Every morning, sleep researchers lose an enormous data set as people wake up and have their first cup of coffee.


Nightly dreams go largely forgotten, making the sort of broad questions scientists ask about them difficult to answer. Do the rich dream differently than the poor? Do our nighttime thoughts differ from city to city, or from country to country?


The makers of a new app think they have an elegant solution to not only help people remember their own dreams, but to build a database of these unconscious thoughts that can be shared among friends and used by scientists to gain a better understanding of what we think about when we sleep.


SHADOW, a Kickstarter project[1] launched by Hunter Lee Soik and Jason Carvalho this week, would combine an alarm clock with a dream journal. The app would use an "escalating alarm" to gently and gradually bring you out of a dream into the "hypnopompic state" between sleep and wakefulness during which dreams are best remembered. From there, the app would prompt you to record your dreams by voice or text, so that they can be archived for posterity (or just for your therapist).


The pair is asking donors to choose to contribute toward an iOS, Android or Windows Phone version of the app, with the winning platform to be built first.


Much like fitness or money-management apps born of the "quantified self" movement, SHADOW turns dreams into yet another set of personal data to be picked apart by cloud-based computers. Perhaps you have bad dreams when your bank account dips below a certain amount, Soik suggested. Or maybe you dream pleasantly after taking more than 10,000 steps in a day. Such a digital dreamcatcher, in tandem with other apps, could tease out those patterns.


"We don't really know what's out there because we've never been there," Soik said.


The app's data-gathering potential may also be a dream come true for sleep scientists and dream researchers. Current clinical studies of dreams have maybe a few dozen participants each. An app like SHADOW could offer researchers hundreds or thousands of cases to analyze.


If SHADOW grows large enough, Soik plans to encourage researchers to request and analyze users' dream data, with push notifications sent to dreamers so they can grant permission. SHADOW is taking initial steps toward such a project by signing on six sleep scientists as advisors.


Siok, a former creative consultant on Kayne West and Jay-Z's "Watch the Throne" tour, said he got the idea for the app when he took a six-month break from work and started catching up on his sleep. He found he wanted to write down his dreams, but there was no app on the market to meet his needs, he said.


"It snowballed from me falling back in love with sleep to wanting to have dream app for myself," he said.


SHADOW's default setting keeps all dream data private, but the team hopes to build out a more social network, one that could feed users the number of other people who dreamed about the same topic, say, or snippets from publicly available dreams.


That raises at least one disconcerting prospect: SHADOW might reveal that your dreams aren't that interesting or original after all.





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  • Coffee


    We probably don't have to explain why you shouldn't reach for an espresso at 10 p.m. But, turns out, your afternoon coffee habit can affect you for longer than you'd expect. In fact, that caffeine can remain in your system for hours, making even a 4 p.m. pick-me-up a bad idea. Baron recommends steering clear by the early afternoon. And don't forget coffee-<em>flavored</em> treats, she warns. Your favorite cappuccino-flavored ice cream can give you a surprisingly strong jolt. Of course, you've probably heard that a little tea before bed is a good idea. The caffeine content is smaller than in coffee, and herbal "sleepy time" varieties often contain <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/11/natural-insomnia-remedies-treatment_n_2006136.html#slide=1676375">sleep-promoting herbs like valerian or chamomile</a> that can, indeed, help you nod off.




  • Chocolate


    Even if you know to avoid coffee and strong tea, you might be sabotaging your sleep with sneakier sources of caffeine, like chocolate. Dark chocolate, in particular, can pack a significant punch, says Baron, although it varies by brand. If you like to nibble on a square or two for dessert, you'll probably be fine, she says -- but an entire chocolate bar could have just as much caffeine as a soda. If you wouldn't drink one close to bed, you probably shouldn't indulge in a chocolate bar either.




  • Alcohol


    Baron calls alcohol the "number one drug used for sleep," and it can, indeed, be tempting to unwind before bed with a glass of your favorite adult beverage. But you won't be doing yourself any sleep favors. While it might help you nod off initially, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/25/alcohol-sleep-rem-nonrem-deep-sleep_n_2537405.html">alcohol is disruptive to the later stages of sleep</a>, which are important to memory and motor skills, according to recent research. And while alcohol might fuel deep sleep in the beginning of the night, the second half of your slumber will likely be more interrupted and full of strange dreams, Baron says, leaving you exhausted the next day.




  • Fatty Foods


    You already know they're <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/11/worst-heart-foods_n_2624859.html">tough on your heart</a>, but it turns out that fatty foods might also disrupt your sleep. A 2012 study found that a high-fat diet caused rats to sleep more during the day, an outcome with marked similarities to the daytime sleepiness experienced by many people who are overweight. The rats also had <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/sleep-diet_b_1837250.html">more fragmented, interrupted sleep</a>, wrote Dr. Michael J. Breus in a HuffPost blog. A brain chemical called orexin might explain this relationship, since it's involved in both appetite <em>and</em> regulating the body's internal sleep-wake clock. Earlier research has also suggested a <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071106133111.htm">link between high-fat foods and disruptions to these circadian rhythms</a>. Fatty foods can also lead to a general feeling of discomfort, Baron says, that can make falling asleep tricky. She suggests staying away from any sizable portions, as well as heavy, greasy foods too close to bed.




  • Steak


    "Your body's not designed to be digesting food when it's sleeping," Baron says. Protein presents a particular digestion problem, since it's <a href="http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/ss/slideshow-sleep-foods">harder to break down</a> than other nutrients, according to WebMD. That makes a meat-heavy meal a bad idea if it's too late in the evening. Of course, famed sleep-inducer turkey is also a protein. And while the bird does indeed contain tryptophan, the amino acid itself <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-does-turkey-make-you-sleepy">doesn't actually bring on sleepiness</a>.




  • Spicy Food


    Turning up the heat is a well-known <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/digestion-foods-best-worst-digestive-system-gut_n_2206641.html#slide=1815789">trigger for heartburn</a>, especially if you lie down shortly after ingesting that fiery dish. But a small study suggests there may be something else at work. Researchers examined the effects of tabasco sauce and mustard on healthy men and their sleep. On the nights they ate spicy meals, they had more trouble falling asleep and got less sleep overall. The researchers noted a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/health/17real.html?_r=0">change in body temperature</a> brought on by the spicy meal, the New York Times reported, which can confuse the brain, as <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/cant-sleep-home-remedies_n_1739190.html#slide=1328665">core temperature naturally dips as bedtime approaches</a>.




  • Grapefruit


    However, that doesn't mean acid reflux <em>isn't</em> a problem. Even if you already know to steer clear of spicy foods, fatty foods and heavy meals before bed, there are some more surprising causes of heartburn, like citrus, that also <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/acid-reflux-food_n_2019932.html#slide=1687817">increase the stomach's acidity</a>, and can keep you up at night, Baron explains.




  • Water


    We generally have <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/drinking-water-week-more-water_n_1474999.html">nothing but praise for good old H2O</a>, but there's no denying that too much liquid right before bed is likely to lead to, uh, interruptions, in your sleep. It's a delicate balance between staying hydrated and cutting off your fluid intake, but Baron says limiting fluid intake in the two hours leading up to bed is a good place to start. Foods with a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/24/6-hydrating-foods_n_1297196.html">high water content</a> -- like a slice of watermelon for dessert -- can have you running to the loo, too. And so can that afore-mentioned cup of SleepyTime tea. "How big is that cup?" Baron says she asks patients. "Tea can be part of a nice, relaxing ritual, but if you have it an hour before bed it can have you up and using the bathroom," she says. And if you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night with a dry mouth, consider investing in a humidifier, she says, rather than keeping a glass on your bedside table.