Someone once said, Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do notknow what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a newcountry (Nin, The Diaries of Anais). Dreams are the result of subconsciousthoughts and desires. The other theory to dreams are random noises in theneurons of the brain without special meaning. Dreams are the mental activitythat takes place during sleep. Usually during REM sleep is when dreamsoccur (Oxford University).
Normally everyone dreams several times anightsome drugs and alcohol may impair the dream process. The inability torecall dreams is not abnormal though. Dreams are communication of the body,mind, and spirit in a symbolic state. The human brains are in constant activitywhen sleeping. Different states of conciseness cause different brain waveactivity. The brain usually has ordinary sequences of imagination.
For thousandsof years dreams were regarded as visions or prophesies. Dreams seemto be a way for the subconscious mind to sort out and process all the input thatis encountered while people are awake. Dreams can also improve your emotionalwell being, reduce stress, improve creativity, and provide a playground foryour mind while your body recovers and repairs itself. Contrary to the viewthat dreams server no function one theorist suggests that, dreams are thebrains way of unlearning or removing certain or unneeded memories (Kasschall,Richard).
In other words dreams are a form of mental housecleaning. Such mentalhousecleaning might be necessary because it is not useful to remember everysingle detail of your life. There are two functions of dreams: to fulfillconscious wishes, to guard sleep. Most dreams also have been recorded asunpleasant. As you begin to fall asleep your body temperature declines, yourpulse rate drops, and your breathing begins to slow and even, this is calledstage one sleep (Kaschall Richard). A more active type of sleep ischaracterized by rapid eye movement is called REM sleep.
Most humans spend atleast one third of their lives sleeping, during that one third, people areusually dreaming also, some scientists characterize dreams as masshallucinations. The four main categories of dreams are prophetic, standard,physical, and nightmare. The amount of sleep needed varies depending on theindividual and on the different times of the day or night. Sigmund Freud was thefirst scientist to study dreams thoroughly.
Although dreams contain elements ofthe ordinarythe elements are often jumbled in fantastic ways. Freud was alsothe first theorist in the modern era to argue that dreams are an important partof our emotional lives. Some scientists are skeptical of dream interpretations,Nathienal Kleiman, one of the pioneers who discovered REM sleep, wrote in 1960,Dreaming may serve no function whatsoever (Kasschall 32). Everybodydreams, not only all humans, but mammals are shown to have REM sleep, which isassociated with dreams. With just a few exceptions, all mammals go through adreaming cycle of rapid eye movement. Since (with pets at least) this coincideswith movements of the animals all having some kind of dreaming experience.
Students who get good REM sleep retain the information better and for longerperiods of time. This is because the brain needs time to process informationform a pattern out of it, and place it in long term memory. When people arerandomly awakened during REM sleep and asked what they had just been dreamingabout the reports are usually very dull or even boring, although most people donot remember what they were dreaming about. Theories about REM sleep and why wedreams are as bountiful and different as dreams themselves. Some reasonswhy we have REM sleep are, REM sleep aids the consolidation of long-term memory,cleans the brain of unneeded information, and is necessary to provide the brainwith occasional stimulation during sleep. Some scientists also say REM sleep isnecessary for brain growth.
Sensual input while sleeping is incorporated intodreams. Most notably, while sleeping, you hear as well as while your awake-theears are never turned off. This leads to the consequence that what you hearwhile your sleeping, youll hear in your dreams. The sound is always comingfrom somewhere.
Common experiences of this kind are a telephone ringing or musicfrom a radio. Its not important how loud the noise is to get noticed whensleeping. Even an otherwise unnoticed sound, like a mouse running over yourfloor, can wake you up if it is uncommon, or otherwise alarming to you. On theother hand, you can get accustomed to high levels of noise, like constructionwork, or traffic on the road near by. Many dreams contain the same images, andthese symbols are consistently associated with certain real life conditions andfeelings.
Certain conditions, stresses and personalities seem to be associatedwith particular dream symbols. In my dreams, I am on the way to work when I,notice that I have a loose tooth. I wiggle it, and then to my horror, it fallsout, then I notice other teeth are loose and they too begin to fall out. Soon mygums are empty and bleeding, and I rush around wondering how Im going tohandle this or cover it up so none notices me this way (DreamInterpretations). There is some disagreement what certain things in dreamsactually mean, for example in this dream the bleeding might represent energy or”life force,” loss of blood in a dream implies that some person,situation, or relationship, is creating a drain or energy.
Dreaming about teethrepresents the very roots of the self, the values of a person, dreams of toothloss often occur when a compromise is made (even for good reasons) in which theperson is not sure on the decision. Research in the area of paranormal dreamshas been well done in many cases, but despite interesting findings, thescientific community has poorly received paranormal dreams. “The mindcannot deal with chaos very well, in fact it will resist and sometimesmanufacture order” (The Basics about Dreaming). Dreams are easilyinfluenced by factors in life, they are also influenced by random outsidesounds, and sometimes dreams are even influenced by earlier experiences andmemories. It is normal to dream of the deceased, particularly during the firstyear after they have died.
It is also common to dream of them on their birthdayor the anniversary of their death. These dreams tend to be upsetting and bizarreat first, and then take on a less dramatic state, and grow more comforting overtime. If people think they dont dream, they probably just dont rememberit. The most important reason why people dont remember their dreams isbecause they just dont care. Dream recall can be trained by thinking overwhat you have dreamed for some time and writing it down. McCarley, for example,argues, that the common experience of feeling paralyzed in a dreams simply meansthat the brain cells that inhibit muscle activity were randomly stimulated.
People tend to remember the more important things that happen in life and on themost part forget the rest. If that theory is correct, then those things thatneed to be forgotten are included in dreams, and the very act of dreamingsomehow helps erase them. Francis Crick, Nobel Prize winner and Co. -Discover ofDNA proposed this idea. The images in a humans dream may seem strange, but theyare all parts of a story about you and your life.
Nothing appears in dreamsaccidentally, each symbol presents valuable information. People may have aninstinctive sense to understand the most confusing part of the dream, which isusually the most important part to understand. By translating the most commonmeaning of contemporary dream symbols, the dreams could become very meaningful. Shared dreaming is being reported more frequently then ever in thiscentury, shared dreaming in most common to, married couples, siblings stillliving at home, and very close friends that are living together. Although thestriking nature of shared dreaming seems to suggest that these dreams are moreimportant then others, has not yet been proven. New methods discovered toanalyze and record dreams and to determine similarities and differences betweendifferent peoples dreams.
Most dreams contain references to, people, animals,physical objects, and mental objects. Most dreams interact with the objects. There is also memory, memory is very vast. During cycles of brain activity, weview dreams with out conscience mind and record them in our memory, that is whywe sometimes remember dreams. Dreams help us understand ourselves and long as weknow how to interpret them. Understanding of dreams greatly advanced in the 20thcentury, but the work of Freud and Jung.
, and the discovery of REM sleep byKleitman and Aserinsky. Today dreams are studied scientifically to learn moreabout mans nature. Specific purpose: To Inform people about what dreamsare and their purpose. Introduction: Throw your dreams into space like akite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, anew love, a new country” (Nin, The Diaries of Anais).
Thesis statement:Dreams are usually are caused by subconscious thoughts. I. Subconscious thoughtsA. Neurons of the brain B.
REM sleep C. Drugs and alcohol II. Communication ofdreams A. Mind B. Body C. Spirit 1.
symbolic state III. Subconscious mind A. Sort out information B. Improve emotional well being C. Reduce stress D.
Improvecreativity IV. View of dreams A. Brains way of unlearning B. Mentalhousecleaning C.
Purpose of dreams 1. fulfill conscious wishes 2. to guard sleepV. What happens during sleep A. Temperature declines B.
Breathing begins to evenC. REM 1. rapid eye movement D. Spend one third of lives sleeping E. Fourcategories of dreams 1.
prophetic 2. standard 3. physical 4. nightmare VI.
Sigmund Freud A. First to study dreams thoroughly B. First to argue about dreams1. Important part of the emotional life VII.
Who dreams? A. Humans B. Mammals C. House pets VIII.
Theories about REM sleep A. REM sleep aids long term memory B. Clean brain of unneeded information C. Provides brain with occasionalstimulation during sleep 1.
Necessary for brain growth IX. Sample dream A. Toothloss B. Bleeding X.
Paranormal dreams A. Poorly received B. Cannot deal withchaos XI. Remembering dreams A. People dont care about dreams B. Dream recall1.
Thinking over dreams 2. Writing them down C. Feeling paralyzed 1. Brain cellswere stimulated XII.
Shared dreaming A. Reported frequently B. Most common in 1. Married couples 2. Siblings living at home 3. Very close friends living togetherXIII.
Methods to analyze dreams A. New methods B. Most dreams include 1. People2. Animals 3.
Physical objects 4. Mental objectsPsychology
