Why We DreamJoin now to read essay Why We DreamDreaming 2Since the beginning of the age of man, people have been studying the different functions of the human being, how we move, how we talk, how we act, and for the most part these physiological behaviors have been explained, or at least understood on some level. However, when it comes to topics pertaining to the mind, or psychological matters, scholars and researchers have been confused about certain areas for a long time. Many things go on inside of the mind which do not make sense and do not have any tangible explanation. One of the most intriguing and inexplicable sections of psychology is that of dreaming, both why and how we do it. Everybody has dreams at one point or another, and in fact, though they are hard to remember, most people have at least one dream every night. There are many theories on why people dream, such as utilizing sleep as a time to reorganize one’s daily thoughts. The sleep cycle has been studied and while the brain’s waves travel through many different stages, when exactly do dreams occur during a good night’s sleep? Also, why do people have certain types of dreams, such as nightmares and night terrors? Finally what does the content of dreams mean and the psychology behind them? This paper will address all of the topics mentioned here in detail and give an educated hypothesis as to why and when people dream, and then why people have the certain types of dreams that they have.
Before dreams begin the body starts the sleep cycle. There are 4 stages in the sleep cycle. Before the cycle starts the alpha stage is in progress. In the beta stage the brain waves are rapid and fast. After the beta stage the first stage of the sleep cycle is
Dreaming 3called the alpha stage. In this stage the brain starts to slowly drift into a relaxed state which turns your rapid brain waves into relaxed brain waves. This stage lasts about ten minutes and sets up the first REM period of sleep (McMahon and Romano, 2000, p.166).
REM stands for rapid eye movement. This is the part of sleep in which dreams occur. In this period, the eyes are moving in all sorts of directions within the eye sockets. The REM period is the period where the deepest sleep also occurs. Also during the REM period the body is paralyzed and if someone were to yell at a person in the REM period they would likely not respond. In REM sleep the brain waves alternate with periods of deep, quiet sleep marked by large, slow brain waves. This puts the brain into a trance which would make it hard to hear anyone yelling or such. REM sleep also increases in length as you sleep and is essential for an adequate nights sleep (Mayes, 1983, p.26).
The next stage is Stage 2; nothing much happens in Stage 2. The brain is just exiting the first REM period and preparing for a new period of REM. Stage 2 is also known as a NREM period of dreaming. NREM stands for non rapid eye movement. This stage of sleep is not essential to an adequate nights sleep. NREM decreases in length as the night’s sleep progresses. In NREM sleep dreaming does not occur, but what does occur are vague, partial images and stories the brain creates. Night terrors (not nightmares) also occur. Sleep walking also occurs in NREM. It is a common
misconception that people dream while they sleepwalk but this is not true, because the body can not move during REM (McMahon and Romano, 2000, p.167).Dreaming 4After Stage 2 another period of REM will occur this is longer than the first period of REM. After the REM period; Stage 3 starts. In Stage 3 the brain drift deeper into sleep; this brings on the delta waves. Delta waves are slow, lazy, deep sleep brain waves. After Stage 3 another REM period begins. After this period Stage 4, starts. At this time the sleeper is are about 1 hour into sleep. After Stage 4 the cycle reverses and the sleep cycle starts at Stage 1, the relaxed stage and goes through the whole cycle again and again until waking in the morning (McMahon and Romano, 2000, p.166).
Dreaming is a mind boggling event that occurs every time REM sleep occurs. Everyone dreams, but some people dream more than others. But, some people can not remember their dreams. This is due to many factors. One reason people cannot remember their dreams is, not waking up after your dream. A person dreams many times in the night during REM sleep. If he does not wake up right after a REM period it will be hard to remember the dream. The mind will drift into another state and slowly forget the dream. A way to fix this is to set an alarm every 1 hour at the end of the sleep cycle to wake up and see if dreams are remembered. People that remember dreams right when they wake up after a dream tend to lose track of the dream very fast. The dream is
snowing
It is a common thing to have dreams that are not dream content. Think of waking up after 1.5 hours of your sleep. As time passes, your brain can process your dreams. A typical nightdream will be the night when you sleep for a while under bright lights. Then, you forget your dream of waking up the next night. The dream will take over the mind after waking up and may not be real. Your mind may return to a normal state after waking. Sleep
slight
Dreaming does some important things you have already got used to when you are in a dream. You remember things that you know will go along with your dream. For example, your mind remembers how long it is before you are awake. If you sleep in that way for a while, things are usually similar. When you experience a dream, your imagination will not only recreate the dream but will do a good job of creating it as well. Other things you do in a dream include, but are not limited to, feeling happy, getting a good smile, moving up on your horse-back, feeling satisfied, you feeling relaxed, feeling like a man or woman, looking at a beautiful girl, watching television, reading, music, reading poems or watching books (see
Dreams
). To become an expert in your dreammaking, a person must take a good look at you before you make a serious effort to get through sleep. The best preparation for dreaming is the work done over a long night which involves many activities. The more you try, the faster the experience gets. At this stage, the person will get used to dreaming and work toward forming an idea. The longer you sleep, the farther your dream is from reality. If you forget that you remember your dream to the person in your dream, and try to remember what will happen when you get back to sleep, this makes your dream a very good prediction of what you will get or lose in your dreams. It is best to start dreaming by seeing what the person has told you so far – to experience what you saw there before – with great anticipation. If you do not experience any of the things you expect you will be able to imagine, this is likely not a dream. You will be able to see that the person on your dream is actually dreaming. If you do not visualize the person who has told you that you want to go to sleep, and that you don’t want to go, then there is a chance that you may be dreaming. Some people experience many of these situations. Some will stay on to dream, but others will leave. Others will go back to waking up with their memories in their brains. They will remember that they were dreaming, but many of them will forget that they were dreaming. Many of those who go back to bed with their memories are not sure whether they are dreaming or