Mind over Chemicals

[Nebulae]

I just found out the medication I am on significantly reduces REM sleep. I guess thats why I never ever remember any dreams.. I cannot come off this medication at this point in my life what do I do? Can the Will the dream override the chemicals actions?

[imported_Berserk_Exodus]

Doesn't leave out OBEs does it?

[gameover]

Mind over matter. Definately. Don't let it stop you. Just take some b-6 to counter and keep on dreamin.

[Alric]

Now I am not sure but I think you will have REM sleep no matter what. I am pretty sure your body needs REM sleep.

[Gothlark]

Yeah, you will have some REM sleep otherwise you'll go insane. But you may have a difficulty with getting as much as usual and becoming lucid.

[O'nus]

I have always thought of the mind as very individual, but it is theoris like this that perpetuate epistemology. The fact is, external influences are the catalyst to chemical reactions throughout the body. The truth is that, a majority of the time, everything you think and feel is imparted by external influences happening in your surroundings. The temprature, what you are wearing, what people are doing around you, they all make differences on what you feel. The whole endocrine system and adrenaline is induced and utilised when a horrific event occurs. The very basis of carnivals and theme parks proves themselves that external influences are the catalyst to a majority (if not all) of the bodies chemical reactions. ~

[theroguechemist]

^^^ What he said! heh. Very well written O'nus! I don't believe the will to REM sleep // dream can override your medication, especially when it's in a fragile time such as sleeping when you are in a seemingly lesser state of mind with some portions of your brain inactive (Is this a good guess? As in.. like your will would mean nothing because there's no faculty to support this will at the time..) Plus, you're dealing with , ha, like chemicals and processes in your body with your 'willpower'. Can one stop their heart by willpower? Can one prevent the release of gastric intestinal fluids in their body by willpower? Meh, this is interesting. Botanist >> Life Sciences

[sorewahimitsudesu]

Originally posted by theroguechemist Plus, you're dealing with , ha, like chemicals and processes in your body with your 'willpower'. Can one stop their heart by willpower? Can one prevent the release of gastric intestinal fluids in their body by willpower? * Meh, this is interesting. Botanist >> Life Sciences I've read somewhere/heard of people who can stop their hearts, or at least slow their hearbeat by just thinking about it. SO THERE!

[O'nus]

Originally posted by sorewahimitsudesu+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sorewahimitsudesu)</div> <!--QuoteBegin-theroguechemist Plus, you're dealing with , ha, like chemicals and processes in your body with your 'willpower'. Can one stop their heart by willpower? Can one prevent the release of gastric intestinal fluids in their body by willpower? * Meh, this is interesting. Botanist >> Life Sciences I've read somewhere/heard of people who can stop their hearts, or at least slow their hearbeat by just thinking about it. SO THERE! [/b] Why would someone want to do that? Usually because they are depressed, right? Because their outside external enviroment does not make them happy? Thus, making the reasoning external.

[gameover]

Ive had a fast heart rate recently and learned how to slow it down without chemicals.

[sorewahimitsudesu]

Originally posted by O'nus+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(O'nus)</div> Originally posted by sorewahimitsudesu@ <!--QuoteBegin-theroguechemist Plus, you're dealing with , ha, like chemicals and processes in your body with your 'willpower'. Can one stop their heart by willpower? Can one prevent the release of gastric intestinal fluids in their body by willpower? * Meh, this is interesting. Botanist >> Life Sciences I've read somewhere/heard of people who can stop their hearts, or at least slow their hearbeat by just thinking about it. SO THERE! Why would someone want to do that? Usually because they are depressed, right? Because their outside external enviroment does not make them happy? Thus, making the reasoning external.[/b] Maybe they just want to show off?

[Gothlark]

I believe that is a form of meditation. The reason they do it is to get more deeply relaxed and need less oxygen aswell. That's what I think at least. EDIT: Like gameover said, for fast heart rates aswell.

[O'nus]

First, why would someone want to show off by killing themself? Even if it is to show off, doesn't that mean then that an external influence is causing them to try and display their abilities to a certain group of people or person? Second, meditation and all other forms of somatical control and induced by calming one self and coping with their surroundings. The whole concept of meditation is to come to accept your surroundings and come to peace with external influences; to feel content with pelting rain, to feel comfortable with water brushing up against you on the shore, to be able to tackle lifes problems with an open, logical mind. In order to let oneself be able to analyze and come to a reasonable resolve with any discrepancy, one must not allow the external influences cause such reactions within their body (get so angry that they just want to break things, allowing their adrenaline get out of hand). We are now breaching the theory of knowledge, in which case, I might have to soon pull out of the controversial effect of the subject, as it is a paradox, as it is philosophy. ~

[sorewahimitsudesu]

Originally posted by O'nus First, why would someone want to show off by killing themself? *Even if it is to show off, doesn't that mean then that an external influence is causing them to try and display their abilities to a certain group of people or person? Some people are stupid. Why do you have to think everything a person does is because of an outside influence? People can choose to do things on their own, not everyone is so dependent.

[O'nus]

Originally posted by sorewahimitsudesu+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sorewahimitsudesu)</div> <!--QuoteBegin-O'nus First, why would someone want to show off by killing themself? *Even if it is to show off, doesn't that mean then that an external influence is causing them to try and display their abilities to a certain group of people or person? Some people are stupid. Why do you have to think everything a person does is because of an outside influence? People can choose to do things on their own, not everyone is so dependent.[/b] I'm mostly playing the devils advocate in this thread bringing up the conflict of epistemology (theory of knowledge) when it comes to how much free will a person really has. Of course, there is the thought that how we react, and how we choose to express our reactions, is in part how we develop as a human being. Our personality and character is composed of the decisions we make and how we choose to react to those external influences. It is simply that it can be argued that these reactions and decisions are cognitive; that we are reacting appropriately to how we have seen other people react in the same situation. Think of how you learn to do anything, you usually read someone else's text, or follow a demonstration, or listen to someone's lecture. In the matter of our own decisions as a human being, it can be boiled down to how we interacted with our parents and how we were potty trained. How you interacted with your parents as a child is generally where the quintessential traits for social interaction are developed. Also, there are thousands of chemicals involved in slowing down the heart. The concept is to breath slowly, calm oneself, and gradually decrease the speed of the endocrine system which stimulates the blood flow throughout the heart. ~

[loose id]

My second major in college was physiopsychology, and we learned about a lot of the neurotransmitters and their effects on behavior, concentration, and emotion. Let's see (grocery list), ya got acetylcholine atropine norepinephrine dopamine seratonin those are the chief players. cigarettes - dopamine and acetylcholine. sex - norepinephrine and seratonin a lil bit, dopamine during certain times. marijuana - mostly dopamine, belladonna/nightshade - atropine (don't play with fire boys and girls), syrian rue - oxidase inhibition, or something like that... anyhoo, with all of the different combinations of these chemicals and how the levels of these chemicals can be manipulated (agonists, antagonists, GABA inhibition and shit) there's one thing we learned the very first day that always struck me... the placebo effect. a small amount of people will report elevated boost in moods or other effects (some will suffer from severe lethargy and whatnot) just because they believe that they will have these effects. as if the human will can do all sorts of things to his/her psyche and physical well being, just by believing. Now, what has baffled me is why scientists have all of these experiments and they attempt to control for the placebo effect. I personally want to know more about the placebo effect and how people can be healed/harmed entirely by their own will. that, I think is the key to human discovery. science f---ed up there in my opinion when they discovered this placebo effect and said "wow, the human mind can act as a confounding variable... we gotta be able to rule that out when we do these experiments. now, what dumbass finished the coffee without making anymore?"

[lord soth]

i can sorta slow down my heart, no chems or anything.... just have to hear the heartbeat, like when you are asleep and you can feel it in your body.....if you really feel, you can concentrate on indevidual parts of your body, if you are thinking of your ear, it will start beating.. or at least feel like it, anyway, so you pay attention to one part, and then try to stop it.... the first few times i did this I got kinda scarred that my heart would just stop beating.... so i couldnt REALLY slow it down i am better at it now.... freeswimmers, as they call themselves use this to slow down their heart rate so they conserve oxygen so that they can stay under longer