First we’ll talk about the science behind dreams: when we dream, why we dream, and how dreams work.
Next, we’ll discuss what dreams mean: how hypotheses about their meanings have changed throughout history, how dream interpretation is different in various cultures, and what parallels exist between our environment and the contents of our dreams.
And finally we’ll learn some facts about dreaming that can help us in our everyday lives: how taking a nap is better than studying before an exam, why video games cure nightmares, and how you can determine what you dream about.
Lets start off with defining what a dream actually is. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary: a dream is a series of thoughts, visions, or feelings that happen during sleep. “When we sleep, our brain slips into a number of stages, which cycle over the course of the night” (Medical Daily). Specifically, dreams happen
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So in fact, if you’ve ever sleep walked, you are actually not dreaming during this period of sleep. Rather, you are in a semi conscious state in which you are still deeply sleeping but possess the ability to be physically active (Medical Daily).
Despite how long our dreams can seem while we are in them, most dreams only last about five to twenty minutes. So tonight, when Chucky stares at you from the corner of the room, keep in mind, if it’s a dream, it will be over soon….and if its not a dream…it will be over soon.
95% of the time, dreams are not committed to long-term memory, but rather, are forgotten soon after waking. This is because the frontal lobe, or area of the brain that helps memory formation is, for the most part, inactive during REM sleep. In other words, much like my English teacher’s brain was too busy to commit my name to memory for the first month of school, your brain is usually too busy to commit your dreams to memory during REM sleep