Essay on The Nature and Function of Dreams

Anthony Eaton’s a new Kind of Dreaming helps the reader to recognise the various challenges and conflicts that cause the characters to change and grow. Anthony Eaton best expresses Jamie as an outsider that is trying to find his place in the world, while uncovering the secrets of Port Barren’s shady past. This changes Jamie from an adolescent delinquent to a responsible and admirable person. Jaime develops friendships that lead him to trusting and sympathetic qualities that are unusual for him in his past of crime. Jamie faces a challenge to build a stronger relationship with Cameron, but this is an obstacle for Cameron as he tries to understand Jamie and

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.

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

The humankind throughout history has tried to learn and figure out the meaning of dreaming. The interpretations and true meanings of dreams has expanded and has varied over centuries and cultures. Many of the earlier studies were based on culture’s and the interpretation of dreams, but also used as a form of prophecy, inspiration, and guidance. Many people still believe this such, people today beliefs and theories have opened up to a more vast interpretation, they are made up of; dreams are rare brain activity, dreams allow people to reflect on themselves, or that dreams are too massive to be correctly interpret. Although, not a single theory has been proven to this day, science as of why dreams occur is still a mystery.

The best part of a long, hard-working day is when you finally get to lay in your bed, close your eyes and let your imagination run free. As you sleep your mind takes you to another place far away from the real world. You begin to dream. Over the night, you may have several dreams. In the morning, you may wake up and wonder what your dreams were suppose to mean for you and your life. By analyzing your dream, it "gives a true picture of the 'subjective state'-how we really feel about ourselves-which the conscious mind cannot or will not give" (Wietz 289). In order to find the meaning of a dream, you have to pick out the most important symbols and define them. But you may be wondering what exactly is a symbol?

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.

Both Freud and Jung provided important and interesting theories on dreams; encompassing their functions, their roots, and their meanings. Freud looked at dreams as a result of repressed memories, particularly repressed sexual memories from our childhood. Jung however, believed that dreams delved beyond sexual repression during younger years, to other problems, be it trauma, anxiety etc. Jung also believed dreams changed predominately through middle adult years, while Freud believed the opposite. There is little empirical evidence to reinforce either Freud or Jung’s theories, however, their contributions to the study of dreams in psychology cannot be lessened or denied.

What Dreams May Come is a movie about life, loss, death, afterlife and rebirth. The film explores the emotions evoked by a variety of characters when they are faced with coping with tragedy and death. It also delves into the manifestations of heaven and the variety of forms heaven takes in the minds of different people.

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

Dreams are primarily stories and images our mind build while we are asleep. Dreams can make you feel happy, sad or scared. They can be sometimes vivid or sometimes seems

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

Thesis Statement: Dreams are successions of images, emotions, and sensations that occur subconsciously during sleep.

     An individual’s unconscious mind combines bits and pieces of information and places them together. Dreams are almost always visual. “Forty to fifty percent of dreams have some form of communication present in them and a very small percentage of dreams give the dreamer the ability to use his or her five senses”(Encarta). Dreams allow one to take a closer look into their mind in a quest for self-discovery. In ancient Greece dreams were believed to be messages from the gods. Hippocrates and Aristotle believed that dreams contained physiological information that may be cause of future illnesses. Dreams can be used to solve a number of different types of problems. In The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund Freud he states “As regards the dream, all the troubles of waking life are transferred by it to the sleeping

Dreams can occur in other stages of sleep other than REM, but are usually vaguer. We are able to incorporate external sounds into our dreams such as a telephone ringing of thunderstorm. Instead, most active dreaming occurs during REM sleep, when the brain is most active. During REM sleep, signals from the pons travel to the thalamus, which relays them to the cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain that interprets and organizes information from the environment during consciousness and stimulate its regions that are responsible for learning, thinking, and organizing information the pons also sends signals that shut off neurons in the spinal cord, causing

The brain experiences five unique phases during sleep. The fifth stage is REM sleep, which makes up one-fourth of the sleep cycle and begins after 60 minutes of sleep and repeats a few times during the night. REM sleep involves rapid eye movement, relaxed muscles and vivid dreams. During this time, when the body is extremely relaxed, major cell and tissue repair takes place. REM sleep is the ideal time for the immune system to repair the body. However, marijuana affects dreams through harmful sleep disruption.