Have you ever had the best dream of your life? You wake up,
hoping to remember the sweet picture in your head, but it’s gone. In my last
blog I discussed a few scientific and spiritual theories on dreaming. After coming
to my own conclusion of why we experience dreaming, it makes me wonder if our
dreams even have a meaning.As we all know, when it comes to dreaming everything is in
theory. No matter what theory I searched, all referenced to Sigmund Freud and
Carl Jung.
Both, world famous Psychiatrist, have theories on why we dream. According to Scientific American , Freud believed dreams are based around unresolved longing. Jung also believed dreams link into our psychological side, but had many different theories on why. With that being said, these are still theories, no one truly knows what lies behind our dreams. I can't help but wonder if all theories point to the same conclusion, that dreams may have a meaning behind them, why do we forget them so often?
In another article written in Scientific American, the author discusses a recent study on why we don't remember certain dreams claiming that we only remember the things that are significant to our daily lives. (Meetings, Birthdays, Dates....Etc...) Contrary to this, most theories result to scientific standpoint, discussing REM sleep and so on. Here is a video discussing a few more theories on why we forget our dreams. What's your thoughts on this? If dreams are important and do serve a purpose, why do our brains store some memories and not others? Let me know your thoughts!
Jessica, you would think that tackling an issue that is as old as humanity we would have better answers by now. :) And yet dreaming is still a mystery. I have some dreams that I still remember from childhood. Not surprisingly, they were related to social anxiety or similar conflicts. I can't tell whether they helped me resolve any of that but they might have helped me to "vent" it.
ReplyDeleteThere were other dreams which I did remember right after waking up but they disappeared as the day progressed. Some nights I don't even remember dreaming once. So, I probably exhibit all typical human experiences related to dreams.
My husband, however, is a little different. He can have the most vivid and convoluted dreams I could not even think of, and then he remembers them all. How??? Sometimes when he relates them to me, I get tired just from listening to them. :) Or, I just stare in amazement. I know he is a creative soul, a writer, but you can't get movies as complicated as his dreams get.
And contrary to Freud's theory about dreams, his have multiple persons interacting and doing different things, so they all cannot really be him.
I remember only one other person in my life, a classmate from high school, who would often come to school and start telling us about her dreams. The descriptions weren't far-fetched, like made up by her, and more often than not, they were as complicated as my husband's. I wonder sometimes whether those two share something in their brain chemistries because their experiences are so similar. Maybe they have much more prolonged REM phases...?
Also, did you happen to come across any information about the dreams that sometimes you wake up from and the next time you fall asleep you just continue them as if they have never been interrupted? I think this phenomenon is extremely peculiar because that may happen not only if you return to sleep right away, but also a day or a number of days later.
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI find this topic very interesting in the fact that I can’t remember the last time I had a dream, it has been a very long time. I have always wondered if I have just stopped dreaming or if I am just not remembering them. When I was a kid I knew I had dreams but could not remember them and now I am not even sure if I have dreams at all. I think that dreams are somehow related to our lives, we may not always know how they are, but I believe they are in some form related.
Amanda Roach
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteDreaming is a very weird and interesting thing! I typically only remember bits and pieces of dreams and usually it is what I was dreaming right before I wake up. It is amazing to think that we are sleeping but our brains never stop! Hopefully one day there will be more answers about this topic. I have heard once that any person you dream about you have seen them before in your life and that is how your brain is able to create a picture for people in our dreams? Who knows if this is true but i found it interesting. What are your thoughts on this?