added to a previous post:
To his credit though, he was able to derive an important lesson from the dream (the part about always having condoms on hand). Dreams definitely can be instructive & even predict future events.
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Relating to SpectralJulianIsNotDead's
Pot thread, research has shown that chronic use of marijuana is directly related to the lack of being able to achieve deep & restful sustained rem sleep. This is the herb's major drawback. It's a trade-off because use of marijuana & psychedelics in general allows one to open up pathways to the unconscious that are keyed into conscious activity while one is in a waking state.
Despite sleep aids being a burgeoning multi-billion dollar business annually, the most common sleep aid used by people is alcohol. The latest science frowns upon this & suggests that it is a rather poor sleep aid. Alcohol, being a depressant, may alllow one to pass out, but results in broken sleep, & some amount of difficulty attaining rem (as well). The main cause is that alcohol causes the body to wake itself up for intermittent trips to the bathroom since alcohol is a diuretic & causes the body to lose water.
Some people wonder why alcohol makes them feel ebullient if it is a depressant. The reason is that alcohol depresses the frontal lobe first, resulting in a loss of inihibitions, before it eventually depresses the rest of the brain.