PHYSIOLOGY OF THE DREAM STATE
In most Christian books on dreams there's a glaring omission on how and when dreams occur. It seems that we have become so entranced by the fact that dreams can be a communication from God that we've overlooked the natural biological stages of sleep that dreams work through.
Without trying to take anything away from the supernatural side of dreams and their importance, I believe it will help if we understand the natural process of the sleep state. In becoming aware of this biological process we may discover a way of discerning which dreams are part of the expression of our soul-life, and which might be God-given.
To do this it is necessary to look at what has been learnt from sleep laboratory research. During sleep the rhythm of our brain fluctuates; these are called “brain waves”. When a person falls asleep their brain waves follow a set pattern of changes. These are usually referred to simply as Stages 1, 2, 3 and 4. These waves are measured by a device called an electroencephalogram (EEG for short).
When we're awake the EEG pattern of our brain wave is active every 8 to 12 cycles per second. This is called the Alpha state. As we fall asleep we enter Stage 1, which is regarded as “light sleep”. When this stage is entered our brain waves slow to about 4 to 5 cycles per second, the so-called Theta wave.
After a short period of a few minutes (and in the case of extreme tiredness, a few seconds), we enter Stage 2 of the sleep cycle. Our breathing slows and we relax more and more. Soon after this we enter Stages 3 and 4. The brain waves in Stage 4 are called Delta waves and the cycle is down to about 0.5 to 2.5 cycles per second. In other words there is hardly any mental activity in the brain at all at this level.
The Delta waves at this stage form the major part of the sleep and brain wave pattern. This is “deep sleep”. This is entered usually about one to two hours after falling asleep.
These “stages” are not always distinct, but they do show the overall pattern of sleep. In fact the process of sleepin