murder.

Realistic nightmares and visions can adversely affect the mental health of those who experience them. And only an understanding of the nature of «mystical experience» helps a person to recover, calm down and sleep better at night.

So, two undesirable situations are possible: either the person himself begins to see demons, or it seems to others that something has infused into him.

In the United States, a young mother brutally murdered a 6-year-old daughter who suffered from sleepwalking. She claimed that the little girl was obsessed with the demon. If people were better informed and less superstitious, this and other similar stories would not have happened.

To protect against nightmares, you do not need crosses, prayers or holy water, because it is not a punishment for sins. In order to protect yourself from nightmares you need to adhere to some rules. Go to bed in the dark and in conditions convenient for you. Go for jogging or long walks, playing sports can improve your sleep quality. Gradually switch to a healthy, balanced diet. Make breakfast-lunch-dinner a pleasant ritual, even if you eat alone. Turn off the TV, use beautiful dishes, light candles and enjoy the moment. No need to work and have dinner in bed. The bed should be used only for its intended purpose, so that quick immersion in sleep becomes a habit, a conditioned reflex. The better the sleep, the lower the chance of sleep paralysis.

References

Panchin A. Y. (2018) "Protection from the dark arts. A guide to the world of paranormal phenomena"

Public Multilingual Universal Internet Encyclopedia "Wikipedia" (2001)