A number of modern researchers of the nature of dreams come to the conclusion that our dreams are generated by electrical impulses in the brain. However, it was traditionally believed that dreams have a strictly psychological basis.
Sigmund Freud is considered the pioneer in this area. Its main concept - "repression" - is that people are not able to realize some desires and aspirations, which become the subjects of dreams. Freud's theory analyzes aspirations of a sexual nature and their symbolism. According to Freud, any cylindrical object in a dream represents a penis, an opening (a variant - an object in which another is inserted) - a vagina, and a tunnel or anything that resembles a tunnel represents sexual intercourse. However, even Freud admitted that a cigar seen in a dream could be "just a cigar."
Freud's student Carl Jung at the beginning of his scientific career was a staunch follower of Freudian theory, but later developed his own, which was different from classical Freudianism. Jung agreed with his teacher that human dreams have a psychological basis. However, unlike Freud, Carl Jung believed that dreams are based not so much on our basic needs and repressed ("repressed") desires, as they reflect personality traits and problems that we "consciously" reflect on while awake.
In 1973, researchers Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley put forward their own theory of the nature of dreams, which crossed out both Freud and Jung. According to this theory, dreams are the result of electrical impulses in the human brain. The impulses "wake up" point fragments of our memory. Hobson and McCarley believe that these fragments do not form any plots, the plots are the product of “waking” thinking, which immediately after awakening seeks meaning in the images seen and combines them into plots.
What actually happens to the brain of a sleeping person? During sleep, we go through 5 stages of it. The first stage is a very light sleep, now it is very easy to wake us up. Muscle activity decreases.
The second stage is deeper sleep, breathing and heart rate slow down, body temperature goes down.
The third phase is deep sleep, at the stage of which the first, weak electrical impulses "shoot" in the brain.
The deepest sleep is in the next two stages. Breathing becomes rhythmic, muscles are extremely relaxed, electrical impulses become more frequent. The person is on the verge of "deep" sleep.
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At the fifth, final stage, the person's pupils begin to move, breathing becomes erratic and rapid. Inhalation and exhalation are shallow, heart rate increases, blood pressure rises. Electrical discharges in the brain become more frequent. And although dreams can visit us at any stage of sleep, most likely they will come right now.
As already mentioned, the indicator of "deep" sleep is the movement of the pupils. This observation was made in 1953 by researcher Eugene Aserinsky, a graduate physiologist at the University of Chicago, and Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman. In this phase of sleep, the human body is practically paralyzed, but the brain activity approaches the daytime level, sometimes even exceeds it.
During the night we go through all stages of sleep several times. But it happens that “deep” sleep cannot be achieved (for example, every time at the moment of its occurrence, someone or something wakes us up). In 1960, Stanford University School of Medicine professor Dr. William Dement conducted an experiment on this topic. The "test subjects" were awakened every time they, judging by their external signs, approached the "deep" stage. The next day, people noted excessive anxiety, irritability and increased appetite, experienced problems concentrating.
A number of studies show a direct connection between "deep" sleep and a person's ability to remember the necessary information. However, the results of these studies have been disputed many times. Opponents give examples of people who, after receiving brain injuries, completely lost the ability to "deep" sleep, while not experiencing any problems with remembering.
The only indisputable fact is the connection between "deep" sleep and a person's ability to acquire new knowledge and skills. For example, children whose learning ability is much higher than that of adults stay in this stage longer than adults.
Only facts
* Most dreams last 5 to 20 minutes.
* Most dreams are colored.
* Even if dreams do not remain in memory, almost everyone sees them several times during the night. Over the course of a lifetime, the average person dreams for about 6 hours.
* People who are blind from birth have dreams based on touch, smell, and sound.
* When people snore, they dream nothing.
* Elephants sleep while standing in all stages of sleep, except for "deep". When this phase occurs, they go down.
* In ancient Rome, some of the dreams of "socially significant" citizens were brought up for discussion in the Senate.