This article is classified "Real"
Sleep is fundamentally good. It is something to be enjoyed, worshipped, loved, and cherished. Humans spend rather a large part of their lives either sleeping or wishing they were. The problem is most people don't take time to enjoy their sleep, to revel in the very essence of sleepiness and how good it is to finally drift off, away from the world. Besides being all-together enjoyable, sleep is necessary for us to lead normal, productive lives, the scientists say. Sleep research has revealed that the brain must have this "down-time" in order to be able to deal with reality and consciousness the rest of the time. Research has revealed that the most restful type of sleep occurs while humans undergo Rapid Eye Movement, or REM. During so-called REM sleep there are spasms of the eye muscles that are clearly visible to an observer. Some of the more sadistic sleep research has been on the subject of sleep depravation, or going for extended periods of time without sleep. Scientists have found that sleep depravation, which leads to REM depravation, can have severe effects over relatively short periods of time. For instance, nuclear reactor failures and problems have largely been linked to operator fatigue. As a college student, I can attest that students are perhaps hit hardest in the need for sleep. In fact, to the college student, the entire educational experience can sometimes appear to be a giant sleep depravation experiment. The typical student leads a schedule of sufficient weirdness that sleep is not a part of the regular routine. Hence, the age-old student problems of sleeping through a day (or week) of classes and sleeping during class are not something to be solved, but tolerated. It is also important to note that unusual sleeping habits do tend to have an adverse effect on grades. (However, this is the least of the typical student's problems.) There is also the matter of sleeping style. Everyone has a unique style, or method of sleeping, whether they are aware of it or not. In fact, they often aren't aware of it, because they are sleeping while it is taking place. Perhaps the most common sleeping trait is snoring, which can range from a gentle sniffling to a great hawking roar of a honk, sure to wake people for miles around. Others find that they tend to walk or talk in their sleep which can lead to a number of interesting and potentially dangerous positions. For instance, I have heard tales of a sleeping college student who mistook a fellow student's room for the urinal in the deep of the night, leading to a rather unfortunate end for everyone involved. As children and occasionally later in life, many humans have problems controlling their bladder at night. This is always a consideration when searching for a roommate. A final sleeping problem is that of insomnia, or an inability to fall asleep even when one is quite tired. There are many classic ways to solve this problem, such as counting sheep or drinking warm milk. I personally prefer a good knock with a lead pipe - I've never seen it fail. "To sleep, perchance to dream," said Hamlet, and although he was really talking about death, I think it applies anyway. Dreaming can be a wonderful thing, fulfilling your fantasies, or it can be a terrible thing, leaving you in a cold sweat, terrified to leave your room. Either way, it is the ultimate story-making machine, far better than movies or books, because it relies on the imagination without form. Often, however, this lack of form can also lead to strange or surprising results. Consider, for instance, the dream of yourself in a public place, but without a stitch of clothing. Sound familiar? Freud used dreams as the basis for his work because he believed that they were a window into the unconscious, a way to see into a person's soul. Nifty stuff, all together. Sweet dreams.