Smartphone iPhone and Blackberry applications help recall your dreams

August 21, 6:49 PMNY Holistic Science & Spirit ExaminerTima Vlasto

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Dream Recall and Smartphones

Since 87% of Smartphone users bring their phones to bed with them and 84% check their phones as soon as they wake up according to a Sheraton Hotels survey, choosing Smartphone applications for your iPhone or Blackberry that wake you up gradually, might facilitate better dream recall.

Reuters recently published a story about a study published in the August issue of Nature Neuroscience by Pierre Maquet of the University of Liege in Belgium. The researchers say: 

“...dreaming might be the brain’s way of replaying experiences and lessons so that they are fixed in the memory for use later on. The scientists used advanced imaging technology and found that the same regions of the brain that are buzzing while we learn a new task are also active while we dream. This heightened activity was observed during the brief but active stage known as rapid-eye movement, or REM, sleep… During dream sleep, blood flow rose sharply in several brain areas, particularly the thalamus, assert Pierre Maquet of the University of Liege in Belgium and his coworkers. The thalamus, already linked to the processing of memories of emotional experiences, may reactivate emotional components of memories during dreaming. “

In the book, Working with Dreams in Psychotherapy by Clara E. Hill, she states:

…regardless of the ultimate discovery about the functions of dreams, I believe that therapists are justified in working with dreams in therapy because (1) they reflect concerns from waking life, and (2) they seems to serve a function of helping us cope with an integrate information and emotions.

Waking without an alarm allows some people to move gradually from the dream state into the waking state. This gradual wakening sometimes strengthens the probability of remembering the dream.

HappyWakeup

A Finland based company called, Smart Valley Software released HappyWakeUp, an alarm clock for Smart Phones (Nokia S60s and Apple Iphones) that monitors your sleep using the microphone of the mobile phone. It gives you an alarm signal in the morning only if you are awake or almost awake just before the final wakeup time.

EasyWakeup

According to the EasyWakeup website: It is easier to wake up alert when you are changing sleep phases (from light to deep or vice versa) if you wake up in a heavy phase of sleep, you will feel sleepy and unrested.

“For a normal eight-hour night, the average adult has 4-6 cycles of sleep. Every cycle continues 90-110 minutes (it is an individual parameter) and consists of two phases: a phase of deep sleep and a phase of light sleep, also known as the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase, the phase where most of your dreams occur.

Scientists have found that when someone is changing phases (from light to deep or vice versa) small micromotions occur. With a special sensor (aka an accelerometer) in the iPhone and iPod Touch, the new smart alarm clock, EasyWakeup wakes you when your body is changing from one sleep phase to another.”

Whether these applications help your dream recall or not, waking up gradually without being jolted awake by an alarm clock radio is a better way to start your day.

From the EasyWakeup website:

"It is believed that success comes
to those who get up early.
No, success comes to those
who get up in a good mood."
Marcel Achard

HappyWakeup

EasyWakeup

See also: How to wake up without alarm clock shock ( Zen alarm clocks )

In New York City:

Visit The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue, home of the iPhone. The 10,000 square-foot store has 500 employees, and it is open 24 hours, seven-days-a-week. According to a paper, Mapping the World’s Photos  a Flickr study by the Department of Computer Science, Cornell University in Ithaca, NY:

"The Apple Store in midtown Manhattan was the fifth-most photographed place in New York City -- and the 28th-most photographed place in the world."

Resources:

Dreams May Help Us Remember

87% of smartphone users sleep with their BlackBerry by Douglas Soltys

Working with Dreams in Psychotherapy by Clara E. Hill   

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, The Apple Store, Fifth Avenue; Marlith