I read a little into REM and sleep patterns, so if someone a bit more knowledgeable in this area could point out any mistakes or wrong assumptions below, that would be helpful.

 

This diagram shows a typical sleep pattern at night

 

The graph shows the stages of REM and outlines the top one in dark red to outline the times when you are most likely to dream. This is also the lightest stage of sleep where you are able to wake up with ease.

 

My questions are:

 

1) How are you able to time it so you wake up during the REM 1 stage?

 

2) If REM 1 occurs 4/5/6 times then doesn't that mean that you can have several dreams within these periods?

 

3) What's the best way of waking up naturally at a time you specify? (e.g. 8am)

 

 

Regards,

 

Joshua

1) Yes, there's a dream-rememberer device. However you have to sleep with the electrodes on your head. It's basically an EEG connected to an alarm clock.

 

2) Yes, you have several dreams each night. You usually forget your dreams. This is for the best, as otherwise you might remember cheating on your girlfriend or something in your dream, and so do something really embarrassing in real life.

 

3) Some people can do this, even close to the minute. I don't know how, but I imagine training yourself would help. If you set your alarm for 8 am for a very long time, and you get enough sleep, then you are almost certainly going to be waking up at 8 am on your own.