Rubin Naiman PhD – Repairing Jacob’s Ladder: Healing our REM Sleep and Dreams

This presentation uses the archetypal story of Jacob’s Ladder to address dream loss, one of the most critical overlooked issues in consciousness studies and healing. Mounting evidence suggests that much of what is considered sleep loss is actually a loss of REM sleep and dreams. We are, in fact, at least as dream deprived as we are sleep deprived. The epidemic of REM/dream loss, however, is shrouded by medical science’s subsumption of REM/dreaming under the general rubric of sleep, the widespread devaluation of the phenomenology of dreaming, and growing disinterest in dreaming as a therapeutic tool by psychotherapists. This presentation discusses the authors’ review research about the causes and extent of REM/dream deprivation in the U.S. The major factors contributing to dream loss include commonly used psychotropic and anticholinergic medications, endemic reliance on alcohol and cannabis, chronic sleep maintenance insomnia and sleep apnea, and disrupted natural rhythms. Because REM/dreaming mediates memory consolidation, the down regulation of negative emotion, creativity, and the expansion of consciousness, its loss has been linked to memory deficits, mood disorders, and an erosion of the breadth of consciousness. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of “dream hygiene” — strategies for restoring healthy REM/dreaming. Recommendations will focus on both individual and well as clinical and public dream health practices.

RUBIN NAIMAN PhD, FAASM, is a psychologist, sleep and dream specialist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona’s Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Naiman is a pioneer in the development of integrative approaches to sleep and dream disorders, integrating conventional sleep science with depth psychological and transpersonal perspectives. He founded and directed sleep programs at Canyon Ranch and Miraval Health Resorts. He is also the director of NewMoon Sleep, LLC, an organization that offers a range of sleep and dream related services, trainings and consultation internationally. Dr. Naiman is the author of several groundbreaking works on sleep and dreams including consumer books, audiobooks and articles as well as medical book chapters and papers.