Why do We Dream?
Why do we dream?
Dreams have become one of the most mysterious aspects in a man’s life. These scenes and images that we see when we sleep are often fascinating, confusing and weird and they all seem real, too. However, the biggest question that we all have is why do we dream.
There has yet been no explanation, backed with real evidence, as to why a person dreams. Some experts believe that people dream because our minds are trying to weave some new material in our memory. Dreaming can reduce the arousal of one’s emotions and can thus help in adapting in stressful situations and events.
Another theory as to why people dream is that unconscious thoughts are trying to find their way into our awareness since they are not expressed outright. Those who are interested in dream interpretation also think that dreams can help in deciphering the future and other unforeseen events.
Sometimes, external stimuli may also affect the way our brains work while we sleep. A song on the radio that becomes incorporated into our dreams may be a good example for this theory. Dreams may also be a way for the brain to clean out clutter so that it becomes refreshed in the morning.
Dreams happen during REM, or rapid eye movement, sleep. It is said that we are able to exercise synapses between brain cells during this phase of our sleep and thus, we tend to dream. The real reason as to why this phenomenon happens is still yet to be discovered. While we still do not know what causes dreams, remembering and interpreting the images and scenes can be a fun pastime. They can be a good way to escape reality for a while as our dreams often contain things that we have all always wanted to happen to us.
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There is another chain of thought about dreams that says our subconscious mind is trying to communicate with our conscious mind. But in our everyday waking life we have little time for it. So during sleep our subconscious mind can present all the stuff it wants to. The subconscious mind is more primitive, and literal in its information to us, but it is also the seat of inspiration and ideas and creativity. So sometimes it can make connections that seem to predict the future; and at other times it can present the solutions to a problem we are facing; or sometimes it can warn us of health problems, etc. There is still much scientists do not know about sleep, but one thing they all agree upon: if we did not dream, we would go crazy, and eventually die. The REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage in sleep is where the deep rest cycle occurs too, not just the dreaming part, and without relieving the body of deep stress, physiological problems would amass to the breaking point. It wouldn’t take very long, either, probably a few months to a year at most. A mental nervousness and fatigue would be the first, followed by the body slowly shutting down.