There are two kinds of sleep which alternate four to five times each night:

* Non-REM sleep: brain is relaxed, but body is active

* REM sleep: brain is actively dreaming, but body is relaxed

During REM sleep, a lot is going on besides dreaming, and rapid eye movement is only the tip of the iceberg. In a man, although he is completely relaxed and unable to move even one muscle, one part of his body, the penis, is moving, becoming hard and erect. This is one of the most important discoveries made in the sleep laboratory, and has led to a very rapidly progressing field in the treatment of impotence.

It has been confirmed again and again in sleep laboratories that men have erections in the dream state during REM sleep. Hence they have several erections a night, corresponding with the several episodes of REM sleep. This is called dream erection and is completely automatic, furthermore, most of the time the dreamer is not aware of the erection. Most men will tell you that they experience a morning erection when they are just waking up from a dream.

Why do men have these dream erections? Do they serve any purpose? No one has so far been able to give a good reason;

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The graph of improvement from nervous illness is not a straight line. It is a graph that leads steadily upward, but at the same time has many minor ups and downs. This is inevitable until the initial improvement becomes consolidated. A very common pattern is one of improvement for a week or so, and then a down—a minor relapse. When this happens it is very easy to think you are right back where you were. But of course you are not. These minor reverses are simply things that we must learn to take in our stride as best we can. We can reassure ourselves in the knowledge that they will become less severe and less frequent until they cease altogether. Of course, I can help patients whom I see personally through these bad patches. In your case, just remember that they are part of the general pattern of getting well, and you will be all right.

Bring Yourself to Like Doing It-The attitude of mind in which you approach your relaxing mental exercises is quite important. It is not a chore that you have to do when you would really prefer to be doing something else. There is no strain about it. Instead there is a feeling of ease. It is something that you like doing. It is something natural, something refreshing, something good; and you look forward to doing it, just in the same way as you look forward to any other pleasant experience.

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