I have never been one that has been very good at remembering my dreams, so I hoped to learn more about how dreams work, how much we truly know about them, and how I can better remember them in the morning. Dreams are very intriguing because many repeat themselves and have significant meaning on the way your mind works.
When looking into the process of dreaming I found that about 90 minutes into sleeping, one enters a phase known as the rapid eye movement or REM cycle in which dreams are most vivid. Although you are in a deep sleep during this time, brain activity at this time is at a level almost as high as it is during the day time (“Sleep Health..”). For more on dream cycles check out this article on how they work. Science has even had its trouble in finding out more in depth information on dreams. Studies have shown that many have to deal with people and places close in your lives (Bullkely, Kelly). This brings up the question an observation that I, myself, have had which is whether dreams can somewhat predict the future. Personally, I have had many deja vu experiences in which I can not explain it but it feels as if I’ve been in this exact situation before. Our brains can do more than we can even grasp and maybe this is one of the unknown possibilities. It is amazing to look into all that our brain can do, and I think dreams are a key component into discovering more. In doing this, we must become better at remembering what we have dreamt so we can record our findings and look for trends. I am not the only one with this issue so I feel that these are important tips in doing so.
The first tip is to observe and immediately reflect before bed. A suggestion such as just looking out the window and recording what you see is said to allow you to deeper reflect on images. Something that goes along with reflection would be to write down what you did throughout your day including what you wore and where you were (“HowStuffWorks”). This will aid in remembering dreams and allowing us to better understand them. It is interesting that as long as mankind has been living and dreaming, we still do not understand what dreams mean or how we can use them to expand our minds. Other methods such as simply telling yourself you will remember your dreams or peacefully waking up rather than to an alarm can also help you to remember your mid-night stories (“HowStuffWorks”).
This is a topic that needs to be further studied because it is one that not many at all understand. Why do these simple tasks help us remember what we think about while we sleep? How much more can we know about our brains by just understanding our dreams? It is crucial to further expand our intuition and ask these questions so that we can understand the world around us. Also by understanding more about the human brain we will be able to do even more in our every day lives. What more is your brain capable of?
Works Cited
Bulkeley, Kelly. “What Does Science Know About Dreams?.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-bulkeley-phd/what-does-science-know_b_3142726.html>.
“HowStuffWorks “5 Tricks for Remembering Your Dreams”.” HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2014. <http://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/sleep/dreams/5-tricks-for-remembering-dreams.htm#page=1>.
“Sleep Health – Tips for Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, and Getting a Good Night’s Sleep – Sleep Health – C-Health.” Sleep Health – Tips for Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, and Getting a Good Night’s Sleep – Sleep Health – C-Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2014. <http://chealth.canoe.ca/channel_health_features_details.asp?channel_id=135&relation_id=2334&health_feature_id=363&article_id=1139>.
That is interesting that you brought up day dreams because I never even thought to look into those. I wonder how similar they are to dreams when you are sleeping? Here is an article that looks further into that. http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2012/11/09/the-difference-between-dreams-and-daydreams/
^^it’s pretty intriguing
Interesting topic, Ryan! I’ve never really put much thought into what goes into dreaming, but I can definitely relate to when you said you often times feel de ja vu.
Studies have shown that most people, when they can recall their dream from the night before, mention having limited use of their senses. They can’t shout as loud as they want to, their vision is “blurred”, or they can’t preform physically the way they can while awake.
This was such an interesting topic Ryan I have always been entranced with my dreams and I have often caught myself day-dreaming about the dreams that have occurred over and over again in my life. I know I have tried to figure out their significance but most of the time that was just useless because it seemed impossible to do so. One thing many people have taught me and another thing scientists should really research is controlling your dream. Many have told me if while you are dreaming, you realize its a dream you can actually control your dream and that seems awesome to be able to do anything I want in the world. Dreams was a great topic and I really like the methods of how to remember your dreams; I think I’m gonna try them out.