Kirsten:
In response to your question about why we dream of falling and then jerk
awake right before hitting bottom, this may provide some insight.
We are known to experience events called hypnogogic and hypnopompic
hallucinations associated with falling asleep or waking up. It is during
these transitions to/from sleep that these hallucinations
occur. Frequently they are of the falling/flying variety, but can also be
auditory or tactile, etc. It is not known why falling is so common, I
suspect that answer would lie in the realm of dream interpretation and
stresses in a person's life. However, the sensations are completely
normal (albeit frightening at the time) and indicate no pathology of the
sleep process.
I hope this answers your and your students' question. Sleep is a
fascinating field -- we all do it, and yet it seems we know so little
about it. (In reality, we actually do understand quite a bit about it.)
If you have any futher questions, feel free to contact me at one of my
e-mail addresses.
--Cheryl :)
former polysomnographic technologist (that's jargon for the person who
hooks up patients and monitors their sleep all night, while not
getting any her-/himself) and current lecturer at NEIU.
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* Cheryl Schwartz, Ph.D. *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* OR *
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *
* If logic is in the eye of the logician, *
* then is wit in the eye of the wittician? *
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