Spotlight Courtesy of The Spectrum from Triple Helix at the University of Chicago
Original Piece By Indira Khera
Abstract By Esha Mishra
Abstract
Sleeping allows us to process the complexities of everyday lives through our dreams. In our dreams, we construct a bizarre world simultaneously detached from and rooted in our waking life. While the scientific link between our waking experiences and their presentation in a dream remain shrouded in mystery, the COVID-19 pandemic and the lifestyle changes it brought to our lives allows us to directly examine and question their relationship.
In the piece “Wakeful Sleep,” Indira Khera explores sleep drive and circadian rhythm, two components which control our desire to sleep. She also discusses the phases and cycles of sleep, including what exactly differentiates our dream state from our waking state. To shed light onto how dreams are created, she brings in two opposing theories proposed by renowned psychiatrists, adding that, with the changes that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to our lives, certain stressors have likely been disrupting our sleep cycle and changing the very essence of our dreams.
Image is in the public domain via Pixabay.
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