Why do we dream?

“Ok see you tomorrow then! Good night. Sweet dreams! J”. Sleep and Dreams. A very lethal combination isn’t it? Hell yes! Who does not like sleeping? And even better, dreaming about everything from living like a millionaire to being a broccoli. The point is, we all dream and we absolutely love it regardless of how eccentric they are. To a lucky few, remembering those dreams is like remembering what 2+2 is.

But something even more interesting than the dreams themselves is the reason why we get them! So let’s quickly jump into that. Read on..

                
Firstly to start off with, when we go to sleep, we actually go through 5 different stages. The first stage is when we have just started to get comfortable in our super comfy bed (or even classroom benches).The second stage, is something deeper than the first, like having a power nap of say 15 min. Subsequently, the third and the fourth stages represent deeper sleep.

Through these four stages of sleep, our brain activities become slower than what they would be when we are wide awake and active. However, what is interesting to know is that, there exists a stage after stage four too! This stage is called as ‘Rapid Eye Movement’ stage a.k.a. REM sleep stage. This is the point at which we start dreaming, though we could dream at any stage during our sleep, but the latter would provide less chances of remembering the dreams on waking up.

               
During this so-called REM sleep, breathing quickens, heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, and brain activity goes back to the same level as when we’re awake as if your body dresses itself for going into the Fancy world .One should quickly argue that ‘how can so much happen when I’m supposed to be resting?’ or ’I never even experience such drastic changes in my body!’. Well, this is the beauty of it. All of the changes that take place in our body are counterbalanced by the rest of the body being paralyzed. The reason for such temporary paralysis of our body is solely to keep us safe while we are asleep. Like for example, if our body isn’t paralyzed during the REM stage (the stage at which we dream), a WWE dream may end up with a bloodshed between you and your sibling! Oh boy! Think of the horror of explaining your actions the next morning! This is also the reason why you feel helpless in your dreams and crying for help…

So now that we know a tad bit about the science behind our precious sleep, let’s see what dreams actually are.

‘Dreams’ is actually one of the most hypothesized subjects of all. Several theories have been proposed, yet there is no perfect explanation to this phenomenon yet. Some focus solely on the physiological aspect and believe that dreams are merely spikes in our brain activity during our sleep, nothing more. There is no higher meaning to them; there is no real purpose. Others, though, focus on the more abstract psychological implications of dreams.

                Sigmund Freud, a psychologist, believed that dreams are a way to help people act out the things they could not do when they are awake. Many might agree to this concept of his. For instance, all of us, at some point or the other, have dreamt about being Iron Man (you would be lying if you said you didn’t!). Another psychologist, Carl Jung, believed that dreams were actually similar to thoughts we have while awake, but are our brain’s way of thinking through problems or troublesome issues while we are asleep and undistracted.

                Freud and Jung proposed these theories in the Victorian era, but now, most psychologists accept a theory that helps bridge the gap between the psychological and neurological standpoints. In 1973, Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley said that dreams are mere images which are pulled from experiences stored in our memory. Once we wake up from our dream, our brain tries to mix and match these scattered images and form stories that somewhat make sense to us. This explains why we have the ‘Déjà vu’ feeling when we try to recollect a dream. Also, sometimes we end up telling our friends about how we saw a dream about them just after we had a funny incident with them.

                However, the actual explanation of the very existence and purpose of dreams is still, as I stated earlier, a labyrinth; everything is still a speculation and theory. Let us hope that in the future, we will be able to understand and control our dreams and probably be able to turn “Inception” into a reality. A dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream……aaand it just goes on! All I can say is – “Keep Calm and Dream On”! J


Rebecca Correia