Seeing the Voice of God: What God Is Telling You through Dreams and Visions (8 page)

Sure enough, Lisa was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea and sleep-related hypoxia. She had 46 “events” per hour, meaning that she stopped breathing 46 times an hour, one time for 46.2 seconds. Halfway through the night, they awakened Lisa and fitted her with a sleep mask that provided streams of oxygen to keep her air passages open while sleeping. Not only did she have 0 events afterward, but her dreams doubled. Without her sleep mask, she spent only 23 minutes dreaming during the first half of the night. Afterward, she dreamed for 58 minutes.

This breakthrough medical remedy for sleepless (and therefore, dreamless) nights could not have been better invested in anyone—Lisa is such an eager dreamer, interpreter and friend. Could God have bypassed modern medicine, overridden her REM cycles and given Lisa dreams anyway? Yes, and He obviously did on occasion. But now, because she dealt with her physical sleep disorder, her dreams will increase. She may even need to observe my dream recall tips to remember them all. I think the main reason God did not make a habit of overriding Lisa’s disorder to give her dreams is that He wanted her to sleep. Remember, He gives His beloved sleep. (Sweet dreams, Lisa.)

Other sleep disturbances include restless leg syndrome, bedwetting, COPD and difficulty breathing, snoring, sleeptalking, sleepwalking, sleep-eating, teeth grinding and night terrors (nightmares).

Sleep deprivation—self-induced or involuntary—is not only a dream killer, but a life killer. CBS News broadcast a study a few years ago in which several young, healthy, fit patients were allowed only four hours of sleep for six nights. It was discovered that after only six nights, the subjects had already reached
a prediabetic state. A chemical called leptin, which tells your brain when you are full, is suppressed without ample sleep. The researchers noticed that the subjects ate more when they slept less and were unable to metabolize sugar as effectively. It was reported that this could be a major factor contributing to the American obesity epidemic. It also explains the “freshman ten,” which are those extra ten pounds that college freshman notoriously gain once Mom is no longer in their ear, enforcing bedtime. Sleep deprivation leads to weight gain, plain and simple.

CBS’s Lesley Stahl reported afterward, “Several large-scale studies from all over the world have reported a link between short sleep times and obesity, as well as heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke.” The experiment was spearheaded by an endocrinologist at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, Dr. Eve Van Cauter. Her conclusion was, “I think it tells us that sleep deprivation is not a challenge for which biology has wired us. There’s no other mammal that sleep deprives itself [other] than the human.”
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Food for Thought

Whether you are awake or asleep, both states are affected by the neurotransmission signals of your brain. Therefore, the foods you eat and the nutrients you ingest (or the lack thereof) alter them. A prime example would be caffeine. Caffeinated coffees, teas, soft drinks and energy drinks stimulate certain portions of the brain and result in eventual insomnia and needless tossing and turning at night.

Other stimulants are diet pills, decongestants and even sugar. It has also been proven that antidepressants suppress REM dream sleep, as does smoking. Smokers tend to sleep for only a few
hours before their sleep is interrupted with nicotine withdrawal. Quit smoking and dream more.

Many people try to solve the insomnia battle with a nightcap by drinking a glass of wine or other alcohol, and studies have shown that alcohol does help people go to sleep—but not stay asleep. Alcohol can help people reach a very early stage light sleep, but it prohibits them from reaching REM dream sleep or the restorative stage of deep sleep so crucial for good health. Therefore, nightcap users will definitely fall asleep, but will not stay asleep for the entire night.
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Vitamins, Minerals and Dream Recall

What should you consume for a good night’s sleep? Is there any nutrient that can help you remember your dreams? Yes! Let’s look at some vitamins and minerals that help improve dream recall.

Vitamin B6

The National Center for Biotechnology Information reported on a placebo, double-blind study done to investigate numerous reports of the effects vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) has on dreaming.
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For a period of five consecutive days, twelve students were given 100 milligrams (mg) of B6 before bedtime and then interviewed each morning about their dreams. After a two-day washout to allow elimination of the vitamin from their systems, they were given 250 mg of B6 and once again interviewed the next morning. After another two-day washout, they were given a placebo for five nights and then interviewed the next morning.

On a scale that measured vividness, bizarreness, emotionality and color, morning self-reports revealed a marked difference between the time the students were given a placebo and the time they were given 250 mg of B6. The data proposed that vitamin B6 may act by increasing cortical arousal during periods of rapid eye movement (REM) dream sleep, and that it plays a role
in converting tryptophan (which, according to the Cambridge University journals, appears to show some promise in treating depression)
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into serotonin (which, according to Mayo Clinic, acts as a neurotransmitter to the brain).
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What does this mean? The hypothesis is that vitamin B6 “wakes up” the brain during REM dream sleep, assisting the mind in intensifying and evaluating what it is seeing as it sees it.

Because I generally take a phosphorylated version of the B vitamins for optimum absorption and conversion to energy, and because I typically take it during the day, I was curious about whether it would interfere with my sleep if I took it at night. I found it did not, although other people’s results will vary due to lifestyle, sleep times and even illnesses. Livestrong.com, a journalistic byproduct of Demand Media and the Livestrong Foundation, lists comments by both the
New York Times
and the Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia that address this:

The energy effects of B vitamins may last through the night if you take supplements during the evening. According to the “New York Times,” vitamins B6 and B12 directly affect the hormones melatonin and serotonin, which can affect your sleep. Taking vitamin B6 at night can cause vivid dreams that lead to a restless sleep. The “Times” argues that there is some evidence that taking vitamins can increase hormone production, resulting in sleep difficulties. At the same time, your brain relies on these hormones to go to sleep. The Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia explains that sufficient melatonin is necessary for the brain to go into sleep mode for a restful night. Vitamin B6 helps create serotonin, which then creates melatonin.
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Although the study was done at a university and not in a sleep laboratory, it was still featured on PubMed.gov, a database
maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. PubMed contains 22 million citations for biomedical literature from Medline.

Vitamin B6 is also listed on Mayo Clinic’s website under “Uses Based on Tradition or Theory: The following uses are based on tradition or scientific theories,” where the site states that “dream recall and sleep enhancement” is one of the uses for vitamin B.
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Always discuss with your doctor, pharmacist or nutritionist what vitamin levels are right for you. The 250 mg amount of B6 used in the aforementioned study is an excessive dose, and you would not want toxicity to occur. Daily recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) of vitamin B6 taken orally are as follows: males and females 19–50 years old, 1.3 mg; males 51 and older, 1.7 mg; females 51 and older, 1.5 mg. (Many researchers think these RDAs should be increased for all ages.) Like vitamin C, B vitamins are water-soluble, meaning that the body uses them right away and excretes excessive amounts through the urine. Vitamin B12 is the exception; it can stay in the liver for years.
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The recommended maximum daily intake of vitamin B6 by mouth for adults, and for pregnant and lactating women (over 18 years old), is 100 mg. I use a little more than that daily, because I take a medicine that depletes it, plus I eat a lot of protein. Both of those factors consume B6 in my system, and I like to build it back up before I start another day. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about doses right for you. You will know you are getting too much vitamin B6 if you begin to feel numbness due to nerve damage, or if you experience lack of coordination or changes in sensory perception. But do not worry, because according to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements, the side effects of a B6 overdose are usually alleviated once supplementation stops.
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The busy Bs have many names: thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), biotin (B7), folic acid (B9) and cobalamin (B12). If for some reason you are not comfortable taking an over-the-counter vitamin B supplement despite countless reports of this family of vitamin’s healing
properties, just remember to include more of the following foods in your diet: bananas, cereal grains, legumes, vegetables (especially carrots, spinach and peas), potatoes, milk, cheese, eggs, fish and sunflower seeds. Enriched cereals supposedly put vitamins back in after refining them all out, and those always include Vitamin B6, but to get the 100 mg nightly dosage, we are talking 32 bowls of Cheerios before bed.
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Uh, I will take the supplement, thank you.

Magnesium

I am not a doctor (nor did I play one on TV), but I know that magnesium has changed my life and my brain health. Part of my healing journey for relief from the seizures and for lowering the high doses of acidic medicine I was on involved high daily doses of magnesium. After years of anticonvulsants that were unable to offer me relief, my neurologist was pleased when we found how much magnesium helped me when I took a therapeutic dose. I was able to cut my seizure medicine by two-thirds, in fact. Why?

Simply put, magnesium is nature’s tranquilizer for the brain, and for the whole body. What do you think Epsom salts are? Magnesium sulfate. And they relax everything from the pro athlete’s injury to Grandma’s sore feet. What do hospitals give pregnant mothers by IV when they are in premature labor? Magnesium. Because of its calming effects on contractions, it stops them. And you will know when you have had too much magnesium because it will loosen your stools considerably. After all, what is the laxative Milk of Magnesia? Magnesium.

Likewise for the nighttime brain, magnesium calms your nerve activity and helps you go to sleep and stay asleep, thus ensuring that you go smoothly from your N-REM sleep stages into dreamland. Magnesium is necessary for more than 300 biochemical reactions in your body and gives you energy for metabolism. It also helps your heart, muscles, immune system, bones, blood sugar levels and blood pressure. There is a concern
among doctors because, according to data from the 1999–2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, substantial numbers of adults in the United States do not have enough body stores of magnesium because dietary intake may not be high enough.
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The RDA of magnesium is 400 mg for men 19–30; 310 mg for women 19–30; 420 mg for men 31 and older; 320 mg for women 31 and older. To find out what is right for you, do your research, and then ask your pharmacist, nutritionist or doctor.

Magnesium comes in many forms and doses, including a 1000 mg tablet. I have a good friend who swears by this dose as the occasional cure for insomnia and for getting a great night’s sleep. But since magnesium exits the body through the kidneys, you want to avoid high doses if you have kidney issues. For brain help during the day, I take 250 mg each morning and 500 mg each night of magnesium taurate, which combines the power of magnesium with taurine (another brain booster). I go for the chelated versions—those that end in
ate
such as glycin
ate
, mal
ate
and taur
ate
, versus oxide and chloride versions. It has been shown that the chelation process results in better absorption by the body.
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Simply put, magnesium is my ritual nightcap.

While foods like almonds, sesame seeds, spinach and all green leafy vegetables (which are green because their center is the chlorophyll molecule that contains magnesium) are great sources, changing your diet alone is not going to solve your insomnia or give you better dream retention. Levels of at least 100 mg of B6, 600 mg of calcium (we will cover calcium in a moment) and 300 mg of magnesium are usually needed to produce a result. Since magnesium comes from the ocean floor, my young daughter says it is as if God made the ocean to be one big, relaxing Epsom salt bath. Why didn’t I think of that? (So thanks to my daughter Jenesis, you now know why the ocean is salty.) Maybe this is one of the more scientific explanations for why trips to the beach are so relaxing.

Zinc

The Institute for Optimum Nutrition (ION), one of Europe’s leading providers of nutritional therapy and education (based in Richmond, South West London), published an article on sleep and dreams that cited research from Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, a Princeton researcher with ties to the CIA. The article said,

When researching the signs and symptoms of vitamin B6 and zinc deficiency Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, from the Brain Bio Center in New Jersey, found that an alarming proportion of deficient people couldn’t recall their dreams. After supplementing with B6 and zinc, often in doses as high as 1,000 mg of B6 and 100 mg of zinc, dream recall would return. If they took too much B6 and zinc dreams became too vivid and the person would wake up in the night. B6 and zinc also affected the quality of dreams. . . .

So if you don’t think you dream it’s worth supplementing B6 and zinc gradually increasing the dose up to 500 mg B6 and 50 mg of zinc. (It is best not to take more without the advice of a nutritionist.)
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