Can one's physical constitution be seen from dreams? Are people who often have nightmares more prone to kidney deficiency?
Modern medical research on dreams has confirmed that dreaming is not exclusive to some people, but a physiological activity that accompanies everyone throughout their lives. It is the third state of brain activity, situated between sleep and wakefulness. Dreams account for about 1/5 of a person's sleep time. Due to different causes, frequencies, and contents of dreams, they vary widely, forming physiological and pathological dreams.
Sleep talking refers to speaking or making sounds other than snoring during sleep, with no memory of it upon waking. It is considered a type of sleep disorder. Modern medicine suggests it is related to psychological factors and often occurs alongside nightmares and sleepwalking. Many people occasionally experience sleep talking, which is not a cause for concern. However, if it occurs too frequently, it can lead to daytime fatigue, listlessness, and may also affect the sleep of one's spouse and children, in which case medical treatment should be sought.
The cause of nightmares is often due to "Yin deficiency and fire flourishing." "Yin deficiency" refers to kidney Yin deficiency, and "fire flourishing" means heart fire flourishing. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), insufficient kidney Yin leads to excessive heart fire, causing symptoms like nightmares, insomnia, palpitations, dizziness, and sometimes lower back pain. Therefore, your nightmares are mainly related to kidney deficiency.
In daily life, it's important to nourish kidney Yin. You can take Qi Ju Di Huang Wan for a long period. Because of kidney Yin deficiency, it's also crucial to balance work and rest and avoid overexertion. Maintain a light diet, eat less spicy and "heat-inducing" food, and consume more "fire-clearing" foods like lily bulbs and lotus seeds.
From a TCM perspective, it is generally believed that excessive sleep talking is caused by excessive "fire" in the body's organs. The content of sleep talking also varies depending on which organ's fire is the cause.
Those with liver fire excess often talk about arguments and demands for fairness. Those with heart fire excess have varied and chaotic sleep talking content and may suddenly wake up startled. If the fire is caused by eating too much "heat-inducing" food, the sleep talker might discuss eating and drinking with others in their dream, or complain of chest tightness and discomfort. "Heart-mind unrest" can also lead to sleep talking, with the content often being sorrowful crying, accompanied by tense and frightened facial expressions and movements.
Therefore, it is recommended that you and your spouse visit a doctor to describe the sleep talking behavior and process in detail, and cooperate with examinations and treatment. Additionally, those who talk in their sleep must learn to relax and manage mental stress in daily life to improve sleep quality and reduce sleep talking.
Daydreaming is a psychological activity with imaginative情节 that occurs during a waking state, such as fantasizing about winning the lottery during a work break or dreaming of being in a long-desired destination. A study from Dartmouth College in the U.S. showed that when subjects daydreamed, their brains appeared to be "at rest," but were actually quite active.
To solve sleep talking, one must achieve a state of absolute mental relaxation. Therefore, it's important to relax your mind before bed, and crucially, don't let your thoughts wander. The brain does not completely rest after a person falls asleep; on the contrary, it becomes more active. This is why many people exhibit behaviors like sleep talking and sleepwalking after falling asleep.
The latest research from British scientists has found that both too much and too little sleep is detrimental to health. The optimal sleep duration should be controlled between 7 to 8 hours per day.
According to a report from AFP, British expert Jane Ferris from the London School of Medicine and Hygiene investigated 10,308 people aged between 35 and 55. The results showed that for those habitually sleeping 6 to 8 hours a day, reducing sleep time could increase their risk of death from cardiovascular disease by up to 110%. For those habitually sleeping 7 to 8 hours, increasing sleep time could raise their risk of death from non-cardiovascular diseases by up to 110%.
Ferris said, "Our research results indicate that sleeping continuously for 7 to 8 hours each night is most beneficial for health." Sleeping for more than 8 hours a day increases the risk of illness and death.