Why Do We Dream?
Why Do We Dream? Everyone needs sleep, and with sleep comes dreams. People have been used to dreaming that they no longer question why such things occur. When you go about thinking answers to why do we dream, there should be much consideration that one will put on empirical studies that have been made to figure out such. These things that most people who have dedicated their lives to studying things such as dreams can provide answers to such queries, mainly because there have been much research that had been involved when it comes to answering the existence of dreams in men’s lives.
Answering the question why do we dream though makes for quite a curious subject. While some studies would stress the importance of sleep when it comes to taking care of the body’s needs and requirements for living and recuperating, it makes for a more interesting subject to look into the existence of dreams during sleep. Because they do occur in people when they reach the deep stage of sleep or the R.E.M. stage (Rapid Eye Movement), most studies believe that such a matter increases the significance of sight in heightening brain activity, although dreams often do occur in lighter sleep stages.
But whether or not they will occur in as short as a few seconds or will last for as long as twenty minutes, people would still ask the question “why do we dream” out of curiosity about the existence and purpose of such. Mainly because dreams are such elusive things and figuring out their meanings make for quite a baffling and mysterious feat, it can also be because people believe they manage to give a sense of what everyone’s minds have within its inner recesses, thereby allowing for a more personal way to deal with questions that they want to be answered.
Why Do We Dream: The Different Dream Theories
To look further into such questions on why do we dream can be answered by several theories on the purpose of the existence of dreams. These things will go about certain observations and research as well as experimentation done by different specialists to answer questions on “why do we dream”. Not only will such information will give you an insight on why do we dream, but it will also help you figure out certain necessary things that the body does that will cover more than just the general functions of sleep.
Unconscious Wish Fulfillment – Legendary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud wrote a book on “why do we dream”. Entitled “The Interpretation of Dreams”, it was an insight to how dreams in people often end up surfacing to give a semblance of reality and fulfillment to certain wishes and frustrations that they might have. Freud states that dreams often work to symbolize repressed wishes and desires, which would present themselves in a manner that is more symbolic than it concrete.
For example, one will dream of driving a car even if he or she would not know how to drive, but the interpretation of such a dream will explain that the person has frustrations in life that limit freedom, and the desire to take the wheel or drive one’s life in his or her own terms is quite strong.
Evolutionary Development – Another theory that is prevalent that gives an answer to the question why do we dream takes roots on the humans’ drive for survival. Finnish cognitive Scientist Antti Revonsuo states that dreams basically help people practice in their minds certain ways of dealing with life threatening situations. You may notice that you end up deciphering the meaning of nightmares when you dream about dying or being chased by monsters, to which Revonsuo states that your mind is outfitting your capabilities on certain skills that will help you survive such ordeals.
This theory on why do we dream states that the human brain’s amygdala, which dictates the human instinct for fight or flight, fires more signals than normal when humans are in REM, which makes for similarities when it comes to a human being threatened for survival. The same part works for motor activity, but the limbs generally don’t move when people are asleep. Rehearsal of responses for fight or flight situations is prevalent in dreams, according to this theory.
Mental Rearrangement and Cleanup – People’s minds deal with a lot of things every day, and the question of Why Do We Dream might come up. The co-discoverer of the DNA’s structure Francis Crick and Graeme Mitchison theorized in 1983 that people dream in order to forget. The answer on why do we dream can be comparable to defragmenting a computer’s hard drive: dreams work in helping restore order for more functionality in the brain.
As the brain manages to create and fire new pathways for basic actions, during sleep it uses dreams to reestablish and reconnect lost pathways and would prioritize those over ones that may not prove to be much useful. This makes for more brain efficiency, which can prove to be an answer to why do we dream when taken as a more functional theory for dream existence.
Other Theories on Why Do We Dream
Other studies make for dreaming as a way to gain wisdom. Studies like that of MIT Center for Learning and Memory’s Matt Wilson states that information that people learn or do during the day will set off the same neuron patterns in their sleep that will further establish such information in people’s minds. Another theory on why do we dream by Tuft’s doctor Ernest Hartmann will state that it is a form of psychotherapy, which helps people deal with issues and things in a more lucid and unbiased way, making it easier for acceptance and problem solving.
There can also be a possibility that dreams just happen because they do. There may not be a reason to answer the question why do we dream, and such dreams are just random processes that the brain works on when the body is at rest. After all, the mind will only rest when people pass on, so it makes for something good that the mind can do while a person is asleep.
Let’s have a good dream no matter what we really know Why Do We Dream
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