I can relate to seeing the images of organic chemistry reactions when trying to sleep. Radiolab should do a podcast about how the brain constructs maps of one's environment via neuronal signal patterning, very substantive stuff. Acausal consciousness amidst biochemical reactions and the illusory nature of free will, that is the stuff of life (well, for me at least).

John, I don't dream in color, either. My dreams are mostly gray and muted. Oftentimes the faces aren't clear, even when I'm dreaming about someone I know well. Occasionally, a color or two will be vivid in my dream, but that's rare for me.

So does everyone dream I color? I feel left out, it's always dark and colorless in my dreams with shapes and outlines of things. Never any real color. What does that mean?

"Browsing the net never turns up in people's dreams, but tetris does." I have dreams about browsing the net all the time. I'm browsing the net in the dreams and then I don't realize it's a dream until I see a headline that sounds interesting and go "I'll read that" and then realize I can't read anymore because I'm asleep and then I'll wake up.

Very interesting! I'd be curious about organ regeneration/deterioration related to sleep.

Fantastic!
Who produces the music?

What an interesting topic! But unfortunately, those yawns at the end there were quite contagious, and you have me yawning now...you should explore why hearing or seeing a yawn sends someone else into a fit of yawning.

How about the old saying:
" sleep brings sleep".

It has happened to me several times. The more I sleep the more sleepy I am.

So the noise from that sleeping kitten's brain... that's the sound of one cat napping?

Oh man!

Can I EVER identify with the forced sleep deprivation brought about by KIDS. And the thing is that I know I will not achieve regular sleep levels again for the next 2 or 3 years. This just sucks all the pleasure out of the "joys of parenthood" for me.

Personally, I beleive I will hit my parenting stride during my boys' adolecent and teenage years. I'm much better suited for those sets of challenges, because all this sleep deprevation garbage and constant whining is just squeezing the very life-force out of me.

Psychonaut was correct with "Casino Versus Japan" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta7d1Z5-7QU

Try giving their other tunes a listen too.

Related: This was a great episode, as usual. I'm just starting to listen to all of them.

Listened to many episodes already, but just heard this one for the first time... I actually sleep better in hotel rooms than at home (perhaps from touring with bands) and when I'm at home I actually seem to dislike sleep. Whatever that is...

I almost stopped listening to this episode because I cannot stand to listen to crying, screaming, children. Really.

I live in an apartment building with very thin, wooden floors. My neighbors above me don't go to bed until after 3:30 in the morning. I lay in bed listening to their footsteps and curse their existence.

I never thought sleeping could be so stressful.

What is the song at 21min.? That is my question...

I was also struck by the dreamy, downtempo song at around the 40 mark, and Shazam seems to be incorrectly attributing the song to Marilyn Monroe (when I fall in love).

However, I'm almost certain this is a loop from Groove Armada track "At the River", layed over another drum loop. Anyhow, that Groove Armada song is quite dreamily blissful. So if you're looking for the full song of the sample at 40:00, you should feel most of the same effect with Groove Armada track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-uztVX6QFQ&ob=av2nm

Song from dreams section 40 minutes in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta7d1Z5-7QU

I would also like to know the song at 40 mins!

I listened to one of these shows while wearing headphones and fell asleep. I remember dreaming about friends from highschool days meeting in a restaurant, and at some point the class smarty stood to give a toast... he started in, but instantly started reciting an ad for something you guys had on your show about another show... I'd already listened to this show prior to sleeping, and when he made his toast, at first it was funny, the folks at the table laughed, then I realized I'd heard this in the ad, and started to realize that my dream was putting your words I was hearing on the fly, into his mouth... It was like a poltergeist took over his body, but when I realized all this I think that's what fully pulled me to wakefulness; then I tried to scribble all this down, but later, trying to read my sleepy scribblings realized why dream research may be impossible at the level of house-hold funding.

Oh man.... Let me just say that my daughter, who is 20 months old right now, will not sleep. I happened to be listening to the sleep episode the other day while in the haze of sleep depravity, and suddenly felt a little bit better. I can totally relate to Hannah's experiences with children and sleep deprivation. We finally got her to sleep a couple nights in a row and thought she had finally ended her fight against sleep.... Not the case; we battle on!

My daughter lives the "sleep is for the weak" motto, and with the wild schedule of the holidays shows no sign of relenting.

can anybody tell me what song that is at 40 min in? i really like it. also, this was an awesome episode.