Did you ever wake up suddenly because while you were having a dream because your body actually moved a bit? This poor dog was apparently having a running dream when his body kicked in . . . such a rude awakening!
What protects us from physically acting out our dreams and hurting ourselves? The body functions to paralyze itself during REM sleep to protect us from self-damage that would occur if we acted out scenes from our dreams.
[Via hahahaimontheinternet]
Cool video of dolphins blowing air rings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCf7SNUb-Q
I've heard this "paralysis in REM sleep" canard before. I've had many dreams where I was awakened because of some action I took during the dream which resulted in less calamitous impacts than the poor doggie.
Perhaps there's some disorder there? I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea; maybe there's some correlation between sleep disorders and activity during dreams?