Dreams can be happy, bizarre, entertaining, and scary. Some dreams fade away the minute we wake up, whereas others stay for a while. Dreams play a significant role in enhancing our mental ability and preventing many psychological issues.
Some of the reasons why dreams are an essential aspect of a person’s sleep include:
- Prevent depression and anxiety: A study states that waking a person before they enter rapid eye movement sleep and denying them the opportunity to dream lead to anxiety, depression, and tension in the future. Hence, dreams can be crucial for leading a peaceful life.
- Express repressed thoughts and emotions: Dreams often make us aware of what we want, in case of conflicted emotions.
- Improve concentration and coordination: Dreams can improve concentration and coordination in your waking life.
- Help build memory: Dreams have been associated with memory storage. Hence, they can boost your memory and information recall ability.
- Enhance the creative side: Dreams are a boon for many artists because they boost their creative sides. A blockbuster movie or song could ideate from an artist’s dream. It is impossible to restrain our thoughts and imaginations while sleeping. Hence, creative ideas are usually generated when you dream.
- Help in problem-solving: According to a study, dreams have been associated with improved problem-solving skills.
Dreams are a part of all age groups.
Some dreams tend to give one’s life purpose, direction, and meaning, as well as mold an individual by:
- Shaping their life choices.
- Helping them build a future.
- Giving them a sense of control and hope.
- Expressing one’s potential.
How do dreams occur?
During sleep, we cycle between rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep.
According to experts, we dream at least four to six times during sleep. Dreams occur during REM sleep, repeating every night. Sleep studies report that our brainwaves are almost as active during REM cycles as when we are awake.
Other features of REM sleep include:
- Loss of muscle tone to prevent acting on your dreams and hurting yourself
- No regulation of body temperature for it to drift toward the room temperature
- Irregular heart rate and breathing rate that makes sleep apnea more prominent during REM sleep
- Constriction of the pupils to protect your eyes if exposed to brighter light
People may experience lucid dreams that occur between REM sleep and wakefulness, where the brain is usually restful but experiences a surge in the activity.
Nightmares are commonly due to the following reasons:
Do dreams indicate something from the future?
Experts claim that dreams occur purely due to electrical activities of the brain and do not play any role in predicting the future. One research found that dreams originate more from the imagination than from perception.
Many theories connected with dreams are existent. However, there is no exact explanation to understand the physiological process during a dream.
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Medically Reviewed on 2/3/2022
References
Image Source: iStock Images
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-do-we-dream-a-sleep-expert-answers-5-questions/
https://www.sleepassociation.org/blog-post/why-do-we-dream-and-what-do-dreams-mean/
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/dreams
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-do-we-dream-a-sleep-expert-answers-5-questions/
https://www.sleepassociation.org/blog-post/why-do-we-dream-and-what-do-dreams-mean/
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/dreams
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