A state of unconsciousness or partial consciousness in which, according to psychical belief, the human organism is being perpetually replenished with energy from an unseen world. Here-ward Carrington, writing in Your Psychic Powers and How to Develop Them (1920), notes: "Various theories have been advanced in the past to explain sleep, but no satisfactory theory has even been fully accepted. Thus we have the so-called 'chemical theories,' which endeavor to account for sleep by assuming that certain poisonous substances are formed in the body during waking hours and are eliminated during sleep. Others have suggested that sleep is due to peculiar conditions of the circulations of blood in the brain; still others that the action of certain glands explains sleep; others that muscular relaxation accounts for it, others that the lack of external stimuli is sufficient to induce profound slumber. All these theories have been shown insufficient to explain the facts. We shall never arrive at a satisfactory theory of sleep, doubtless, until we admit the presence of a vital force and the existence of an individual human spirit which withdraws more or less completely from the body during the hours of sleep, and derives spiritual invigoration and nourishment during its sojourn in the spiritual world."
In the paranormal phenomena observed in dreams and the hypnotic state, F. W. H. Myers found indications that "the self of sleep is a spirit freed from ordinary material limitations, and this conclusion conforms to the hypothesis that we live in two worlds; the waking personality is adapted to the needs of terrestrial life, the personality of sleep maintains the fundamental connection between the spiritual world and the organism, so as to provide the latter with energy while developing itself by the exercise of its spiritual powers."
Related to theories of sleep are theories on astral projection, also known as OBE (out-of-body experience) or soul traveling, in which the soul is said to leave its body, and travel about the astral plane. People who experience this, claim OBEs eliminate their fears of death, while convincing them of their connection to the spiritual realm. Writer Sylvan J. Muldoon, ex-plains the theory through his own experience: "the astral body discoincides during sleep for the purpose of recharging and the depth of sleep and the amount of recuperation depend upon the distance between the astral and physical bodies; i.e., the greater the distance of separation, the freer the inflow of cosmic energy, or prana, into it." Precursors to astral projection are lucid dreaming (an awareness of the self in dream state) and interrupted sleep (in which the physical body arises during the sleep state).
Considerable study is presently being conducted in the area of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. REM sleep is said to constitute between 20 and 50 percent of sleep activity. During this type of sleep, the brain seems to behave as if the body is awake: brainwave activity is high, heart rate increases, and sexual stimulation occurs. It is during this REM period that most of the night's dream activity—and perhaps paranormal activity— occurs.
While the increased neural activity during REM sleep may facilitate the development and maturation of the nervous system in infants, the role of REM in adults remains unclear. William C. Dement of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic proposes some of the possibilities: "There is strong evidence that REM sleep plays a role in the regulation of mood and/or drive; that it is related in some way to excitability of the central nervous system; and that its suppression may in some way jeopardize the learning and memory functions. The occurrence of large amounts of REM sleep among newborn infants remains possibly the most provocative puzzle of all; it suggests a very important role for REM in the earliest stages of life."
Another subject currently receiving significant attention is sleep deprivation. Murphy, in an article written for the Atlantic Monthly (1996), asserts Americans living a century ago could sleep 20% longer than the average American today. Ten million Americans each year seek medical, alternative medical, or therapeutic help for the treatment of sleeping disorders. Also sleep deprivation is thought to be a greater contributor to traffic fatalities than intoxication. Severe sleep deprivation is known to cause substantial detrimental alterations in both behavior and perception. Since a considerable amount of people who have been deprived of sleep report paranormal experiences, there exists the question of what role sleep deprivation plays in perceived paranormal incidents.
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