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Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

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Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#151
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting! When you say executive functions, could ADHD be linked in a way to this? When I "zone out" it feels like REM dreaming while awake.

Oh, um, that’s interesting. I have found I can make myself dream while awake in a way... I use relaxation techniques on myself all day and it’s actually a bit frightening what you can make your own brain do... What happened to me is I became more openminded, more fluent in my writing, more daring in my choices, and actually also more socially aware... I can only compare it to eating the forbidden fruit of the garden…

It shouldn’t take paragraphs to say that amphetamine salts feel good and make you masturbate for long periods of time.

What egoless person spends this much time talking about themselves to strangers? It seems logically contradictory.

Good luck and maybe consider seeing a therapist and show them these posts.

Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#152
post #83
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the worst side effects of cannabis :[ I miss dreaming and REM sleep. feelsbadman

I starting dreaming again after years since I stopped watching porn. Took me a bout a week of abstinence. There seems to be some merit to nofap. Might be placebo, but so far I'm not complaining.

Don't know if you meant literally, but no-porn should not imply no-fap. In general I think porn can be detrimental to a healthy sexuality.

Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#153

> Decreased alpha power is a particularly consistent finding in neuroimaging research with psychedelics7,8,11. Alpha is the most prominent rhythm of the resting-brain, particularly in humans, and particularly in adulthood30. Alpha has been linked with high-level psychological functioning31,32, top-down predictive processing18,33 and related feedback connectivity34 - all of which have been found to be disrupted under…

We use stories to simplify complex phenomena across time so that the known and attributable can be morphed and composited with the novel and new, leveraging heavier primal ones (collective subconscious structures as the strongest symbols) into something approachable. Dreaming seems to be mechanistically important to survival.

It's interesting to map out that our predictive tooling (from primal emotion to top executive function) is pretty good so that we appropriate the "right" amount of energy against constantly monitoring our surroundings. The higher we go the more energy it requires.

There's a weird relationship between coffee and sleep, or I make the leap to say any substance which have lasting effects on mood. It sort of offsets against the deeper primal moods and corollary activations. I argue that caffeine in this manner is pro higher-mental function through disrupting this summating sleep process (letting you naturally figure it out) and letting your brain attribute "= good mood" to it all. (humans are terrible at knowing how they felt at some point in time when the current is different).

Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It has changed me for the better. Is that the old you saying that, or the new you?

A bigger question is what was that 'you'. Was it the ego? Was it my sense of self? We keep changing throughout our lives. But psychedelics are more than just a life changing experience. AFAIK, it's the only way to experience ego death. The dissolution of self can remind you of the transient nature of things and lead you towards spirituality. The good or bad aspect should be judged from that perspective rather than yo…

I have never come close, but the practice of meditation seems to be bring people there, or close.

Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#155
post #55
post #50

I've had my own dreams while awake, the key is to stay aware while you are going to sleep.. Everyone knows the state between sleeping and awake, its great. But to go to sleep while still conscious, is like advanced meditation. I've had similar experiences during meditation. The world around you merges into a dream-like state, but it all seems to feel more real than the world we usually experience while awake. Dreams…

One often mentioned trick is to look for stuff to read if you think you are in a dream - street signs and other text tend not to make a lot of sense (the brain falls behind GPT2 in that regard).

If there is no text around, just look at your fingers.

Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#156

I really want to try DMT but terrified to do that without professional help nearby e.g. on an Ayahuasca retreat. I have experienced both LSD and shrooms but have heard DMT is on another level.

Smaller doses of DMT are also enjoyable. You can mix a bit with some tobacco, roll it into a cig and smoke it slowly. It wont take you to the level of ego death but will give you a feeling of the effects while you still maintain full control of the trip.

Edit: This works when you smoke changa. I never tried it pure so I don't know how well that would work in a cig.

Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#157

> Decreased alpha power is a particularly consistent finding in neuroimaging research with psychedelics7,8,11. Alpha is the most prominent rhythm of the resting-brain, particularly in humans, and particularly in adulthood30. Alpha has been linked with high-level psychological functioning31,32, top-down predictive processing18,33 and related feedback connectivity34 - all of which have been found to be disrupted under…

Not to be disparaging but you have written a pdf alone that has not been refereed in an academic publishing setting. Calling it a paper in this context would seem to imply otherwise.

Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#158
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You only have to quit for a few days and the dreams will come back. After a week and you'll have some nights that are almost entirely dreaming.

I found they not only came back but after a week of no weed, for a week or so the dreams were really vivid, then after awhile settled into a more "normal" (what I'm used to) state.

Yes; that's almost universally reported by all regular cannabis users. Extremely vivid dreams (or nightmares, depending on the user).

Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#159
post #157

> Decreased alpha power is a particularly consistent finding in neuroimaging research with psychedelics7,8,11. Alpha is the most prominent rhythm of the resting-brain, particularly in humans, and particularly in adulthood30. Alpha has been linked with high-level psychological functioning31,32, top-down predictive processing18,33 and related feedback connectivity34 - all of which have been found to be disrupted under…

Not to be disparaging but you have written a pdf alone that has not been refereed in an academic publishing setting. Calling it a paper in this context would seem to imply otherwise.

Knowledge doesn't need an entry pass to be passed around in an open forum unless it's too crowded. HN has a fine signal to noise ratio.

Re: Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG

#160
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Matthew Walker (Berkeley researcher on sleep), it does affect sleep. See this small clip, starting at 2:14. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lRp5AC9W_F8

The previous comment is still correct: even without weed we dream a lot and don’t record most of it. Alcohol in our system at bed time impacts sleep as well. We’re consciously at rest (or blacked out from over consumption if that is ones thing) but our body is busy metabolizing. Poor signal, YouTube isn’t loading. Not sure if the clip is similar, but as I understand it recording a dream and restless sleep from metabo…

Indeed, in general we are not aware of how much we dream, because we don't remember. I should have specified better.

Weed and alcohol specifically suppress REM sleep, where most of dreaming happens.

Suddenly stopping weed or alcohol leads to a REM rebound, and people experience very vivid dreams. This association suggests they were actually not dreaming much before.

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