Dreams: A Short Essay: Importance Of Dreams

The study of dreams began in 1953 after Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman discovered REM sleep - a period of rapid eye movement that corresponded with vivid dream recollections (Aserinskiy and Kleitman). Since that time, psychologists have sought out what the biological purpose of dreams was. Dream psychology can be a difficult field of study due to the fact that we have not found an accurate way to record dreams, relying on the subjective recollections of the subject upon waking them up. There are some questions that we can currently answer, such as What is the content of dreams? To begin, we know that dreams vary greatly in length, from a few seconds to twenty minutes and that humans tend

There are various theories as to why we dream, one of them is activation-synthesis hypothesis, proposed by Alan Hobson and Robert McCarley in 1977. The idea is that the specific neuron activity that takes place during REM sleep is synthesized into a plot in the cerebral cortex, and dreams are the brain trying to make sense of the random neural activity that takes place during REM sleep. The oldest theory is of Freud’s psychoanalytic view, dreams are visual representations of suppressed thoughts or unacceptable desires, ideas, aspirations, or memories. The psychoanalytic view tells us each dream is crammed with symbolism and says a lot about the unconscious mind when you interpret them. The interpretations of the dreams are subjective, making

It may be interesting to note that as we sleep, we do not just pass through the five stages of sleep one time - we go through these stages about 4 times throughout the night and normally awaken while in REM sleep. This is the reason that you tend to remember your dream as soon as you are awakened.

Without REM sleep, people can experience hallucinations or “waking dreams,” which can affect their memory, learning, and ability to focus on tasks. Through science it has been proven that dreaming is essential to the prosperity of a human’s mental health and can even improve one’s mood.

Dreaming is yet another state of consciousness. A dream is simply an unfolding episode of mental images that involve characters and events. Dreams usually tend to occur during REM sleep but can occur during NREM sleep as well. We dream on a variety of topics, subjects, and individuals. No dream can be exactly interpreted or defined, therefore people have always been fascinated with what, why, and how we dream. An unpleasant and almost terrifying type of dream is a nightmare. This is a very vivid, almost real

2. Dreammoods.com states that Researchers have found why dreaming is so important and if you do not enter the dream phase it causes irritability and anxiety. They performed a study, where they would wake up a person right before they entered the REM stage, and then let the person fall back asleep, and then wake them up again and do this several times during the night. They repeated this over several nights. They then observed the subjects doing everyday activities and found they were disoriented, crabby, and quick tempered. Dreaming is necessary and helps to recharge the mind and visualize the body.

Dreaming, although a substantial component of our nighttime lives, remains somewhat of an enigma due to the fact that it occurs while we are unconscious. The inaccessibility of the unconscious mind weakens full analysis and comprehension of dreaming which researchers have been attempting to accomplish. However, over the years many researchers have elucidated many mysteries about dreams, such as when we dream, why we dream, and what we dream about, in order to bring forth an understanding of dreams as well as identify

To many people, dreams are the thoughts that occur while sleeping, having almost mystic qualities. For millennia the significance of dreams has escaped even the brightest of philosophers and intellectuals. Many people have speculated about why people dream and what meanings the dreams have but in recent times two theories have gained credibility in answering those questions. The first theory is Sigmund Freuds and the other is known as the cognitive theory of dreams also known as biological determinism.

Nathaniel Kleitman PhD. from the University Chicago, conducted an experiment in which he woke up participants in the middle of the REM cycle, and they recalled more "vivid and bizarre" dreams. The people who were woken during other sleep stages hardly remembered dreaming at all (Ghoyarashi). The part of the brain that produces strong emotions and fears in dreams is called the amygdala, an almond shaped lump in each cerebral hemisphere (Van Der Linden). You can blame nightmares, anger, and desires induced by and during dreams all on the amygdala. The neocortex of the brain, the largest part of the cerebral cortex is what makes dreams feel so real. This part of the brain is what controls sensory perception, or in the case of dreams, the perception of sensory perception. The neurons in this part of the brain is what makes seeing, touching, and hearing in your dreams feel like real life (Van Der

of consciousness, a spot where we hold memories before we move them from short-term to long-

The mental state of sleep and dreams are scientists still don’t know much about why or how we dream. Some have suggested that we typically spend more than two hours dreaming each night. Many people experience their most vivid dreams during REM sleep, less vivid dreams occur at other times of the night. REM sleep is the most vivid of the sleeping dreams.

There is also different parts of the brain that works differently during REM sleep. The left side of the brain is the one with a deep dream. When that is taking place, the right side is unconscious. The emotions people have in their dream comes from the Limbic system which lies on the sides of the Thalamus. The amygdala is part of the limbic system, and it creates one of the emotions called fear. The frontal lobe also takes place during REM sleep. It makes people feel the realness of the dream, and it is the most uncritical.

“The average person spends a total of about six years dreaming - 2 hours each night - although one third of our lives is spent sleeping” (“Dreams”). Everybody that goes to sleep, dreams. Dreams are a huge part of individuals because they experience dreaming every time they go to sleep. However, no one exactly knows what are dreams define. Even though people are aware of their dreams, they do not know when they dream. Dreams are emotions, thoughts, images, and sensations that happen while sleeping. They cannot be controlled, or so many people believe, so not anything that happens in your dreams are in people’s control. Scientists discovered that dreaming happens in rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep. Another thing about dreams is that

Dreams are very unique and many people have theorized about what a dream 's meaning or purpose is, and what affects them. In most present day studies, more vivid dreams have been linked to the stage of sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM dreams are emotional, bizarre, and sometimes so vivid we may confuse them with reality. Most commonly, a dream’s story line incorporates traces of previous day’s experiences and preoccupations. Unless a person is awakened during REM stage of sleep or the dream is exceedingly vivid or intense, most people don’t remember anything about their dreams during REM sleep. This is likely due to the fact that during REM sleep, our brain essentially turns off the ability to encode,or create, new memories.

Dreams have been around as long as the first civilization came to be and have been a normal part of human existence. One third of your life is spent sleeping, and of that third, on average you will have spent a total of about six years of it dreaming. Most people dream on average two hours every night, but you can have anywhere from four to seven dreams in one night. According to research, the most common setting for a dream is in your own house. In our dreams we can do anything we want and be whoever we want to be. Our dreams are an escape from reality. While we dream we are unable to control our actions and choose our surroundings. We let our minds take over. Sometimes dreams can be understood in the context of repressed thoughts. Dreaming serves as an outlet for those thoughts and impulses we repress during the day. When we go to sleep at night and slip into our dream state, we feel liberated and behave in a manner that we do not allow ourselves to in our everyday life. Visions and ides can come from your dreams. Often, authors, screenwriters, and even poets turn to their dreams for inspiration. The think quest oracle library goes on to tell about the most well-known of the modern dream