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The dream world is an amalgam of experiences, ideas, and people merging into a strange mass that somehow makes sense in the moment you are experiencing it (or rather, dreaming it). How do dreams happen? What are its benefits for health? Why don't we remember the dream after waking up?
What dreams?
Dreams are images or mental activity that occurs during sleep. You can dream in any stage of sleep, but your most vivid dreams usually occur in REM sleep. This is the period of sleep when your brain is very active, your eyes move quickly behind your closed eyes, and you experience a temporary loss of muscle tone.
When do dreams occur?
Dreams occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.
There are 5 stages of sleep in the sleep cycle:
The first stage: light sleep, characterized by slow eye movement and decreased muscle activity. This stage constitutes 4 to 5% of total sleep.
Stage 2: Eye movement stops and brain waves become slower, with occasional bursts of fast brain waves called sleep spindles. This stage constitutes 45 to 55% of total sleep.
Stage 3: Very slow brain waves called delta waves begin to appear, interspersed with smaller, faster waves. This represents 4 to 6% of total sleep.
Stage 4: The brain produces delta waves almost exclusively. It is difficult to wake someone during stages three and four, which are together called "deep sleep." There is no eye movement or muscle activity. People who wake up during deep sleep do not adjust immediately and often feel disoriented for several minutes after waking up. This constitutes 12 to 15% of total sleep.
The fifth stage: This stage is known as rapid eye movement. Breathing becomes more rapid, irregular, and shallow, the eyes shake rapidly in different directions, and the muscles of the limbs become temporarily paralyzed. The heart rate increases, and blood pressure rises. When people wake up during REM sleep, they often describe strange and illogical tales, and these are dreams. This stage represents 20 to 25% of the total sleep time.
What causes dreams?
Brain scientists aren't sure why humans dream in the first place, but they think it has something to do with memory.
Dreaming may help the brain get rid of any unnecessary information or memories while processing and storing what is important. Some people feel refreshed after sleeping and dreaming, even if they do not remember the dream.
People are more likely to remember the last dream they had during their sleep cycle.
Vivid dreams can be positive or negative, realistic or imaginary. Scientists know that most heavy dreams occur during rapid eye movement sleep. The REM sleep cycle usually occurs every 90 minutes during a night's sleep and may last 20 to 25 minutes.
Why do we forget dreams so easily?
Most people have difficulty remembering dreams. One theory to explain this is that we're not supposed to remember dreams. REM sleep takes about an hour or two of our total sleep time, so if we remember everything our brains come up with in that amount of time, there won't be room in memory for the other things we need to store while we're awake.
Your brain may choose what to forget during a dream. A 2019 study explained that neurons that produce melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) appear to impair the memory-making function in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus during REM sleep.
The goal is to prevent information overload in the brain. When melanin cells are activated, this may prevent the dream content from being stored in the hippocampus - which is part of the brain - and thus, the dream is quickly forgotten.
Melanin-concentrating hormone is a molecule linked to the control of sleep and appetite.
What is the function of dreams?
Dr. Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley, says dreaming may help us emotionally process painful experiences to gradually reduce the pain associated with them over time, according to a report on the University of California, Santa Barbara website.
This means that dreams may help us relive negative events without having to bear the relentless emotional burden. Perhaps this is why traumatic events and anxiety during the day often appear in our dreams.
Dr. Robert Stickgold, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, says dreaming is a mechanism used to modify memory and emotions from past experiences. This theory may explain why we mix up new and old memories in most of our dreams. In other words, dreams help us adapt to our changing relationship with the world around us over time.
Dreams help with memory function
When we are asleep, there is an extensive restructuring of memories including the association between memories (new and old) and the forgetting of unimportant memories. This process enhances memory, which helps us function better after a night's sleep.
Dreams and creativity
Dreams have been a source of inspiration for many artists and creative thinkers. Countless song lyrics and novels have been inspired by the same images we unconsciously create during REM.
Types of dreams
1- “Vivid Dreams”
Vivid dreams are a dream that the sleeper witnesses and is clear and realistic and interacts with it with all his feelings. Vivid dreams are like watching a high-definition movie, everything feels real and immersive.
2- “lucid dreams”
In this type of dream, the sleeper is aware that he is dreaming, that what he sees is not reality and that he is sleeping, and he may have the ability to control the course of the dream.
3- Nightmares
Nightmares are disturbing dreams that make the person feel a number of disturbing emotions.
Causes of vivid dreams
Stress or anxiety.
Sleep disorders.
pharmaceutical.
Health disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia, with vivid dreams. Physical illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer, have also been associated with vivid dreams.
Early pregnancy: Pregnancy can lead to changes in the body’s hormone levels, sleep patterns, and emotions. Many pregnant women say they experience lucid dreams, especially during the first days of pregnancy.
Is it normal to have vivid dreams almost every night?
Having a lucid dream every now and then is nothing to worry about. However, if you are having lucid dreams every night, you may want to talk to your doctor to see if there is an underlying condition that may be causing these dreams to occur with such regularity.
How long does the dream last?
It is difficult to determine how long a dream may last. But experts can provide estimates about how long you might spend dreaming.
According to the National Sleep Foundation in the United States, the average person dreams 4 to 6 times a night. This means he may spend up to two hours in dreamland, according to a report in Healthline.
How many dreams do we have per night?
It is almost impossible to quantify the number of dreams you have on a typical night.
To make matters more complicated, you may have dreams but wake up and not remember them.
Do we dream in black and white or in color?
Some people dream in black and white. Age may be a factor. Younger people who watched more black-and-white TV appeared to dream more often in grayscale than younger people who grew up with full-color media, according to a 2008 study.
Interpretation of dreams
Determining the meaning of dreams is a big question, which doctors, researchers and scientists are still trying to answer. But Dr. Michelle Drape of the Cleveland Clinic emphasizes that dream interpretation is a personal matter. “This is what I always tell people,” she says. “The meaning you attribute to the dream is going to be much more important than anything I attribute to the dream... because it is most likely something from your life that is represented in that dream.”
For example, Dr. Dripp points out that you may have the same dream as someone else, but your dream will be more representative of what you personally experience. For example, if someone recently lost their job, a particular dream about not being able to find their shoes might mean something completely different to them compared to someone who recently went through a divorce.
The doctor says: “For example, dreaming that you are pregnant - in other words, engaged in a new life - is also personal. This could happen when you are trying to get pregnant or if you are pregnant and have a miscarriage. Or maybe not. It is much more than what this dream means to you. "Your dream of pregnancy can be much more than, 'I'm starting a new career.' A new life, in a sense. The dream can mean a lot of different things."
Although the experiences you experience in a dream may be based on realistic events, this does not mean that your dreams are always realistic. The person may be disfigured in the dream, or in a situation or place where he would not normally be, and Dr. Draib says: What does that mean? It's not clear.
However, sometimes even the strangest dreams have logical explanations. Dreams about your teeth falling out can occur because you grind your teeth during your sleep, a condition called bruxism. “This dream is a sign of psychological stress,” says Dr. Drape.
What can dreams of being chased mean?
You may dream that you are being chased after watching an intense horror movie or after the neighbor's dog lunges at you. These dreams are unlikely to become recurring or disturbing.
On the other hand, a recurring dream of being chased may mean that you:
You are worried about something.
Experiencing increased or constant stress.
Worried about an upcoming event.
The desire to avoid something you would rather not face.
Overwhelmed with responsibilities.
How to reduce disturbing dreams that disturb your sleep?
The following are tips for getting restful sleep and reducing the risk of disturbing dreams or nightmares:
Don't eat, exercise, or do anything strenuous in the hour before bed.
Relax by doing soothing activities before bed.
Learn some deep breathing exercises and other relaxation techniques.
Keep stressors such as work, clutter, and electronics out of the bedroom.
If you wake up feeling stressed after a dream, leave the bedroom until you feel sleepy again.
If you frequently have stress-related dreams, it may be helpful to consider the role of stress in your life. Prolonged stress affects health, both physically and mentally.
If you're not sleeping well or can't deal with anxiety on your own, see a doctor. Nightmares can sometimes be a symptom of a sleep disorder. A therapist may be able to help you deal with the feelings caused by persistent nightmares.
Causes of nightmares
Dr. Draib says nightmares are usually associated with a variety of conditions, such as:
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Stress and pressure.
Psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Is it normal not to dream?
Dr. Drape says there is a rare condition called Charcot-Wilbrand syndrome. Where a person does not dream at all. This dream loss occurs after focal brain damage (usually a stroke) and is specifically characterized by your loss of the ability to mentally remember (or "re-visualize") images.
However, most people dream, but do not remember them. “People will say, ‘I don’t dream at all, because I don’t sleep well.’ That’s not necessarily the case,” Dr. Draib explains. “Just because you don't have dream content doesn't mean you're not dreaming. We usually don't remember our dreams unless we wake up from them.”
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies