Why Do We Dream?

Why Do We Dream?

Leisure Nov 2, 2022 0 4377 Add to Reading List

All of us dream when we fall asleep. Sometimes the dreams are pleasant. We are chatting with friends, eat or have an adventure. Sometimes they are nightmares in which we are falling or beings chased or we have forgotten to study for the test! In Japanese mythology, Baku is a tapir or Malaysian mammal, who devours and nightmares. First, let’s understand why sleeping leads to dreams. The kind of dreams we have depends on how deeply asleep we are and how active our brain is during sleep. There are different stages or phases of sleep. The first is light sleep or dozing. In this kind of sleep, you are not conscious but you are aware of what is going on around you. You can be awakened easily. The second is deep sleep in which you are unaware of what is happening around you and cannot be easily awakened. The stage is the sleep in which you have dreams. Scientists classify sleep into two broad types: NREM and REM. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement) dream sleep stage) and NREM stands for Non-Rapid Eye Movement (deep sleep stage). In NREM sleep, the body rests and the brain also slows down its activity, while in REM sleep, the brain is active, causing dreams. Almost as if we are watching a movie with our eyes closed, the eyeballs move rapidly from the side under the closed eyelids during REM sleep. Dreaming of RE sleep is triggered by the brain. We sleep because the body as well as the brain cannot stop functioning completely. They noticed that an area of the brain called the pons became most active during REM or dream sleep. Scientists have recorded the brain’s electrical activity (firing of brain cells measured in waves on a graph) during sleep, by using a device called EEG. Electrical impulses travel from the pons (P) to activate the geniculate body (G), a small mass of tissue under the thalamus. The waves then enter the occipital lobe(o), the brain centre that deals with visual colour. PGO waves are the reason for vivid dreams during REM sleep. We dream during NREM sleep too, but forget them when we wake up! So, the brain is very busy even when we sleep! Dreaming is one of the signs of a brain that is working properly! Do dreams mean anything? Lots of researchers have tried to interpret dreams! Let’s see what they say. Dreams of forgetting everything during a test, dreams of missing the bus, such dreams are quite common. It is usually because you are not prepared or are worried that you won’t do well or have low self-confidence. The brain is probably advising you to be prepared and confident! If you are thinking about something a lot before you go to sleep, it could appear in your dream! One theory is that when we are awake, our brain receives an overload of information which I can’t process immediately. It makes sense to these while we are asleep, and this is why we dream. Experiences that have affected or worried us in real life may appear in dreams especially if we have been unable to cope with them. Dreams or REM sleep may help our brain organise our memories and thoughts and promote learning. It is known that babies spend about half their time in REM sleep, so scientists think that dreaming helps them learn new things. In an average lifetime, about six years are spent dreaming! However, when you try and learn something new or solve problems when you are exhausted, REM sleep may not enhance memory or learning. One theory which hasn’t been proven is that through our dreams, we try to forget sad and painful memories. Dreaming relaxes and rests the brain both in REM sleep and NREM sleep. There is lots more to know about the mysterious world of dreams! The Austrian psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, published a book in which he wrote that in dreams, we act out of fear or because it is socially unacceptable. For example, in real life, someone may want to go exploring but cannot; in a dream, he may do exactly that! A dream of flying could be a longing to be free. A dream of being a king may be a hidden wish to control others. It’s interesting, that in dreams, we achieve things which are impossible for us in real life! Why does this happen? The theory is accepted by some and rejected by others. Another theory by Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley says that dreams are created when random signals from the brain enter the visual cortex during REM sleep. The brain tries to make sense of these random images and on waking, we remember it as a ‘story’! on looking at beautiful scenery, each person absorbs something different from it. At night, an image of shimmering water may randomly appear in that person’s dream! Other random images will complete the dream and the brain will piece together a ‘meaningful’ story on waking. Our stores of memories and experiences supply the different parts of dreams! Do you dream in full colour or black and white? Most people don’t remember, but their dreams are like colour pictures taken in dim light. In 2008, a US researcher claimed that those who grew up with black and white TV had black and white dreams while those who were born after colour TV came in, dreamed in colour! It is believed that artists and other creative people have more colourful dreams. Close your eyes and imagine a landscape. Do you see it in colour or black and white? It is the same with dreams. You can bring up the details if you consciously think about it! Some scientists believe that the brain renews itself by dreaming and forms new neural connections that aid in remembering and learning. Thus, dreams are not enjoyable but also important for a healthy life. If you do your lessons or learn something new just before you go off to sleep, you will remember it much better when you wake up! Artists, musicians, writers and inventors are often inspired in their creations by dreams. The inventor of the sewing machine, Elias Howe, did not know where to fix the needle. In a dream, he was chased by fierce natives who had spears with a hole in the pointed end! He woke up and realised that a similar needle would work perfectly in his machine! The right half of the brain is the seat of imagination and creativity while the left half is involved with logical reasoning. In dreams, there are signals from both halves of the brain. So, something usually expressed in words is seen visually and something that is usually visually expressed in words in the dream. Dreams communicate important signals to the body. If a person has a stomach upset, he might dream of having one, too! If he has a nightmare that he is being strangled, he might have difficulty breathing when asleep. You may not realise it but your dreams may be a signal from your body about an illness. Whether pleasant or unpleasant most people don’t believe in their dreams. This is because they forget them as soon as they wake up! Can we ever control our dreams and dream of what we like? Yes, there is something called ‘lucid dreaming. External stimuli when you are sleeping may affect your dreams. Sounds around you might also become mixed up in your dream. It’s good to have pleasant thoughts before you go to sleep so that your dreams are happy. Lucid dreaming is a learned technique. In it, you are asleep, but you know you are dreaming and can control what happens in your dream! you can train yourself to wake up during your dream and write it down. So much research has been done but we still don’t know about dreams. But wouldn’t it be great fun to have whatever dreams you wanted?