The evidence is convergent. Multiple independent sources reach the same conclusion, the underlying mechanism is well-characterized, and even the field's most cautious voices treat it as worth doing.
In REM sleep serotonin is essentially absent. Okay? So this molecule, this neuromodulator that tends to create the feeling of bliss and wellbeing and just calm placidity is absent. All right. So that's interesting. In addition to that, norepinephrine this molecule that's involved in movement and alertness is absolutely absent. It's probably one of the few times in our life that epinephrin is essentially at zero activity within our system.
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Native comments, Twitter mentions, and Reddit threads about this claim — surfaced together so the conversation isn't fragmented across platforms.
Bookmarking — the dossier-vs-overview split is the right call. Most of the time I want overview; sometimes I want receipts.
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Norepinephrine noradrenaline both of those need to be shut down for you to produce REM sleep.
levels of a brain chemical called noradrenaline are completely shut off it is the only time during the 24-hour period when you see the complete cessation of neur adrenaline in the brain
REM sleep is a time of this remarkable decrease in noradrenaline
noradrenaline is associated with many different functions and you've elegantly described them one of the functions is that it's associated with emotional responsivity and the focus and that sort of strong um sort of emotional energy and people will know we speak about it has two names noradrenaline or norepinephrine same thing us UK but people of course are familiar with the sister chemical in the body called adrenaline upstairs in the brain we can think about noradrenaline and during REM sleep neur adrenaline is completely shut off
if there is a brain chemical that seems to be underlying REM sleep or dream sleep it seems to be acetal choline and in fact in some parts of the brain you can see almost a 30% greater amount of
10 minutes of bright outdoor light within the first hour of waking anchors the circadian phase and improves sleep onset that night.
Morning sunlight exposure shifts the cortisol awakening response forward, improving daytime alertness.
Long-term morning sunlight reduces age-related macular degeneration risk.
Sleep regularity predicts all-cause mortality more strongly than sleep duration.
Tracking deep sleep on a wearable accurately reflects EEG-measured slow-wave sleep.
Caffeine has a half-life long enough that consumption after 2pm measurably degrades deep sleep in slow metabolizers.