Why Do We Dream ?
aquasixio.deviantart.com
By Quiona Howard
Why
do we dream? To answer this question you first must know what a dream
is, right? In my opinion I believe dreams are our subconscious mind
trying to tell us something, for example if you’re really stressed about
school or work maybe you might dream about being trapped in the school
or work building or maybe you have a dream about quitting and giving up.
Growing up I was raised around a lot of superstitions so whenever I
dreamt about someone being pregnant it meant death was near , or
whenever I dreamt about fish it meant new life was to come, weird right?
(Antrobus) One theory suggests that dreams are the result of our brains
trying to interpret external stimuli during sleep. For example, the
sound of the radio may be incorporated into the content of a dream.
I chose to do my report on dreaming because its such a mystery to me,
there’s day dreaming and dreaming while you’re asleep. I have questions
such as why do we dream, are they a symbol of what’s to come, is it
something that has happened in a past life possibly, do other animals
dream? Dreaming is something everyone does but its like no one ask
questions so thats why I chose to do so. I wanna learn as much as
possible during this project and I hope you do too.
The
most typical time you begin to dream is when you enter REM mode.
(Nordqvist). REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. REM is one of the 5
stages we enter while sleep, it is characterized by quick random
movements of the eyes and paralysis of the muscles. We are in REM about
20%-25% of the time we are asleep while a newborn is usually in REM 80%
of the time. People usually experience REM sleep 4 or 5 times a night
(it comes in cycles), the first cycle occurs at the beginning of one's
sleep and only lasts for a short time, with each following cycle being a
little longer. It is common for some people to experience light sleep,
or even to wake up after a cycle. The amount of time one spends in REM
sleep has a lot to do with certain psychological factors, people with
depression tend to be in the state for a shorter duration than those
without it. Studies have shown that people who go to sleep after being
sleep deprived enter REM sleep faster than those who weren't. While in
REM sleep, most of the muscles become paralyzed and the activity of the
brain's neurons becomes quite intense, similar to the activity during
wakefulness. This is why REM sleep is sometimes known as paradoxical
sleep. It's during this stage of sleep that most people are able to have
especially vivid dreams.
During REM, certain neurons in the brain stem, called REM sleep-on
cells, become especially active these cells are most likely what trigger
this phase in the sleep cycle. Once triggered and in a state of REM,
the body stops releasing neurotransmitters, called monoamines, that are
responsible for stimulating the motor neurons; this means that the
muscles stop moving, essentially entering a state of temporary
paralysis. Some people don't experience the paralysis, their muscles
continue to move, even while they are in REM sleep. They may act out
their dreams in violent or dramatic ways, this is a condition called REM
behavior disorder. REM Sleep facilitates the way creativity combines
certain associative elements into new combinations that are necessary or
helpful for problem solving. This has been attributed to the
cholinergic and noradrenergic neuromodulation that occurs while someone
is in a REM state. Feedback from the hippocampus to the neocortex is
reduced during REM sleep, and the low levels of acetylcholine and
norepinephrine in the neocortex (natural drugs in the brain) promote
increased associational activity in the neocortical areas. Here’s a
picture to give you a better look on things.
http://dreamcurrents.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sleep-rem-dreamcurrents.jpg
So what did you learn after reading this article by Joseph Nordqvist? I
learned that our dreams come about while we’re in REM and REM usually
occurs about 4 to 5 times while we’re asleep. Also while researching
I’ve found that we enter a paralyzing state meaning our muscles stop
moving which is pretty cool if you ask me. Not everyone experiences
paralysis while in REM so thats the cause for some people talking,
swinging, or possibly walking while sound asleep. Obviously what I
thought dreams were are wrong according to my research but I still
believe that it has something to do with your subconscious mind but
thats not important. After all this research I am proud to say that I
learned a lot of valuable information that I can’t wait to pass on to
someone who would want to know more about dreams as well. However if
this project were to continue I would go into the field of daydreaming, I
have a lot of questions about that but thats another I-search project
for another day. Anyways thanks for reading!
MLA Citations
N.d. Photograph. Deviantart.net. Pachamama.org. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Antrobus, J. (1993). Characteristics of dreams. Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming.
N.d. Photograph. Dreamcurrents.com. Spb.com. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
Nordqvist, Joseph. "What Is Rapid Eye Movement Sleep? What Is REM?." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 17 Jul. 2012. Web.
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