Sleep and Dream Final by Faith Lokey

Why do we sometimes have a hard time falling or even staying asleep? It could be an underlying sleeping disorder, or it could be as simple as your body temperature. Your body must drop two degrees fahrenheit to even be able to fall asleep. Scientist have suggested taking a hot bath before bed to release all your hot body temperature, or even sleeping with less clothing on.

A lot of people think that smoking marijuana helps them sleep. You never hit REM 
sleep, which is the stage of sleep that you dream. This also means that you never give your brain and body time to heal and repair itself. People who smoke daily, then decide to stop for a day or two will experience crazy dreams that are extremely vivid. 
 Alcohol is another method some people believe helps you sleep, but it just sedates you. Yes, it allows you to sleep but it never lets you hit REM sleep. When people get drunk and sleep for a long time, they will have very vivid dreams which is called REM sleep rebound effect. This happens when the alcohol leaves your kidneys and liver and is craving dream sleep, so it causes you to have crazy dreams. 
Another substance that people use to sleep is melatonin. People think that it helps you sleep but it is just a placebo. Study shows that the only time melatonin will help you sleep is when you have jet lag or if you're traveling. People who take this medication every night think it helps them sleep, but it does nothing to enhance sleep. But hey, if all you have to do is take a natural pill to trick your brain to think it helps you sleep, maybe it is worth taking

             
So many people think they will be okay running off a few hours of sleep, but truth be told nobody can get less sleep and still be healthy. A man that receives less than five hours of sleep every night, ages physically by ten years. They could be forty years old but on a health level they are fifty. Not only does it affect you physically, it affects you mentally as well. 
Research shows that with a night of good sleep, you perform on memory tasks and you retain information better. Have you ever had someone tell you to sleep on a problem that you were having? It helps, because that sleep will give your brain time to process and retain everything in that problem. If you are learning a new task, you learn 20% more of it while you sleep. Sounds crazy right? Sleep also repairs our organ system, which include our muscles, immune system, and hormones. 
The brain can do incredible things, but we have to give it the rest it needs to function properly. We cannot expect our bodies to heal, retain information, or keep our immune systems in check if we do not get adequate sleep. Here is a podcast that i found that goes further in depth with everything sleep and dream related. If you're interested, then definitely check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig
Questions:
1.Does alcohol help you sleep?
2.How many degrees does your body temp need to drop to be able to sleep?
3.Is melatonin a placebo?
4.Men who get less sleep at night age by how many years?

Discussion:
1. Why is it a common thing for people to believe marijuana helps us sleep?
2. Why has society made melatonin a "sleeping pill" if it is just a placebo?

Post i commented on:
https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/11/philosophy-of-yoga-six-branches-of-yoga.html?showComment=1575661077649#c8369351740239413980

https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2019/12/philosophy-of-social-work.html?showComment=1575661291429#c1781487634313905637