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5 mind-bending facts about dreams
As scientists become increasingly able to probe deeper into our minds, they are beginning to shine some light on the mysteries of what happens when we sleep.
Mon, Apr 30 2012 at 12:49 PM
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Photo: Zhenikeyev/iStockphoto
When your head hits the pillow, for many it's lights out for the conscious part of you. But the cells firing in your brain are very much awake, sparking enough energy to produce the sometimes vivid and sometimes downright haunted dreams that take place during the rapid-eye-movement stage of your sleep.
Why do some people have nightmares while others really spend their nights in bliss? Like sleep, dreams are mysterious phenomena. But as scientists are able to probe deeper into our minds, they are finding some of those answers.
Here's some of what we know about what goes on in dreamland.
1. Violent dreams can be a warning sign
As if nightmares weren't bad enough, a rare sleep disorder — called REM sleep behavior disorder — causes people to act out their dreams, sometimes with violent thrashes, kicks and screams. Such violent dreams may be an early sign of brain disorders down the line, including Parkinson's disease and dementia, according to research published online July 28, 2010, in the journal Neurology. The results suggest the incipient stages of these neurodegenerative disorders might begin decades before a person, or doctor, knows it.
2. Night owls have more nightmares
Staying up late has its perks, but whimsical dreaming is not one of them. Research published in 2011 in the journal Sleep and Biological Rhythms, revealed that night owls are more likely than their early-bird counterparts to experience nightmares.
In the study 264 university students rated how often they experienced nightmares on a scale from 0 to 4, never to always, respectively. The stay-up-late types scored, on average, a 2.10, compared with the morning types who averaged a 1.23. The researchers said the difference was a significant one, however, they aren’t sure what's causing a link between sleep habits and nightmares. Among their ideas is the stress hormone cortisol, which peaks in the morning right before we wake up, a time when people are more prone to be in REM, or dream, sleep. If you’re still sleeping at that time, the cortisol rise could trigger vivid dreams or nightmares, the researchers speculate. [Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders]
3. Men dream about sex
As in their wake hours, men also dream about sex more than women do. And comparing notes in the morning may not be a turn-on for either guys or gals, as women are more likely to have experienced nightmares, suggests doctoral research reported in 2009 by psychologist Jennie Parker of the University of the West of England.
She found women's dreams/nightmares could be grouped into three categories: fearful dreams (being chased or having their life threatened); dreams involving the loss of a loved one; or confused dreams.
4. You can control your dreams
If you're interested in lucid dreaming, you may want to take up video gaming. The link? Both represent alternate realities, said Jayne Gackenbach, a psychologist at Grant MacEwan University in Canada.
"If you're spending hours a day in a virtual reality, if nothing else it's practice," Gackenbach told LiveScience in 2010. "Gamers are used to controlling their game environments, so that can translate into dreams." Her past research has shown that people who frequently play video games are more likely than non-gamers to have lucid dreams where they view themselves from outside their bodies; they were also better able to influence their dream worlds, as if controlling a video-game character.
That level of control may also help gamers turn a bloodcurdling nightmare into a carefree dream, she found in a 2008 study. This ability could help war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Gackenbach reasoned.
5. Why we dream
Scientists have long wondered why we dream, with answers ranging from Sigmund Freud's idea that dreams fulfill our wishes to the speculation that these wistful journeys are just a side effect of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. Turns out, at least part of the reason may be critical thinking, suggests Harvard psychologist Deirdre Barrett who presented her theory in 2010 at the Association for Psychological Science meeting in Boston.
Her research revealed that our slumbering hours may help us solve puzzles that have plagued us during daylight hours. The visual and often illogical aspects of dreams make them perfect for the out-of-the-box thinking that is necessary to solve some problems, she speculates.
So while dreams may have originally evolved for another purpose, they have likely been refined over time for multiple tasks, including helping the brain reboot and helping us solve problems, she said.
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How can dreams give warnings of things to come? No one can predict the future... agreed the planet been F'd though.
your dreams are you viewing what you are doing in a parallel universe
I like this theory :)
I always try to take control of my dreams, and yes, I'm an avid computer gamer, too. I've had the most fun with ones where my life or the life of others are threatened and guns/fighting is involved. I get such an adrenaline rush during the dream. It's so awesome. I did not see adrenaline mentioned in the article. They should check for that, too.
I've done the same... Used to be big into gaming so I try to take control of my dreams too. I have a lot of sci-fi dreams for some reason but those and mundane dreams where I'm with friends, I like to take to take control of the situation. I sleep talk too so sometimes I'll wake up half lucid and realize what I'm doing, only to hit the pillow and go right back in...
When I was younger I remember a few dreams where it was like I was watching a film of this crazy event of my Life/Dream but wasnt actually living it through my eyes. I felt the emotions but viewed the dreams as an outsider. Was I lucid dreaming?
Lucid dreaming is simply being aware that you are dreaming, ability to control or not.
really happened: worried about back yard being flooded and coming in the house during heavy rainy season. dreamed about using hose to syphon out back yard. Next morning we did just that, and it worked.
one more thing, i do not dream when depressed, or at least, do not remember them.
dreams sometimes just puzzles me coz in the dream I see things I had never thought of before. sometimes they become a reality. Amazing still is that it is very difficult to know the meaning until one see it happen then like a video you see everything as it was in the dream
Very interesting! Thanks for the info :)
my dreams always make me think I am a alien from another planet, LOL
I completely agree with your assessment, except that sometimes my dreams foretells the future with amazing details, that makes me wonder if there may be more to it than just a cleanup, anyway dreams are a beautiful mystery.
I think it's more accurate that dreams are a reflection of our problems, and they can be used as signs an indicators of mental health. That doesn't mean "dream interpretation," like if you see the color red it means whatever. I have death dreams before I have a major life change, and it can help me realize how stressed out I am. I have very unpleasant dreams when I'm feeling hopeless, and they can help me realize I need to remove myself from a situation.
Dreams usually manifest unfulfilled wishes, which have been close to heart for long.
Very interesting article, though I find all these collective facts to be extremely dependent on the individual.
Personally, I find that even as an avid video gamer, I tend to have limited if not no control over my dreams. Although, I'm highly aware that I am in one most of the time.
Also, as a fiction writer, I do get a lot of my story ideas from dreams, but I am hesitant to say I ever achieved any critical thinking from them.
I do not believe dreams are our way of solving problems. Thats B.S. I have horrid nightmares if I dream. I never have pleasant dreams and I never dream all the time. I'll go months without a dream and then have a nightmare. I don't see how being ripped a part, hacked to pieces, having demons rip you from limb to limb or watching people being fed though meat grinders is in any way solving any of my so called "problems."
Continued nightmares like yours is a way that your subconscious is trying to warn you that something is very, very wrong and you need to seek help NOW! Since your subconscious works on an intuitive level it can't tell you exactly, in rational terms, what is wrong.
Lillian- You need to seek help from a professional. This is concerned advice, I'm not being rude.
I definitely agree that dreams are the mind's way of solving problems! They're also for helping your brain organize new information, skills, dealing with emotions, etc, etc. Dreaming is healthy!
About lucid dreaming, I have done it a few times but whenever I realize I'm dreaming I usually wake up. :(
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