August Letter from Dr. J

Dear Friends, 

The adage, "Sleep on it" can pay back in dividends perhaps greater than one might estimate! 

Images and pictures of items and things you experience and encounter during the day (that Cadillac billboard you pass on the street and the Hawaiian beach ad you see on TV) are stored in your brain, often playing out in a giant jumbled soup while you rest (thus the dream where you're driving a new Cadillac Escalade on the beach and running over sand castles in Maui!).

Here’s the key:

Many do not know that it’s during the REM stage of sleep that your brain integrates and the coherency to essential information and ideas. 

"REM sleep is good for problem solving and decision making because your brain is putting pieces together and trying out new alternatives," says Rebecca Spencer, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

"You gain insights that wouldn't occur to you when you're awake." REM also activates the emotion area of the brain, so "things that are most important to you on a gut level are prioritized," Spencer says.

Several studies have shown that profound moments come following REM sleep. 

In a 2011 study Spencer coauthored, subjects were asked to perform a gambling experiment that had a hidden underlying rule. One group previewed the task, got a normal night's sleep, and returned the next morning. A second group previewed the task, went about their daytime routine, and returned 12 hours later. Twice as many people who'd slept between previewing and completing the task figured out the rule as the people who'd stayed awake.

Deirdre Barrett, PhD, a professor at Harvard Medical School and author of The Committee of Sleep, studies the ways in which dreams themselves can yield practical insights. In one of her studies, more than one-third of the subjects reported that a dream about a problem guided them to a solution. "Dreams help us get unstuck from our waking mind-set," Barrett says. "They allow us to see solutions that aren't apparent to our logical, conscious minds."

At Intuitiv Wellness™, and through one of our incredible formulas, good night, we ultimately aim for you to dream well so you can be more well and achieve your dreams!

With all our gratitude,

Dr. J