Why do we dream? What is a dream ?

Why do we dream?

Despite extensive research, we still don't fully understand why people dream. Some of the most well-known theories contend that dreaming gives us a means to express our desires or practise dealing with obstacles while also assisting us in processing memories and emotions.

Dreams are hallucinations that occur during particular periods of sleep.stages. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when you may be less likely to remember your dream, is when they're strongest. Sleep's involvement in controlling our metabolism, blood pressure, brain function, and other elements of health is well understood. The role of dreams, however, has proven more difficult for academics to understand.

Your thoughts have a certain logic to them when you're awake. Although your brain is still functioning while you are sleeping, your thoughts or dreams frequently have little or very little meaning. This may be because emotional rather than logical brain regions are responsible for dreaming.

 

What is a dream ?

The visuals, ideas, and feelings that are experienced while sleeping are included in a dream. Dreams can be incredibly vivid or emotional or they can be incredibly vague, ephemeral, perplexing, or even boring. While some dreams are happy, others are frightful or depressing. While many dreams seem to make no sense at all, other times they seem to have a distinct storyline.

Although there are many unanswered questions regarding dreams and sleep, scientists do know that almost everyone dreams every time they sleep, for a total of roughly two hours each night, whether or not they recall it when they wake up.

Neuroscience once believed that certain brain regions were predestined to carry out particular tasks. However, additional recent discoveries have challenged the preexisting model. The rear of our brain is known as the "visual cortex" since it typically deals with sight; this is because one area of the brain may originally be given a specific purpose. But another task may be given control over that area. The neurons in the visual cortex are ordinary neurons that, in persons with functional eyes, also happen to be involved in processing shapes or colours. These same neurons can, however, reorganise themselves to process different kinds of information in the blind.

 

What triggers dreaming?

What makes people dream? It's a problem for all time.

Experts are mostly in the dark regarding the causes of dreams and their origins.

The prevailing opinion, however, is that dreams function as a "rehearsal" for numerous obstacles and situations that one encounters during the day and consolidate and analyse memories (such abilities and habits).

According to experts, the forebrain produces dreams, whereas the brainstem produces REM sleep. In reality, people with brainstem injuries dream but do not experience REM sleep. Additionally, patients who have had forebrain damage enter REM sleep but do not dream.

However, there is still much to learn about the psychological processes involved in dreams. One study, for instance, contends that imagination, which includes memories, wishful thinking, and abstract ideas, fuels dreams more so than perception (the vivid sensory experiences you collect in your forebrain).

 

Physiological changes that occur during dreams are also largely understood, though not entirely. The majority of dreaming happens during REM sleep, which we alternate between throughout the course of the night. Our brainwaves are practically as busy during REM episodes as they are when we are awake, according to sleep studies.

 

Why do your dreams seem so odd?

Neurotransmitters or other brain substances may be involved. Some become more prominent while others become repressed during REM sleep.

Dopamine and acetylcholine, which maintain brain activation, are more prominent (which some researchers link to hallucinations). Dopamine may contribute to the fantastical nature of dreams.

The neurotransmitters histamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine that typically keep us awake are suppressed during REM sleep. We become less aware of our surroundings as a result.

Some scientists think that when we dream, the thalamus, which serves as the brain's sensory entry point, closes.

 

Assisting Memory: Dreams

The information-processing theory states that sleep enables us to organise and process all of the data and memories that we have gathered over the course of the day. Some dream researchers contend that dreaming is a result of this experience processing, or perhaps an active component of it.

According to this idea, also referred to as the self-organization theory of dreaming, dreaming is a byproduct of the brain's neuronal activity as memories are solidified while we sleep.

8 It has been proposed that memories are either reinforced or weakened during this process of unconscious information transfer. The self-organization theory of dreaming postulates that throughout dreams, valuable memories become stronger while less useful ones go.

 

Dreams Inspire Originality

According to yet another theory, dreams serve as a tool for problem-solving. The unrestricted unconscious mind is free to explore its boundless potential without being restrained by the frequently confining facts of the conscious world, according to this creative theory of dreaming. In fact, studies have proven that dreaming effectively encourages original thought.

The idea that many people effectively mine their dreams for inspiration and attribute their huge "aha" moments to their dreams is supported by scientific studies and anecdotal data.

Making unanticipated connections between memories and concepts that surface in your dreams frequently reveals to be a particularly fruitful field for creativity.