Why Do We Dream?”

“Why do we dream?” Some theories state that dreams are a way in which we release stress. If this were true, then more people (especially those who are stressed-out) would remember their dreams. Remember that dreams come from the inner you, more specifically they are communications from your subconscious mind. All day long we are busy moving through our waking lives, taking in sensations from all around ourselves. During our nighttime slumber our conscious mind is stilled, providing us with the opportunity to receive communication from our subconscious mind.You might ask, “Why is it so important that we receive information from our subconscious mind?” Our subconscious mind holds all of our understandings which we have gained either through this lifetime or other lifetimes. It has messages to share with the outer self that are rich with knowledge and wisdom. Our inner mind is our best friend, revealing to us the truth of our present state of thinking and expression. Others have asked, “Do we dream every night, because I rarely remember my dreams?” Yes, we do dream every night. Actually we dream several times in one night. We dream in ninety minute cycles. Most people do not know how to release their attention from their day’s activities when they go to sleep. They find themselves restless, tossing and turning throughout the night. If continued this restlessness forces the person to remain in a shallow level of sleep. Dreams occur in the deeper stages of sleep which means that one needs to learn how to relax and remove attention from the worries and concerns of the day in order to receive from the subconscious mind.Some researchers suggest that dreams serve no real purpose, while other believe that dreaming is essential to mental, emotional and physical well-being. Ernest Hoffman, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Newton Wellesley Hospital in Boston, Mass., suggests that "...a possible (though certainly not proven) function of a dream to be weaving new material into the memory system in a way that both reduces emotional arousal and is adaptive in helping us cope with further trauma or stressful events.Sigmund Freud’s theory of dreams suggested that dreams were a representation of unconscious desires, thoughts and motivations. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic view of personality, people are driven by aggressive and sexual instincts that are repressed from conscious awareness. While these thoughts are not consciously expressed, Freud suggested that they find their way into our awareness via dreams.The activation-synthesis model of dreaming was first proposed by J. Allan Hobson and Robert McClarley in 1977. According to this theory, circuits in the brain become activated during REM sleep, which causes areas of the limbic system involved in emotions, sensations, and memories, including the amygdala and hippocampus, become active. The brain synthesizes and interprets this internal activity and attempts to find meaning in these signals, which results in dreaming. This model suggests that dreams are a subjective interpretation of signal generated by the brain during sleep.Many other theories have been suggested to account for the occurrence and meaning of dreams. The following are just of few of the proposed ideas:• One theory suggests that dreams are the result of our brain trying to interpret external stimuli during sleep. For example, the sound of the radio may be incorporated into the content of a dream.• Another theory uses a computer metaphor to account for dreams. According to this theory, dreams serve to ‘clean up’ clutter from the mind, much like clean-up operations in a computer, refreshing the mind to prepare for the next day.• Yet another model proposes that dreams function as a form of psychotherapy. In this theory, the dreamer is able to make connections between different thoughts and emotions in a safe environment.• A contemporary model of dreaming combines some elements of various theories. The activation of the brain creates loose connections between thoughts and ideas, which are then guided by the emotions of the dreamer. That’s it. “Sweet Dreams.”