There have been several explanations offered as to why we dream: One hypothesis is that dreams are a catharsis to the stresses of daily life; another is that they are actually a disruption of the nervous system. Yet another possible explanation is that dreams prepare your emotions, helping you to come to terms with major events and in taking difficult decisions in life, and hence are vital for your emotional health.
Dream recallers v/s the forgetful
Some of us can remember our dreams clearly whereas there are others who rarely recall one. Why does that happen? A 2013 study, published in the journal ‘Cortex’, tries to explain this. Researchers at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, France, observed that high dream recallers have twice as many time of wakefulness during sleep as low dream recallers and their brains are more reactive to auditory stimuli during sleep and wakefulness. This increased brain reactivity may promote awakenings during the night, and may thus facilitate remembering the dream during brief periods of wakefulness. Explains researcher Perrine Ruby, “High dream recallers are more reactive to environmental stimuli, awaken more during sleep, and thus better encode dreams in memory than low dream recallers. Indeed, the sleeping brain is not capable of memorising new information; it needs to awaken to be able to do that.”
However, whether you are a high dream recaller or the low one, it does not mean you differ in getting dreams. In fact, it is possible that high dream recallers produce a larger amount of dreaming than low dream recallers and hence can recall them the next morning.
Nightmares? Or just bad dreams?
If you suffer from frequent nightmares, and are the type that wakes up with a start, drenched in sweat and nervous of going back to sleep, you are not alone. Death, health concerns and threats are common themes in nightmares. Physical aggression is the most frequently reported theme in nightmares, note psychology researchers at the Université de Montréal, in the 2014 issue of ‘Sleep’. Sometimes, it is the feeling of a threat or an ominous atmosphere that causes the person to awaken. Nightmares in men are also more likely than those of women to contain themes of disasters and calamities such as floods, earthquakes and war while themes involving interpersonal conflicts are twice as frequent in the nightmares of women. Women’s nightmares on the other hand, says a 2009 study by the University of the West of England, were broadly divided into three categories: Fearful dreams – being chased or life threatened, losing a loved one or confused dreams. Research has shown that about 5% – 6% of the population report having chronic nightmares.
Researchers also make a distinction between nightmares and bad dreams. But scientists say that dreams, bad dreams, and nightmares are part of the same emotional and neurocognitive process. It remains to be determined what factors influence them individually.
Can you control dreams?
New research at the University of Adelaide has found that a specific combination of techniques will increase people’s chances of having lucid dreams, in which the dreamer is aware they’re dreaming while it’s still happening and can control the experience. The 2017 study, published in the journal ‘Dreaming’, said, “Developing highly effective lucid dream induction techniques will allow us to study the many potential benefits of lucid dreaming, such as treatment for nightmares and improvement of physical skills and abilities through rehearsal in the lucid dream environment.”
Dreams of sex
Scientists of the University of Montreal looked at 3,500 home dream reports collected from men and women. Sexual intercourse was the most common type of sexual dream content, followed by sexual propositions, kissing and fantasies. Around 20% of women’s sexual dreams were of current or past partners as compared to 14% for men. Women were also twice likely to dream sexually of public figures than men. Men’s sexual dreams often had multiple sex partners. The research was presented at the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Need a solution? Dream of it!
A University Of Alberta study says that if you are looking for a solution of a problem, the advice to ‘sleep on it’ for a while isn’t a bad idea. Findings published in the ‘Journal of Sleep Research’ show that there may be an advantage to dreams that occur for up to a week after a memorable emotional event. And, compared to dreams on the night immediately after the remembered event, the ‘delayed incorporations’ more often reflected interpersonal interactions, problem resolution and positive emotions, suggesting that these delayed incorporations help the person work through personal difficulties. “This suggests an ongoing effort to resolve a problem in dreams during the week following the emergence of that problem. The dreams themselves are a kind of treatment,” says Dr Don Kuiken, a psychology professor at the University of Alberta. “Something is going on there that at least touches on and alters the resolutions that people come up with.”
Dreams and physical health
Says a 2017 report of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, there is a connection between sleep disorders and neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementias. They believe that this research may eventually lead to a neuroprotective strategy.
Whether as indicators of physical health issues, emotional confusion or blessings and insights sought from the spirit world, the topic of dreaming has several fascinating angles. Modern science has made treatment of nightmares and insomnia possible. If you believe you need help, approach your healthcare provider for further guidance.
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