How pleasant it is to lie down in your soft and comfortable bed after a hard day. Cover yourself with a blanket, invigorate the pillow and sleep peacefully. The working day ends at this moment, but another life is just beginning. In this life, any of us can be a superhero, a millionaire, an athlete, or just an observer. You can live life or watch it. It also happens that you can fall asleep again or, on the contrary, wake up abruptly. All this is possible in a dream. But where do they come from, why do we need them and should we take them seriously? Everyone has their own opinion and we will definitely talk about it in the comments. For now, let's just discuss interesting facts and scientific explanations for what is associated with dreams.
What are dreams
To study any phenomenon you need your own science. Sleep also has it. It's called somnology. Only this science studies the dreams themselves, but only the physical state of a person's sleep. It is dreams that the science of oneirology studies.
Now we are more interested in the dreams themselves than in the physiological process. After all, it is dreams that make our nights interesting. Although, dreams do not dream all night, but only during certain periods. For further convenience in the article and in order to use more familiar words, we will call dreams in the old fashioned way.
Scientifically speaking, the pictures that we see when we sleep are subjective images that arise in the mind of a sleeping person. It is in the mind! This is another proof that even when sleeping, a person is conscious and does not lose touch with the outside world. When the body is immersed in a state of sleep, brain activity is only 10–15% less than when awake. In this state, he is engaged in the restoration of the body, organizes memories and adjusts all systems.
Where do dreams come from?
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There are many theories and hypotheses about where dreams come from. One thing is clear for sure - dreams are generated by our brain. Why he does this, we will figure it out a little later.
After falling asleep, the brain switches to a slightly different mode of operation. In it, he scrolls through all the information that passed through him during the day. Something is stored in deeper layers of memory, something is thrown away. As a result of this activity, dreams are manifested.
Remember this element from the movie "Inception"?
Scientists have found that while dreaming, the most active zones are those that are active during the day. Among them, the occipital region (associated with visual perception) and the parietal region (responsible for processing sensory information)
Why do dreams
The process of the appearance of dreams is more or less sorted out. Now let's understand what they are for at all. Here the opinions of scientists and experts diverge even more. For example, one of the versions is that the brain generates possible threats so that a person can prepare for them and in real life oppose them with something. According to this opinion, the nightmare is nothing more than training.
This version seems very plausible, but if so, then why do you have pleasant dreams? Some scientists believe that in this way a person either closes himself off from some difficulties, creating a good mood for himself, or tries to increase his self-esteem. In the first case, the connection does not have to be direct. For example, if a person is humiliated at work, this does not mean that he will dream of universal love in the office. He may dream that he became a famous athlete and won the world championship.
In the case of increasing self-esteem, everything is clear and so. A person simply comes up with what he lacks - fame, wealth, friends, women and much more.
Sometimes dreams are dreamed when a person is really waiting for something, constantly thinks about it and in a dream can mount his dream. Or, on the contrary, to restore in an alternative reality the events from the past that occupy all his thoughts.
Sometimes dreams are very strange and even scary.
Another interesting theory was formulated by physiologist Ivan Sechenov. He believed that dreams are just a person's reaction to external stimuli. It is on the basis of them that the brain forms images. That is, if you are frozen in a dream, you will dream that you are walking in the snow. If disturbing sounds are heard from the street, you may have a nightmare and so on.
This theory makes sense. You may have noticed that if you fall asleep while watching a movie, you start dreaming about something based on the plot of this movie.
As usual, old Sigmund Freud goes his own way. He argued that dreams are nothing more than an attempt by the subconscious to convey encrypted information about forbidden sexual thoughts. For example, when a person experiences a latent sexual attraction to a blood relative, he cannot realize his attraction. In the end, he does it in his sleep. Only there it all happens in encrypted form.
The same Sigmund Freud.
Generally convenient. Speak any game, explain it as latent sexual desires, but when asked why? answer that you still won't understand.
When dreams are most common
Dreams are usually associated with a phase of paradoxical sleep. It is also called rapid eye movement (REM) or REM sleep. The fact is that a person's sleep is divided into cycles and they change in waves. In the relaxed phase, the person is as calm as possible, and at the peak, the heart rate increases, the muscles tense, and the brain works more actively. It is at these moments that dreams are dreamed, and the brain is most ready for awakening. What is primary is not yet clear. Perhaps a person is mobilized due to the fact that he is dreaming, or maybe vice versa.
The REM sleep phase occurs approximately every one and a half to two hours and dreams during this period are most vivid. Recent studies show that dreams also occur in the calm phase of sleep, but they are very dull and unemotional.
Do all people dream? Do babies dream?
Scientists argue that human physiology is arranged in such a way that he simply cannot fail to dream. All people have dreams! Those who say that they are not dreaming simply do not remember them. Perhaps this is due to some kind of mental abnormality or simply a special behavior of the brain on that particular night.
If all people dream, can babies do it? According to the most popular theory not today, people begin to dream as early as the eighth week of their prenatal development. Of course, these are not the dreams we are used to, because the child has not seen anything yet. Even in the early years of life, dreams are far from what adults see. Normal images begin to form around the age of three. Before that, children's dreams are alternating colored spots.
Only by the age of three do children begin to have lucid dreams.
Naturally, it is impossible to prove this, since it will hardly be possible to assemble a focus group and interview everyone.
Why do you wake up if you fell in a dream
Many people are familiar with the feeling of falling in a dream. Usually it is very real and at this moment you really start to feel weightlessness or a state of free fall.
One of the most logical explanations for this feeling is the sudden awakening of some parts of the brain. These special zones are located in one of the sections of the human brain stem. The beams located in it receive information from the inner ear and control the position of the body.
At the moment of falling asleep, they gradually go into an inactive mode, but in the phase of shallow sleep they can be sharply activated. At this moment, a person can shudder and wake up.
If she takes a step forward, she will definitely wake up.
This often happens if you sleep in transport, when the body is mobile, and the sleep is shallow. You can also find yourself in a similar situation if you stumble or fall from somewhere in the shallow sleep phase. The brain perceives this as a real fall and gives the signal to group.
Can dreams be controlled
There is nothing supernatural about this. Just don't be fooled by some cool glasses that will help you shape your dreams. All this is very doubtful and far from the fact that it will really work. Especially considering that the method of operation of such devices has not been scientifically proven.
In order to control dreams, you need to understand that you are sleeping. Usually you realize this after awakening. In a dream, everything seems very real and realistic. For myself, I noticed that I see lucid dreams about once a week or two.
If what is happening in a dream is not very real, it is easier for a person to understand that he is sleeping. If he understood this, he can explore the world of his dream, or vice versa, try to wake up if he has a nightmare.
The dream management process is very interesting, but you have to be subtle. This usually happens on the verge of a state of sleep and wakefulness. Therefore, it is very easy to wake up in this state.
Is it possible to watch sleep after waking up
Technically, watching your sleep after waking up is no big deal. Especially if you are not completely awake.
When a car hummed outside the window or someone slammed the door in the corridor, the person wakes up, but not completely. If at this moment you begin to actively think about what you dreamed about, you can gradually fall asleep and "watch" the continuation of this story.
The main thing is not to take a walk and not go into wakefulness mode. In this case, you will definitely not be able to watch the dream. You can still think about it for a while, but if you don't, the dream will definitely be forgotten. However, there is a way to keep it in memory.
How to remember your dream
Since the original purpose of dreams is not for you to remember them, they are not stored in deep layers of memory. In order to remember a dream forever, you need to remember it in as much detail as possible immediately after waking up. After that, you need to either write it down, or scroll the maximum number of times in memory and it will be remembered.
The easiest way to remember a dream is - write it down.
An interesting thing, it turns out. If you scroll through a poem, song or role in a play many times in your memory, it will be remembered for a very long time. Dream information, even if it is rooted in the memory, will still be rejected. We have not yet been able to explain this clearly, but this is a fact. There are exceptions, but it is dreams that are erased from memory faster than anything else.
Why do you have colored dreams
At one time, it was believed that colored dreams were dreamed only by people who are sick with schizophrenia or have other similar deviations. Actually this is not true.
All people see rather abstract dreams, which for the most part show only the outlines and outlines of objects. The rest of the person completes at the expense of his imagination.
Therefore, colored dreams are dreamed first of all by those who have a good imagination and children, since they are not yet blinded by the frames of the surrounding world. People with some types of mental disorders also have a good imagination. Perhaps this is why the two phenomena (colored dreams and schizophrenia) were linked in this way.
Why dream … Is it possible to believe dream books
In order to understand whether it is possible to believe dream books, one must understand the nature of this phenomenon. If dreams are dreamed, as they say, "in fact" (it got cold - I dreamed about snow), then it is wrong to say that it is prophetic.
On the other hand, mystical explanations of dreams occupy a wide place in the culture of modern society. Some sincerely believe in this, others just want to have fun and see how this “inner prediction” coincides with real events.
However, it is a fact that dream books or dream interpreters are compiled by people based on real facts. That is, if 100 people dreamed of a frog and the next day 98 of them found a wallet on the road, it means something.
On the other hand, many dream books were compiled so long ago that they simply have nothing to do with real life. Psychologists at different times treated them differently. Some said that there is a connection and the brain can really predict something, while others said that a person simply programs himself for what he saw in a dream, and this happens.
In any case, everyone has always agreed that the dream carries one thing. You should not memorize the whole dream and look for everything in the dream book. It is necessary to take only the detail that was the brightest or simply the most important in this dream. At the same time, what if you had previously watched a movie about bikers and you had a vivid dream about a motorcycle? This is no longer a pure image, but an imposed one.
You need to remember only the brightest parts of the dream.
Many people interpret dreams in hindsight. For example, they recall that two days ago they saw a hammer in a dream, and today they punctured a wheel. As a result, they open the dream book, and it says “the hammer dreams of difficulties”. You can't argue that a punctured wheel is a difficulty. But the modern city dweller has difficulties every day.
Prophetic dreams
Prophetic dreams are a separate topic. Those who directly say what should happen to you today (or in the near future). One can argue about them even longer, but they can also be either a coincidence or simply a person's ability to predict events.
For example, he thought for a long time what to do in a relationship with a business partner. The brain was overloaded with this information, but chose the right decision for itself and built a chain of events that would follow. As a result, it came true, but due to the fact that the connection between the events was not very obvious, the dream began to seem mystical.
In addition, many details of the dream are lost, and when something happens, the missing parts in the memory can be supplemented with new facts. The main thing is to remember the main plot thread.
On the other hand, I personally know a person who told me that he dreamed something, and then it came true with amazing accuracy. Perhaps, again, this is a matter of intuition, since this person is doing well with it.
Sleep like another world. Sometimes it is very pleasant to reach for him.
Here you can also separately say about deja vu (the feeling that what is happening has already happened). This feeling may arise due to the fact that a person subconsciously recalls something from his dreams. It is even possible that he did not realize. That is, it was not such that he woke up and remembered him at least to some extent. Such "shadow" dreams can be the reason for déjà vu.
Should you be afraid of dreams
In my opinion, the unequivocal answer is “no”. If you do not take dreams too seriously and do not expect something from them, they become just a cute entertainment for the night. If you have a nightmare and are uncomfortable falling asleep again, just try not to think about it. Well, if you constantly have nightmares, you should contact a specialist. This does not mean that you have any head problems. Most likely, you are just worried about something or something in the body is not working properly. Everything is closely connected inside us, so this may well be.
If you are reading this article in the evening, then good night and pleasant dreams!
Artem Sutyagin
