When you dream
Why We Dream, Nightmares, and Lucid Dreams
Written by Hedy Marks
Dreams can be entertaining, disturbing, or downright bizarre. We all dream, even if we don't remember it the next day. But why do we dream? And what do they mean, anyway?
What Are Dreams?
Dreams are basically stories and images that our mind creates while we sleep. They can be vivid. They can make you feel happy, sad, or scared. And they may seem confusing or perfectly rational.
Dreams can happen at any time during sleep. But you have your most vivid dreams during a phase called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, when your brain is most active. Some experts say we dream at least four to six times a night.
Lucid dreams
A lucid dream is one in which you know you’re dreaming. Research shows that lucid dreaming comes with a boost of activity in parts of the brain that are usually restful during sleep. Lucid dreaming is a brain state between REM sleep and being awake.
Some lucid dreamers are able to influence their dream, changing the story, so to speak. This may be a good tactic to take sometimes, especially during a nightmare, but many dream experts say it’s better to let your dreams flow naturally.
Nightmares
A nightmare is a bad dream. It’s common in both children and adults. Often, it happens because of:
- Stress, conflict, and fear
- Trauma
- Emotional problems
- Medication or drug use
- Illness
If you have a certain nightmare over and over again, your subconscious may be trying to tell you something. Listen to it. If you can't figure out why you’re having bad dreams, talk to a mental health care provider. They may be able to help you figure out what’s causing your nightmares and give you tips to put you at ease.
Keep in mind that no matter how scary a nightmare is, it’s not real and most likely won’t happen to you in real life.
Why Do We Dream?
There are many theories about why we dream, but no one knows for sure.
Some researchers say dreams have no purpose or meaning. Others say we need dreams for our mental, emotional, and physical health.
Studies have looked into the importance of dreams to our health and well-being. In one study, researchers woke people just as they were going into REM sleep. They found that those who weren’t allowed to dream had:
- More tension
- Anxiety
- Depression
- A hard time concentrating
- Lack of coordination
- Weight gain
- A tendency to hallucinate
Many experts say dreams exist to:
- Help solve problems in our lives
- Incorporate memories
- Process emotions
If you go to bed with a troubling thought, you may wake with a solution or at least feel better about the situation.
Some dreams may help our brains process our thoughts and the events of the day. Others may just be the result of normal brain activity and mean very little, if anything. Researchers are still trying to figure out exactly why we dream.
How Long Do Dreams Last?
REM sleep lasts only a few minutes early in the night but gets longer as we sleep. Later in the night, it might last more than 30 minutes. So you might spend half an hour in a single dream.
What Do Dreams Mean?
Famous psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that dreams are a window into our subconscious and that they reveal a person's:
- Unconscious desires
- Thoughts
- Motivations
Freud thought dreams were a way for people to satisfy urges and desires that weren’t acceptable to society.
Just as there are different opinions about why we dream, there are different views about what dreams mean. Some experts say dreams have no connection to our real emotions or thoughts. They’re just strange stories that don't relate to normal life.
Others say our dreams may reflect our own thoughts and feelings -- our deepest desires, fears, and concerns, especially dreams that happen over and over. By interpreting our dreams, we may gain insight into our lives and ourselves.
Many people say they’ve come up with their best ideas while dreaming.
Often, people report having similar dreams: They’re being chased, fall off a cliff, or show up in public naked. These types of dreams are probably caused by hidden stress or anxiety. The dreams may be similar, but experts say the meaning behind the dream is unique to each person.
Experts say not to rely on books or "dream dictionaries," which give a specific meaning for a specific dream image or symbol. The reason behind your dream is unique to you.
Can Dreams Predict the Future?
Sometimes, dreams come true or tell of a future event. When you have a dream that plays out in real life, experts say it’s most likely due to:
- Coincidence
- Bad memory
- An unconscious linking of known information
But sometimes, dreams can motivate you to act a certain way, thus changing the future.
Why Are Dreams Hard to Remember?
Researchers don't know for sure why dreams are easily forgotten.
Maybe we’re designed to forget our dreams because if we remembered them all, we might not be able to tell dreams from real memories.
Also, it could be harder to remember dreams because during REM sleep, our body may shut down systems in our brain that create memories. We may remember only those dreams that happen just before we wake, when certain brain activities are turned back on.
Some say it’s not that our minds forget dreams but that we don't know how to access them. Dreams may be stored in our memory, waiting to be recalled. This may explain why you suddenly remember a dream later in the day: Something may have happened to trigger the memory.
Tips for Dream Recall
If you’re a sound sleeper and don't wake up until the morning, you’re less likely to remember your dreams, compared with people who wake up several times in the night. Some tips may help you remember your dreams:
Wake up without an alarm. You’re more likely to remember your dreams if you wake up naturally than with an alarm.
Once the alarm goes off, your brain focuses on turning off the annoying sound, not on your dream.
Remind yourself to remember. If you make a decision to remember your dreams, you’re more likely to remember them in the morning. Before you go to sleep, remind yourself that you want to remember your dream.
Dream playback. If you think about the dream right after waking, it may be easier to remember it later.
How to Make Sense of Your Dreams
If you’re curious about your dreams or want to sort out any possible meaning behind them, consider keeping a dream diary or journal.
Write it down. Keep a notebook and pen next to your bed, and record your dream first thing every morning, while the memory is still fresh. Write down anything you recall and how it made you feel, even if you can remember only random pieces of information.
Journal without judgment. Dreams are sometimes odd and may go against societal norms.
Try not to judge yourself based on your dreams.
Give each dream a title. This may help if you want to refer back to a dream. Sometimes, the title you create can provide insight on why you had the dream or the meaning behind it.
Dreams have fascinated humanity since the beginning of time and will probably continue to puzzle us. Science has allowed us to learn much about the human brain, but we may never know for sure the meanings behind our dreams.
What They Are and What They Mean – Cleveland Clinic
Imagine this. You’re enjoying a deep, restful snooze when suddenly you startle awake. However, it’s not from noise outside, but a vivid dream.
That’s not necessarily out of the ordinary. But you might wonder why your dreams are so realistic. And what does it mean when you dream about someone? What do falling dreams mean? What about recurring dreams?
Psychologists such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung developed theories to explain what dreams mean.
“Freud thought dreams are repressed content, ideas or themes,” says behavioral sleep medicine expert Michelle Drerup, PsyD, DBSM. “And Jungian theory came out of Freud’s ideas and has this idea of collective unconscious. It’s something that you’re carrying from your ancestors.”
But from a medical perspective, dream interpretation is still a mystery. “There’s no real consistent, scientifically proven theory linking specific content back to what a dream means,” Dr. Drerup notes.
What are dreams?
Dreams themselves are a little less mysterious. “Dreams are mental imagery or activity that occur when you sleep,” explains Dr. Drerup. You can dream at any stage of sleep, but your most vivid dreams typically occur in rapid eye movement sleep, or REM sleep. That’s the period of sleep when your brain is highly active, your eyes move rapidly behind your closed eyes and you have temporary loss of muscle tone.
“In REM sleep, we have less autonomic stability,” says Dr. Drerup.
“Our heart rate increases. We don’t have the kind of steady, calm respiration that we do during other stages of non-REM sleep.”
Researchers find it challenging to analyze dreams because we often don’t remember them. “Even if you’re having a sleep study, it’s not like we can look in your brain and see what’s happening during a dream,” says Dr. Drerup. “That’s part of the reason why they’re still kind of mysterious — they’re difficult to study.”
Why do we dream?
Doctors have several working theories as to why we dream. For starters, Dr. Drerup says you also tend to dream more in REM sleep. Additionally, dreaming during this stage is associated with “consolidation of memories,” she adds.
“That dreaming may represent important cognitive functioning. Brain activity that occurs when we’re dreaming is similar to the memory processing brain activity we experience when we’re awake.”
When you’re experiencing more stress or anxiety, you tend to dream more, too.
The types of dreams you have also change. Dr. Drerup says that nightmares or stressful dreams — for example, about being chased or being in a frightening situation — are also common when you’re stressed. “That’s one of the theories of why we dream,” she says. “Our dreams might help us process and manage our emotions.”
Interestingly enough, Dr. Drerup notes that researchers have found that people living in certain places might have similar nighttime visions, although they aren’t quite sure why. “There seems to be some cultural influence on dreams,” she explains. “For example, the same type of dream might be more common in Germany.”
What do dreams mean?
Determining what dreams mean is a big question, one that doctors, researchers and scientists are still trying to answer. But Dr. Drerup stresses that dream interpretation is subjective. “That’s always what I tell people — the meaning that you ascribe to the dream is going to be much more meaningful than anything I ascribe to the dream,” she says.
“Because it’s probably something from your life that’s represented in that dream.”
As an example, Dr. Drerup notes that you might have the same dream as someone else, but yours will be more representative of what you’re personally experiencing. “For example, if someone recently lost their job, a certain dream about not being able to find their shoes might mean something very different to them versus someone who recently went through a divorce.”
Dreaming that you’re pregnant — in other words, involved with a new life — is also subjective. This could occur maybe when you’re trying to get pregnant or if you were pregnant and had a miscarriage. Or maybe not. “It’s much more of what this dream means to you. Your dream of pregnancy could be much more about, ‘I’m starting a new career.’ A new life, in a sense. The dream could mean a whole lot of different things.”
Although experiences you have in a dream might be based on real-life events, that doesn’t mean your dreams are always realistic.
“A person might be distorted in the dream, or in a situation or place where they wouldn’t normally be,” notes Dr. Drerup. “What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine.”
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However, sometimes even the strangest dreams have logical explanations. Dreams about your teeth falling out could be happening because you’re grinding your teeth in your sleep, a condition called bruxism. “This dream is more a sign of psychological stress,” says Dr. Drerup.
What causes nightmares?
Nightmares can be terrifying and have lingering effects even when you’re awake. “With nightmares, especially recurring nightmares, it can feel like you’re playing out a story,” says Dr. Drerup. “People often say it’s like the same movie’s playing.”
Talking about a nightmare like you would a movie you’ve seen can bring about unexpected consequences. “If you have a nightmare, you’ll tell everybody about it because it was so weird, right?” ventures Dr. Drerup. “But rehearsing that nightmare over and over again means your neural pathways are getting reinforced.
It’s like you’re developing a memory of that nightmare. Then, it’s more likely the dream will reoccur.”
Dr. Drerup says nightmares are commonly associated with a variety of other conditions and events as well, such as:
PTSD
For someone living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), nightmares are often a component of re-experiencing or re-living their trauma.
Alcohol
Overindulging a bit too much can exacerbate nightmares.
Stress
High stress levels can lead to more dreams and nightmares. According to Dr. Drerup, this is likely because the stress is kicking the emotional processing that occurs during dreaming into overdrive.
Psychological disorders
Dr. Drerup says psychological disorders such as depression and anxiety are associated more frequently with nightmares.
Medication withdrawal
Withdrawing from certain medications can also cause more nightmares. “Antidepressants suppress REM sleep, and decrease the amount of REM sleep that we have,” explains Dr.
Drerup. “When you go off of an antidepressant, you tend to have REM rebound.”
In other words, you experience more REM sleep, which then makes it more likely that you’re spending time where dreaming happens. “People will often have an increase in dreams or nightmares when they discontinue antidepressants,” she adds.
Addressing untreated sleep apnea
People who get help for untreated sleep apnea often have “a high level of dream recall and potentially nightmares as well,” says Dr. Drerup. “If you have sleep apnea, you’re having fragmented disrupted sleep.” Getting better quality sleep means you’re going into REM sleep — and staying there, “instead of having these brief arousals that are keeping you out of that stage of sleep,” she notes. “You’ll have that REM rebound as well.”
Can sleep disorders affect dreaming?
Sleep disorders can affect all aspects of slumber, including dreaming.
Nightmare disorder
For some people, nightmares are more than just a temporary scare.
They have a sleep disorder called nightmare disorder.
“With nightmare disorder, you have these really distressing nightmares that are repetitive,” says Dr. Drerup. “They occur frequently. They wake you from sleep. You can’t get back to sleep afterwards. You have a panicked feeling upon awakening and take a while to reorient.”
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This disorder can be debilitating, as you’re often very tired during the day. But Dr. Drerup says treating nightmare disorder is possible using what’s called imagery rehearsal therapy.
“This treatment has some really significant research backing behind it,” says Dr. Drerup. “You work with your therapist to rewrite the nightmare to contain less disturbing content, and then practice the new dream imagery during the daytime.”
“It’s like guided imagery of that new content to make the dream less distressing,” she continues. “The image you’re practicing can replace or decrease the frequency of that disruptive nightmare, or completely eliminate it altogether.
”
REM sleep behavior disorder
A sleep disorder called REM sleep behavior disorder can also cause abnormal dreaming. “During REM sleep, your muscles are typically paralyzed, so you don’t act out dreams,” says Dr. Drerup. “From an evolutionary standpoint, it happened because it was more protective for us to not be able to move when dreaming.”
People living with REM sleep behavior disorder, however, actually aren’t paralyzed — meaning they can move in their sleep while dreaming. Dr. Drerup says it’s not always an issue, but can be in certain situations.
“It’s often not as disruptive to you unless you’re punching someone in your dream, and then punch your spouse or the nightstand and injure yourself,” she says. “There are safety concerns with this.”
REM sleep behavior disorder can also foreshadow bigger health problems. “When someone is diagnosed with REM sleep behavior disorder really early in life, that’s linked to a really high conversion rate of someone eventually developing Parkinson’s disease or Lewy body dementia.
”
Is it normal not to dream?
Dr. Drerup says there is a rare condition called Charcot-Wilbrand syndrome where people don’t dream at all. This dream loss occurs following focal brain damage (typically a stroke) that’s specifically characterized by you losing the ability to mentally recall (or “revisualize”) images.
Most people do dream, though — you just don’t recall them. “People will say, ‘I don’t dream at all, because I don’t sleep well.’ And that’s not necessarily the case,” explains Dr. Drerup. “Just because you don’t have dream content doesn’t mean that you’re not dreaming. We usually don’t remember our dreams unless we’re awoken from them.”
At the end of the day, however, dream interpretation is still a big mystery yet to be solved. But if you’re trying to puzzle out what your subconscious is trying to tell you, look to your day-to-day life for clues.
“We can have really good recall of a dream when we wake up, and then it’ll fade away,” says Dr. Drerup.
“And then you think back, ‘I know I had a weird dream, but I don’t remember it.’ So, if you want to have more awareness, jot details down as soon as you wake up — what was the dream, identify if there’s patterns.”
“Once again, it’s much more what meaning you ascribe to dreams,” she adds. “That’s key. That’s more relevant than dream interpretation books that list specific interpretations.”
What are you dreaming about? Exercises that will teach a teenager to dream and set goals
Ekaterina Ushakhina
How many adults are around who are afraid to dream and don't know what they want? Or those who do not know how to set goals and are used to going with the flow? Enough. And all because they didn’t learn to listen to themselves in childhood, they got used to living under dictation: do this, say that, buy this, wear this.
Many of us go through life listening too hard to all the advice and often forget that our deepest dreams and hopes come from within.
Sometimes our desires seem impossible. But it is still important to listen carefully to them. It is very important to ask yourself the question from time to time: “What do you really want?” And we need to teach this to our children. nine0003
What do you really want
In this article you will find tips and exercises to help your child understand what he wants for himself in the future.
20 by 20
Have your teen make a list of 20 by 20 (twenty goals to achieve by age 20). It is necessary to list who he would like to become one day, what he would like to do, what he would like to have.
Let him write as quickly as possible, he has about five minutes to do so. You need to write down everything that comes to mind. It is not necessary to think about how to achieve this, it is important to imagine that he has an endless supply of all the necessary resources at his disposal: time, talent, money, motivation and support. You need to write down everything, even those ideas that seem stupid, unattainable, or even wild and ridiculous.
Let him not limit himself, but invent it to the fullest. nine0004
Pictures, tables and quotes here and below from What You Really Want
It's time to see how the "multiply by a hundred" principle works. You can add two zeros to one and make a hundred out of it. In the same way, you can simply “drive into an amplifier” a dream, and then it will inspire not only you young (with a limited set of skills and resources), but also you, say, fifty years old (when you have at your disposal any resources and such skills that you until they dreamed). nine0004
Here are examples of a dream multiplied by 100
Hint: If the child has difficulty understanding what he wants, invite him to remember what he dreamed about and what he wanted when he was little? Have his dreams and desires changed over the past two years? What about the last six months? How has he changed? Let him think about how he will change in two years? And ten years later? How will these changes help him fulfill his dreams? If some changes do not help, what can be done?
Any biggest dream can be fulfilled if you put all your energy into only what is really important.
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Thoughts globally
Now let the teenager think more specifically about his life values and dreams: turn on his favorite music, close his eyes and ask himself, what exactly does he want in life, now and in the future? If he had the opportunity to do and have anything, what would he choose and why?
To connect the present with the future, one must first think about what he can do relatively quickly, such as loading the dishwasher, finishing a history report, or filming a short video. nine0004
Then think about things that will require more time, effort, and independence, such as buying your first car or applying to the budget department of the institute.
And finally, you need to think about what will take even more time: record your first album, become a paleontologist or start a family.
And now you need to imagine the most enormous goals: to participate in the Olympic Games or become a translator at the UN. Even if now such goals seem unattainable to us, this is not forever.
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Wish Board
One more step on the way to your dream - Wish Board. It is a collection of pictures, quotes, photographs and objects related to our hopes, dreams and values in life. Thanks to the Board, we can think not only in words, but also in images, show ourselves our anticipated future. This is a space for creativity.
Just as an architect makes a dream come true first in the project, we can bring it to life on the Wish Board, and it will become a little more real because it can be seen or touched. nine0004
The Wish Board helps us understand what we want and expand our inner possibilities. Source
You will need:
— magazines, store catalogs, advertising brochures and other printed materials from which pictures can be cut;
- small things somehow connected with dreams: diagrams or maps, theater tickets, guitar pick, ski pass;
- one or more of your photos;
- scissors, glue or tape, a piece of whatman paper or thick paper.
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1. From magazines, cut out pictures of items related to what you want to do, what you want to get and who you want to be. You also need to find pictures that illustrate your landmarks. For example, if you dream of becoming a writer, cut out a photo of your favorite writer.
2. Look for words, captions, quotes from books and sayings from people that reflect either the traits that you would like to see in yourself (courage, intelligence, curiosity) or your life guidelines (make the world a better place, continue learning, be kind to animals). nine0004
Old magazines are ideal for creating a wish board. Source
3. Analyze all the pictures, words and objects found and choose what likes the most and represents your dreams.
Now it's time to get to the Wish Board. Attach your own photo to the middle of the sheet, and around it, place and paste pictures, notes with words, and everything else - in any order, the way you like.
The board is ready! Hang it in a prominent place so you can see it before bed and in the morning. nine0004
Ladder of goals
Time to move on to setting goals. Imagine that you need to eat an apple whole without biting. This is how you will feel when working towards your goals if you don't break them down into small tasks.
Therefore, experts advise writing a step-by-step action plan. It brings you closer to the goal, like a ladder: with each step you rise higher and higher. Go up and do not stop, then in the end you will end up where you went.
Here is an example of a ladder of goals. nine0004
Step 1: Define target . Choose the first goal you will work on. It can be both short term and long term.
Step 2: Write down the goal statement : it must be specific, measurable, achievable, important to you, and have a deadline. If the goal does not match, reformulate it. Then write down in the questionnaire. By writing down the same goal in different ways, you begin to better understand it, put it in your head.
Step 3: think about what needs to be done . Come up with as many options as possible for what you need to do to climb to the very top of the "ladder". To do this, ask yourself the question: “What do I need to do to move to the next level?”
Let's say your goal is to get an A on your next history test. Then the action plan will look like this:
• ask the teacher what will be on the test;
• make a list of topics you need to know;
• read and start learning these topics;
• ask someone to "drive" you through the material; nine0003 • take one or two extra classes;
• perform a practice test;
• reread all chapters of a section;
• Organize your notes.
Step 4: fill in the steps of the "ladder" . Review the resulting action plan and cross out repetitions and items that seem useless. Then rewrite the remaining points of the plan in a logical order.
What happened will look something like this:
• systematize records; nine0003 • reread all chapters of the section;
• take extra classes;
• do a practice test;
• work on a subject and ask someone to "drive" questions.
Now you can fill the stairs.
It is very important to clearly articulate the goals and the name of the steps. Source
Once you have finished signing the steps, determine the due dates for each step and write them down side by side. For some items, the deadlines will be "every night" or "after school on Mondays", while for others it will be "until next Tuesday" or "until the end of the year." nine0004
Step 5: start climbing . There is nothing to wait! Right now, do a little thing that will get you a little closer to your goal: get a history book, find your notes, or hang a schedule over your desk. When you complete these tasks, your brain releases endorphins, the chemicals that make us feel good.
Also, when we start small, motivation grows. Research has shown that the most effective motivation is progress at work, and the surest way to progress is to take action. nine0004
Based on What You Really Want.
Article cover: pexels.
com
Yoko Ono quote: When you dream alone, you only create a dream. Dreaming together with …
— Yoko Ono
Option: If you dream about something alone, it's just a dream; if you dream about it together, it's a reality.
Variant: The dream you dream of is only a dream.
The dream you dream together is a reality. nine0004
Add note
A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.
A line written by Ono many years before, and quoted by Lennon in December 1980, as quoted in All We Are Saying : The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono (2000) by John Lennon, Yōko Ono, David Sheff, p. 16.
Source: Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings
Taken from Wikiquote. Last updated November 12, 2022
Topic
Dreams, Reality, Loner, Solo, Together
YOO it is
8 Japanese avant -garde artist, singer and artist, .
.. 1933 Similar quotes
„Do you dream together, do you dream together, do you dream together, do you dream together, do you dream together, do you dream together, do you dream but always cry alone.”
— Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva Russian poet, prose writer, translator 1892 - 1941
“And how important it is to feel life not alone, but together with someone. Because together is always stronger than alone.“
- Evgeny Valerievich Grishkovets Russian prose writer, playwright, director, actor, musician 1967
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— Ivan Antonovich Efremov Russian Soviet science fiction writer, paleontologist, creator of taphonomy; cosmist philosopher and social thinker 1908 - 1972
From the article "Billions of Facets of the Future".
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- Marcus Aurelius, 16th Roman Emperor 121 - 180
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- Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov Russian and American literary figure some are born to dream, others to be dreams.”
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“Dream big because dreams do come true.”
— Alex Morgan American soccer player 1989
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— Human
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— Ralph Lauren 1939
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— Vincent van Gogh Dutch post-impressionist painter 1853 - 1890
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- Harari, Yuval Noah Israeli military historian and medievalist, professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 1976
Source: Sapiens.
A Brief History of Humankind
„In chess one does not create masterpieces alone. We need a top-level opponent.”
— Garry Kimovich Kasparov Soviet and Russian chess player, 13th world chess champion, chess writer and politician 1963
“I create entire novels in my dreams. Oh, you don't know me!“
- Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, book White Nights
First Night
White Nights
„Dream! Dreams are the best thing in our lives.”
— Victoria Moroles 1996
“Dream big. The bigger your dream, the more you will achieve.”
— Shimon Peres Israeli politician and statesman, 12th Prime Minister of Israel, 9th President of Israel 1923 - 2016
“Dreams come true for those who work while dreaming ." nine0004
- G. Jackson Brown American writer 1940
Dreams come true for those who work while they dream. you can dream, you can make your dreams come true.”
— Walt Disney American animator, film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer 1901 - 1966
If you can imagine it, you can do it.
