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Recommended: Importance of dreams essay
“What is a dream?” Or “Why do we dream?” Still two of the greatest unanswered questions today. The most popular definition of dreaming is “A series of images, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dream The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition copy right 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company) We all know we have dreams, but no one really knows why, or what causes us to dream. We have often found ourselves trying to relate the crazy dream we had the night before to our everyday lives, or what the dream was trying to tell us. The human brain is a small ball full of huge amounts of information that we don’t even think we know. There is a theory that states we dream because our “brain is sorting through everything that has been collected during the waking hours.” (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/why-do-we-dream.htm , Why Do We Dream, Charles W. Bryant) When you think about all the things that you see, hear, and store in your mind throughout that day, this theory is makes total sense. Sleep is a very important part of human life, which we spend most of that time dreaming. In order to dream we have to be in the When breaking down the dreaming process, you find that there is eleven types of dreaming. Daydreams, you’re still awake, but you let your imagination carry you away. Most of us find ourselves doing this at work, or in school. False Awakening, when you think you have woken up and done your normal daily things only to actually wake up and realize it was all a dream. Lucid dreaming, when you realize that you’re dreaming and get to a point of controlling the outcome of that dream. “Nightmares, is a disturbing dream ...
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...bout it, but say you go into it with a co-worker that made you mad, and you weren’t able to express that emotion you’re most likely to dream about it. “Depressed people dream much more than non-depressed people because typically, they do much more ruminating, or thinking.” ( http://www.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/why_do_we_dream.html, Mark Tyrrell) It has also been said that physical factors can play a part, whether it be heartburn, the smells in or around your room, or the animal that’s hogging the covers next to you. Sexual desires plays a major part in our dream world for many of us, depending on how important it is in our awake life. Though sexual dreams are usually most common during puberty. In everyday life, sex is ruled by society judgment and personal preference, but in our dreams, even the most timid of us can have explicit sexy dreams once we fall asleep.
A New Kind of Dreaming is a novel written by Anthony Eaton, about a teenage boy, Jamie Riley, being referred to rural Western Australia where, he meets new friends, enemies and also discovers a shocking secret about the towns head police officer. The pressure to find out the secret puts Jamie in a great deal of trouble, from being frightened by the police, blamed for a fire and vandalism offences and even going missing in the desert. The characters have authority or are defenceless.
They say, “It’s not a straight answer. Everyone does it. It naturally comes.” (Morgan, 2012) Dreaming is part of our everyday life. It isn’t something that we have to think of in order for it to happen. It is something that is going to happen either we think about it or not. “We spend one-third of our lives dreaming”, says, (Dell’Amore, 2011). Sleeping is called REM. For adults REM is about every 90 minutes (1hr 30 min). The first cycle is short for 3 minutes but can increase to 55 minutes.” (Dell’Amore, 2011) “Dreams can happen during “Non-REM” too.” (Dell’Amore, 2011) She says that “REM sleep paralyses your muscles for temporary time. It protects our body from our dreams.” This means that some of our dreams can be very powerful and actually cause us to hurt ourselves. We might feel like what we are dreaming is actually real and we would want to act upon it. We can maybe hurt ourselves For example, we have all had that one dream where we feel like are falling and we jump off our beds or we dream that we are fighting against someone or something and we end up punching something that is reals.
Have you ever woken up feeling like you’ve been to the end of the world and back, yet never left your bed? Or maybe you might have had all your worst fears realized when you were asleep? In that case, you were probably dreaming. Dreams are a “series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep” (The American Heritage High School Dictionary, 2004). Everyone has about three to seven dreams a night, but it has been estimated that we forget up to 95 percent of them ( Stevens 2011). Although no one really knows why we dream every night, it’s more likely than not a way for our brain to help us solve problems.
The history of dreaming began in the early centuries. “Dreams were often considered prophetic” (Comptons by Britannica). That means that dreams were seen as a message from the gods. Thousands of years ago, “Greek sick people slept in temples in order to receive dreams that would heal them” (Kantrowitz, Babara; Springen Karen). Current dream science started at the end of the 19th century. Dreams were seen as a kind of “desires” (Kantrowitz; Springen) stemming from childhood. Scientists still don’t know for sure why we are dreaming and what are dreams made of; howe...
Oprah Winfrey once said, “The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.” But, what actually is a dream and what do dreams really have to do with one’s everyday life? In essence, a dream is a series of mental images and emotions occurring during a slumber. Dreams can also deal with one’s personal aspirations, goals, ambitions, and even one’s emotions, such as love and hardship. However, dreams can also give rise to uneasy and terrible emotions; these dreams are essentially known as nightmares.
The average person spends over one-third of their life sleeping, and over this period of time he or she can have over 1,825 dreams (Wicklinski). By definition, dreams are mental images, thoughts, or emotions that are experienced while sleeping. In the beginning, dreams were thought to be messages sent from the gods or spirit world. Researchers now have many theories explaining why people dream. Many of these theories explain that dreams can resemble an individual’s sensory experiences or even secret wishes. All people dream, but only 42% of people can recall their dreams from the night before (“Dreams”). The study of dreams is a topic that is constantly being debated by researchers for many reasons. Dreaming is important because it can impact people’s health, provide insight into what they are feeling, and reveal information about their behavior.
Everyone dreams, this is a common phenomenon that all humans share; but why people dream, and what people dream about, can be different for each person. The big question is what does a dream mean, and why did I dream it. There are so many different theories of what makes a person dream; some say to organize the brain, to sort of clean it up and out, it may be due to strong emotions or trauma, or dreams can help figure out and solve problems you may be having.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, dream is defined by a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring involuntarily in a person’s mind during certain stages of sleep. Dreams have fascinated humans since the beginning of time. The recorded history of dream interpretation dates back to 3000-4000 B.C. with the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. They documented their dreams on clay tablets. People back then saw the dream world as an extension of reality, but that it was a more powerful realm. Furthermore, they believed that when they dream, their souls would leave their body during sleep and travel to the dream world.
Despite the large amount of time we spend asleep, surprisingly little is actually known about sleeping and dreaming. Much has been imagined, however. Over history, sleep has been conceived as the space of the soul, as a state of absence akin to death, as a virtual or alternate reality, and more recently, as a form of (sub)consciousness in which memories are built and erased. The significance attributed to dreams has varied widely as well. The Ancient Greeks had surprise dream encounters with their gods. Native Americans turned to their dreams for guidance in life. Shamans dreamed in order to gather information from the spirits.
In the novel, Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M Coetzee, the magistrate’s progressive, non-linear dreams are a parallel to his growing involvement with the barbarians and his growing distaste for the empire. The great psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud said, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious.” In every dream there is a hidden meaning and when the reader starts analyzing the magistrate’s dreams he reveals that he is oddly attracted to the barbarians and knows he should not get involved and it will be a trial to get close to them.
Dreams are series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Dreams occur during a certain stage of sleep known as REM. Several different psychologists, including Freud and Hobson, have studied dreams. Psychologists have provided many theories as to what dreams are and the meanings behind them.
The Psychodynamic view of dreaming suggests that the content in our dream is symbolic of something. Also, that the content in our dreams are based on unconscious desires as well as internal conflict.
If every human being were to become a frequent lucid dreamer, the world’s culture, art, technology, medicine and even science would quickly develop in a whole new direction. Consider if every inventor suddenly had a breakthrough about a new invention through lucid dreaming or if every artist suddenly began producing subconsciously inspired artwork. Imagine if every scientist could abruptly solve advanced problems that had left them stumped. If people had access to lucid dreams and used them in a productive capacity, the world would tap into a greater power within. Unfortunately, there is much speculation placed on the notion of lucid dreaming despite the numerous scientific experiments made to prove its existences.
Dreams are necessary. Without dreams, there will be no ambition to chase. There will be no goal to reach. We won't have anything to aim for. We will all be nothing without dreams. Not having dreams is like chasing a traceless murder. It is like following an invisible shadow. It is a dreadful goose chase. We must know what we want to do and follow that ambition. We can’t achieve anything in life without goals, and for these goals, we need to dream.
What is a dream? Why do we have dreams? Do dreams have deeper meaning in our lives? The answers to these questions have eluded and intrigued many psychologists throughout history and have sparked my interest as well. As an avid and vivid dreamer I have often found myself wondering what the true meanings to my dreams were. So what are dreams? “Strictly speaking, dreams are images and imagery, thoughts, sounds and voices, and subjective sensations experienced when we sleep.”1 Even after thousands of years of research, psychologists have still not come to an agreed answer on why we dream. There are as many opinions out there as there are individual dreams. Some psychologists believe dreaming is simply the minds way of distracting itself from outside information during sleep to allow people to get deep rest. Others such as Dr. Eric Hartman suggest dreams serve almost as a psychotherapy in which the brain can make connections between different emotions and thoughts in a safe protected environment. Do dreams have any direct correlation to everyday events and experiences? Are they meant to aid individuals in understanding and interpreting their world around them?