Human beings have a strange habit: we try to convince ourselves that we are experts in what we are most ignorant of. Our curiosity is insatiable, as is our fear of the unknown. Maybe that’s why we want to solve mysteries too quickly. This is what happens with dreams. We narrate them, we interpret them, we want to give them a meaning that is very far from their reality. What are dreams for?
Dreams, or daydreams, are narratives that we visualize, experience and feel in the deep phase of sleep or state. MOR (rapid eye movements, REM in English). During this phase, we can experience up to 30 or 40 dreams each night Are you surprised? Why then do we only remember a few or even none?
During that phase of sleep, you are unconscious but your brain and your entire body continue working to keep you alive. In the same way that your heart pumps and your lungs continue to breathe in and out, emotional and creative processes occur in your brain that help you learn and develop.
The brain stem It then sends images, sounds and sensations to the brain in a random way, depending on the people you see the most, or think about the most, or what worries you the most. Then the brain (the neocortex, to be more precise) tries to interpret all these images and construct a coherent narrative. Since you’re asleep, there aren’t the usual boundaries we create in our minds, so dreams are like a child’s imagination… creative, strange, full of possibilities, they go beyond the physical limits of our material world.
What are dreams for?
Not all of its functions are known yet, but these are some:
That is, if sleeping helps us regulate homeostasis of the body, rest, recover our energies and regulate them, dreaming helps us regulate our learning, manage our emotions (perhaps, feeling during sleep what we do not allow ourselves to feel during the day and must be felt and experienced), develop our creativity. ..in short, look for new ways to face problems.
Some curiosities about dreams
During the sleep phase (REM or REM) people they move their eyes under their eyelids At that moment, we are dreaming, and the physiological stimuli we receive stimulate the daydreaming or narration we experience. Therefore, when they touch us we feel those sensations in the dream, or if they put a finger in water, we can feel like we are drowning. If at those moments someone wakes us up abruptly… we will be able to remember, in great detail, up to 5 or 6 daydreams.
To delve deeper into the world of dreams and the curiosities associated with them, you can read the article “10 curiosities about dreams”, by psychologist Bertrand Regader.
Finally, what do dreams mean? Do you have any interpretation?
Dreams are just a response to what we tend to think and experience day after day. If we are angry and repress that anger, it is common to dream about violence, or that we are confronting some of our loved ones. Dreams are just that, a reflection, sometimes random.
Some people transform into others (simply because they are common images in our lives), we remember events from the past that had a special impact, or we dream of situations that repeat themselves and that witness our patterns and perhaps some of our personal blocks and beliefs that still need to be worked on. Ultimately, the meaning and interpretation of our dreams is that these dreams are a master example of our mental patterns, our fears, obsessions, and also longings, desires and… of our dreams, themselves.
Finally, who should interpret our dreams?
Only you can interpret your dreams. Perhaps the most sensible thing is not to interpret them, simply feel them and answer the question: what can I learn from my dreams? People who relate more positively to their dreams use them to enhance their decision-making and learning. You can do it too. Time to dream!
