Dreams take up a surprisingly large part of our night. A University of Wisconsin-Madison study – where they measured people’s brain waves during their sleep – concluded that we spend up to 70 percent of our nights dreaming.
Yet most of our dreams we never remember. So why do we have them?
Well, scientists are now beginning to understand why we have certain dreams – and what they mean.
Dreams have long fascinated us. The ancient Greeks decided that there were two types: most were unimportant, caused by everyday hopes and fears. But some were prophetic, a form of divine intervention that allowed the gods to communicate with “chosen” individuals and help them see into the future.
As far as I know I’ve never had a prophetic dream – and the dreams I remember are fairly simple ones, like trying to pack my bags in time to get to the airport but struggling to put on the last pair of socks or underpants. find what I need.
To dream of being naked in public may suggest that you are harboring feelings of guilt or inferiority. Pinpointing what’s causing the stress can help
This type of dream is very common, one of many classic “fear” dreams.
But while most of us have nightmares, in fact much of what we dream about is, as the ancient Greeks said, simply a reflection of the day’s events and what your brain is processing.
This was aptly demonstrated in a recent study from the University of Freiburg in Germany, where 20 people were asked to listen to four audiobooks before bed. These include The Mystery Of The Blue Train by Agatha Christie and Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.
The volunteers were asked to wear an EEG cap, record their brain waves, then be left alone in the sleep lab to drift off to the land of kinks.
Ninety minutes after going to sleep, the volunteers were awakened and asked if they had been dreaming, and if so, what about it. The researchers did this a few more times at night with the unfortunate volunteers.
The next morning, independent researchers (who knew nothing about the experiment) read the accounts each volunteer had dreamed of and were asked to guess which audiobook they had listened to. They got it right with impressive accuracy. They could also tell, based on their brain waves, which of the volunteers had listened to the same audiobooks.
In other words, their dreams reflected the things that happened to them earlier in the day.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison study – where they measured people’s brain waves while sleeping – concluded that we spend up to 70 percent of our nights dreaming (File image)
Most dreams occur during a phase of sleep called Rapid Eye Movement (REM), especially our anxiety dreams, which paradoxically serve an important purpose: helping us feel less stressed when awake.
During REM sleep, most of our muscles are paralyzed. We are still breathing, but other than that, our eyes are the only part of us that is clearly moving. (If you look at someone in REM sleep, their eyes will flicker insanely under their lids.) It’s thought that this “sleep paralysis” keeps us from acting out our dreams.
REM sleep is also the only time, day or night, when connections to stress-producing chemicals in the brain are turned off. This means that while the dreams we have may be scary, they aren’t nearly as bad as if you were having them while awake.
To have a stress dream while in REM sleep is a form of psychotherapy – you revisit unpleasant memories and events, but remain calm. This allows you to process your emotions and defuse them.
So the more REM sleep you can get, the better for your emotional well-being. We get REM sleep throughout the night, but more towards the morning, so try not to interrupt your sleep.
There are many different ways people express fear in their dreams, but here are six of the most common:
1. Being late
For me, this takes the form of trying to pack to catch a plane, but failing. Or sometimes I’m late for a meeting and can’t find my way there.
It is believed that these types of dreams are your subconscious telling you that you are cramming too much into your life.
2. Chasing someone
I often dream of going after someone, but I am never quite able to catch up with them.
The most plausible explanation is that this is a subconscious fear I have that no matter how hard I try, I will never achieve my goals.
3. Fall off a cliff
Dreams of falling – perhaps off a cliff or building – are interpreted as a fear of losing control; that you don’t feel as responsible for your life as you would like.
4. Unprepared for a test
Like falling off a cliff, this is about feeling out of control and ill-prepared for future challenges.
5. Teeth fall out
This seems to be more common after the loss of a loved one and may reflect a fear of growing old and dying.
6. Being naked in public
This is not something I experience (so I don’t have to impose it on your imagination), but if you do, it may indicate that you harbor feelings of guilt or inferiority.
If you have anxiety dreams, it can be comforting to know that they are common and are, in fact, just a sign that you are stressed.
Pinpointing what is causing the stress can help, as can writing the dream down throughout the day – then changing the ending.
I know someone who was haunted by dreams about spiders but found it made a big difference to write about them and then imagine them fleeing from her in a panic. The spider dreams gradually faded.