Dreaming

Although we may not remember all our dreams, everyone dreams several times a night. So why does this happen— and do our dreams have any meaning?

We have no clear idea why dreams occur, but apparently, they help us to maintain our mental stability. Studies show that a person who is prevented from dreaming for a few nights becomes irritable, restless and unable to concentrate or perform routine tasks. If left to sleep undisturbed, the person dreams far more, as if to catch up on lost dreaming time.

Why we dream

The simplest, though as yet unproven, theory as to why we dream is that we do so by chance. If a person is awakened at the end of a dream period, which can be iden­tified by rapid eye movements (REMs) in the sleeper, each dream recounted usually consists of a very simple image: a picture with one or two people, one or two objects and one or two actions.

We also know that if a tiny electric current is passed across a small area of the brain, a similar sort of image or memory is conjured up: a scene, a sound, an action or an event.

One theory state that while we sleep deeply, some of our brain neurones (nerve cells) charge up slowly with electricity by means of a spontaneous natural process, stimulating neighbouring cells in much the same way as when a fleeting idea occurs to us while we are awake.

This random firing of groups of cells alerts our memories and displays them as action scenes: we remember these on waking and term them dreams.

Outside influences

Digestive activity in the body or, for that matter, anything that changes the level of arousal in the brain, may either tend to produce more active dreams or possibly arouse us more easily to remember them by waking during the night.

This theory explains the popular belief that certain foods stimulate dreaming.  Other outside factors and influences tell us more about the brain than about dreams. If a fine spray of cold water is directed at the sleeper's face at different points in the dream period, the feeling of the spray is often incorporated into the dream.

From a report of the experience, it is evident that the dream spans the same amount of time it would for the event to occur in real life. We do not—as is com­monly believed—dream our dreams in a flash or in just a few seconds.

Other effects can be produced by out­side stimulants.

A moderately loud buzz will easily wake a dreamer if he or she is dreaming at the same time, and less easily when they are not dreaming. If the dreamer's name is spoken, however, the subject will as easily be woken during a non-dreaming period as during a dream period.

This tells us that part of our brain is awake even when our dream sense is not operating.

The purpose of dreams

The idea of dreams having a meaning and purpose rather than being random occur­rences is as old as history itself. There have been many theories on this point voiced by people ranging from psychia­trists to fortune-tellers.

Freud, the famous psychiatrist, believed that a dream portrayed wish fulfilments that could not be expressed in daily life as they were frowned upon in the dreamer's society. Not all these wish-fulfilling dreams were literal expres­sions; very often they appeared in disguised or symbolic form, which the dreamer would then have to interpret.

Later theories have centred on the idea of dreams being trial solutions to prob­lems in the dreamer's daily life. In these kinds of dreams, the logic of the problem was not worked out, but instead the dreamer was able to experience the emotional consequences of the solution.

Very often the dreamer would either reject or fail to remember the dream upon awakening if it appeared to have no relevance to his problem. Only those dreams which had some bearing, or stirred some emotional response, were remembered as the dreamer might think they were of some use.

The truth might lie in the combination of some of the various theories. Dreams may occur as the result of the random neurone firings in the brain, but they are remembered or forgotten according to their relevance and interest to the dreamer's way of life and the problems that are in it.

Unanswered questions

Many other questions about dreams remain unanswered. We know that some people habitually dream in colour, while others never do, and dream entirely in black and white. We also know that some people become expert at controlling their dreams, while others are never even aware that they are dreaming at the time.

Moreover, we know that some people have recurring dreams, sometimes for the best part of their lives, while other people experience a dream only once.

Lastly, we know that some people are experienced at remembering their dreams, while others cannot, and as a result they believe that they never dream.

In none of these cases, however, have we any idea as to why these differences exist.