Understanding and Using Dreams to Learn and to Forget

This episode is all about the two major kinds of dreams and the sorts of learning and unlearning they are used for. I discuss REM-associated dreams that control emotional learning and their similarity to various trauma treatments such as ketamine and EMDR. I also discuss Non-REM dreams and their role in motor learning and learning of detailed, non-emotionally-laden information. I relate this to science-backed tools for accessing more of the types of sleep and learning people may want. Other topics are listed in the time stamps below. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Waking Up: https://www.wakingup.com/huberman Momentous: https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:30) Sponsors: AG1, LMNT, Waking Up (00:03:00) The Dream Mask (00:06:00) Cycling Sleep (00:08:10) Chemical Cocktails of Sleep (00:13:00) Motor Learning (00:16:30) High Performance with Less Sleep (00:17:45) Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (00:20:30) Paralysis & Hallucinations (00:23:35) Nightmares (00:24:45) When REM & Waking Collide (00:25:00) Sleeping While Awake (00:26:45) Alien Abductions (00:29:00) Irritability (00:30:00) Sleep to Delete (00:32:25) Creating Meaning (00:34:10) Adults Acting Like Children (00:36:20) Trauma & REM (00:37:15) EMDR (00:39:10) Demo (00:44:25) Ketamine / PCP (00:45:45) Soup, Explosions, & NMDA (00:48:55) Self Therapy (00:50:30) Note About Hormones (00:51:40) Measuring REM / SWS (00:53:15) Sleep Consistency (00:56:00) Bed Wetting (00:58:00) Serotonin (00:59:00) Increasing SWS (00:59:50) Lucidity (01:02:15) Booze / Weed (01:03:50) Scripting Dreams (01:04:35) Theory of Mind (01:07:55) Synthesis (01:10:00) Intermittent Sleep Deprivation (01:11:10) Snoring Disclaimer (01:11:40) New Topic (01:15:50) Corrections (01:17:25) Closing Remarks As always, thank you for your interest in science! Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

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Huberman Lab discusses neuroscience — how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body control our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health. We also discuss existing and emerging tools for measuring and changing how our nervous system works. Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the department of neurobiology, and by courtesy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning.  Huberman is a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation Fellow and was awarded the Cogan Award, given to the scientist making the most significant discoveries in the study of vision, in 2017. His lab’s most recent work focuses on the influence of vision and respiration on human performance and brain states such as fear and courage. He also works on neural regeneration and directs a clinical trial to promote visual restoration in diseases that cause blindness. Huberman is also actively involved in developing tools now in use by the elite military in the U.S. and Canada, athletes, and technology industries to optimize performance in high stress environments, enhance neural plasticity, mitigate stress and optimize sleep.   Work from the Huberman Laboratory at Stanford School of Medicine has been published in top journals including Nature, Science and Cell and has been featured in TIME, BBC, Scientific American, Discover and other top media outlets.  In 2021, Dr. Huberman launched the Huberman Lab podcast. The podcast is frequently ranked in the top 5 of all podcasts globally and is often ranked #1 in the categories of Science, Education, and Health & Fitness.