What You Should Know About Dreams
Dreams are much more than just the story that our brain tells us at night. Discover the meaning and purpose of this phenomenon.
Have you abruptly woken up in the middle of your sleep, trying to piece the last visual you dreamt about? Whether it was an incredible dream or a terrifying nightmare, I tried to remember every detail of my dreams numerous times. While I have been only successful in doing so a handful number of times, I have always remained inquisitive to learn more about dreams.
As I began to research to satisfy my curiosity, I was surprised to discover that there are many unanswered questions about dreams; it's psychology's very own mystery! Dream research has recently received increased attention as researchers attempt to study this unique phenomenon and understand its purpose. This article examines some of this research by examining the fundamentals of dreams, why we dream, and finally, what they mean.
Shortcuts For The Busy Reader
What Are Dreams?
Dreams are sequences of images, feelings, or thoughts that occur while we sleep, ranging from pleasant and thrilling to boring or frightening. There are various types of dreams. There is the lucid dream, which occurs when you, the sleeper, are aware that you are dreaming; and then there is the nightmare, which is a bad dream that wakes you up from sleep. A recurring dream occurs when you dream about similar imagery and contexts more than once, whereas a vivid dream is a realistic dream that you remember when you wake up.
To better understand dreams, we must first understand some fundamentals about sleep. To begin with, we all do not have consistent sleep during the night. Instead, we alternate between two stages of sleep: non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) and rapid eye movement (REM). We tend to dream in both of these phases; however, the characteristics of our dreams differ in each.
According to the American Psychology Association (APA), our dreams in the non-REM phase are characterised primarily by feelings and thoughts. Our dreams during the REM stage, on the other hand, tend to include vivid visual imagery, intense emotions, believable situations and characters, and sudden irregularities in the characters and dream plot.
Regardless of the content of the dream, the bottom line is we all dream. Even individuals who are born blind or became blind at a young age experience dreams. In fact, experts suggest that blind and sighted individuals have similar forms of dreams, with the former having less or no visual imagery. Their dreams too are story–like and emotionally laden, but instead they involve their other senses such as touch, smell, taste and sound.
Experts also believe that dreaming (especially during REM sleep) is extremely beneficial. Dreaming not only affects our mood and memory, but it also serves as a medium for providing creative solutions to problems we face in our daily lives.
Given the benefits of dreaming and the fact that the majority of us have this experience, let us look into why it happens in the first place.
Why Do We Dream?
While scientists and researchers do believe that there is a reason behind dreaming; there is no consensus regarding its exact purpose. However, some interesting perspectives are out there which are listed below.
a. To Keep the Visual Cortex Active
Neuroscientists David Eagleman and Don Vaughn suggest that certain regions of our brain tend to maintain continuous activity. When activity in these regions slows or stops, other regions tend to take control of the said region. For example, in sighted individuals who are blindfolded, they noticed that the brain circuits are quick to reorganise themselves within a span of one hour, so much so that sensations of touch and sound light up the visual cortex (brain area associated with visual information). This happens even though their blindness is only temporary. Eagleman and Vaughn suggest that by dreaming, we keep the neurons in the visual cortex active, thereby avoiding any takeover by other brain regions.
b. To Process Stress and Emotions
One widely held theory about dreams is that they help us process the stress and emotional experiences we encounter during the day. According to clinical psychologist Micheal Breus, this process helps us reduce psychological load while also being less damaging to our everyday functioning. In some ways, they serve as a form of overnight therapy.
Breus suggests that during REM sleep (where we dream vividly and emotionally), our brain enters a stage known as emotional disinhibition which results due to the shutting down of the brain area related to emotion regulation, memory, and attention (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). As a result of this region being shut down, there is a free flow of emotions and a lack of regulation, allowing us to process them effectively.
So, the next time you go to bed worried about something, remember that your dreams helped you separate the emotional aspects of your experiences, giving you a resolution when you wake up the next morning.
c. To Consolidate Memories
An important part of the formation of memories is the process of consolidation. Memory consolidation is described as the process through which recently acquired knowledge is converted into long-term memory. It is through the help of this process, which we are able to use this new information as a guide for our future behaviours.
Previous studies indicated that this process of consolidation occurs only in the waking brain. However, newer research suggests that with the process of dreaming, we are able to consolidate memories even in during our sleep. This emphasises the importance of dreams in not only strengthening our memories but also improving our ability to recall information.
While these factors provide unique perspectives on why we dream, it is important to remember that they are still theories. Only with more research will we be able to pinpoint the meaning of our dreams. That being said, another captivating aspect of dreams is the content we encounter. What do you think psychology says about the visuals and characters we see?
Do Dreams Have Any Meaning?
Are you curious to know what some of your dreams mean? Well, you are not alone. Dream meaning and interpretation have captivated the minds of many including psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.
Freud was fascinated by the world of dreams, so much so that he ended up writing a book called The Interpretation of Dreams in the year 1899! According to him, dreams provide us with a window into our unconscious mind. He suggested that when we are awake and conscious we are bound by moral constraints; however, in our sleep, we are no longer under the influence of these factors. As a result, through our dreams, we witness the thoughts that we have repressed over a long period.
Carl Jung on the other hand considered dreams to be a medium through which an individual's body/mind/feelings (which he referred to as the psyche) attempted to communicate vital information to them. He was also keen in suggesting that our dreams utilise symbols that make them difficult to interpret. Jung saw dreams as a source of creativity and also stated that dreams could be used to solve problems in one's conscious life through a concept he called "compensation."
Although the work by these psychologists is pioneering, many researchers question the lack of scientific evidence supporting it. In addition to that, uncovering the meaning of one’s dreams can be extremely subjective. I was curious to understand more about this subjective interpretation and wanted to test it out myself.
During my research, I came across several articles that suggested that people frequently dream about falling. After a quick Google search, I discovered that some suggested that dreams of falling could indicate a lack of control in the dreamer's life, others suggested that one must reconsider their choices, and others stated that it reflects anxiety, betrayal, or fear; these results thus highlight that the interpretation of dreams depends on the interpreter.
At the end of the day, trying to learn what dreams mean or not is still an open question that is yet to be answered by the scientific community.
Dreams are an incredible aspect of the human experience. The ability to view visuals and narratives even during one’s sleep is incredibly fascinating. While psychologists are still trying to learn about the purpose and the meanings behind what our dreams mean all we can do is “Keep Dreaming”!
References Langille, J. J. (2019). Remembering to forget: A dual role for sleep oscillations in memory consolidation and forgetting. Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2019.00071 Nejati, V., Majdi, R., Salehinejad, M. A., & Nitsche, M. A. (2021). The role of dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the processing of emotional dimensions. Scientific Reports, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81454-7 Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2013). About sleep's role in memory. Physiological Reviews, 93(2), 681–766. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00032.2012 Siclari, F., Bernardi, G., Cataldi, J., & Tononi, G. (2018). Dreaming in NREM sleep: A high-density EEG study of slow waves and spindles. The Journal of Neuroscience, 38(43), 9175–9185. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.0855-18.2018 Wamsley, E. J. (2014). Dreaming and offline memory consolidation. Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-013-0433-5 Yu, L., Long, Q., Tang, Y., Yin, S., Chen, Z., Zhu, C., & Chen, A. (2021). Improving emotion regulation through real-time neurofeedback training on the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: Evidence from behavioral and Brain Network analyses. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.620342 |
Comentarios