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Dreams frighten and excite us. We believe that images from our unconscious certainly carry important meaning — you just need to find it. What does modern science say about dreams?
Dreams help relieve stress
A hard week is over. It’s time to have a drink or two at the bar. Or maybe it’s better to go home and sleep well?
Psychologists at the University of California at Berkeley (USA) found that during REM sleep, we have a decrease in the concentration of norepinephrine, a hormone associated with stress.1.
Researchers suggest that during dreams, the brain replays emotionally loaded memories in a safe environment. This helps us better cope with their negative effects.
We can control our dreams
The ability to be conscious of oneself in a dream is not a fiction. If you want to get an idea of what lucid dreaming is, consider a video game. In both cases, you find yourself in an alternate reality. But the events in the game are controlled by a written program, and dreams are controlled by your psyche.
This is not just a good metaphor. Psychologist Jane Gackenbach of Grant McEwan University (Canada) found that experienced gamers are more likely to have lucid dreams than those who do not play video games. They can also influence what happens in a dream and see themselves from the side, as if it were their game character.
Dreams help us find a way out of difficult situations.
In a dream, we often find ourselves in strange places, meeting people from different periods of our lives, and finding ourselves in implausible circumstances. Researchers still have not come to a consensus why the brain needs to play this bizarre movie for us every night.
Harvard psychologist Deirdre Barrett offers a different approach. In her opinion, although we do not fully understand the mechanics of dreams, we can still benefit from them.
The visual absurdity and illogicality of dreams allows us to go beyond stereotyped thinking.
Reflecting on what is happening in a dream, we can find a way out of a difficult life situation.
«Owls» are often haunted by nightmares
Those who like to sit at the computer until three in the morning, caught by a sudden insight or desire to finally review the new series of the Game of Thrones, often see frightening and disturbing dreams2.
True, scientists can not yet say exactly why this happens. Among the main “suspects” is the hormone cortisol, which peaks in the morning by the time we wake up, when we are most often in the “REM” phase. If you’re still asleep in the morning, the cortisol surge can cause particularly vivid dreams and even nightmares.
Cruelty in a dream can be a sign of an approaching illness.
Although many of us experience states of anger or rage in our dreams from time to time, it’s worth considering if such episodes happen all the time.
Dreams in which we show unmotivated violence (for example, beat someone) may be an early sign of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease or dementia, according to a Mayo Clinic (USA) study.3.
Dreams are meaningful (at least if we think so)
“Psychologists interpret dreams in different ways,” explains Cary Morewedge, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. “But research suggests that people often see dreams as a source of understanding of the world and themselves.”
We tend to find more meaningful dreams that confirm our thoughts and beliefs.
So, in one study, 270 people were asked to remember important dreams related to people they know. Respondents named the most meaningful pleasant dreams about people they liked, and unpleasant dreams about those who caused them dislike4.
One way or another, if the dream seemed curious to you, you should not immediately turn to the dream book or search engine in search of an answer. Better try to solve it yourself. Be alone with your feelings — maybe they will tell you the answer.
1. Current Biology 2011, vol. 21.
2. Sleep and Biological Rhythms, 2012, vol. 10, № 1.
3. Neurology, 2010, vol. 75.
4. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 96, № 2.