Dreaming
My Favorite Web Sites
A dream Analyzing site
Lauri Quinn Loewenberg Dream Analyzer
An Explaination and Description of Dreams
Your Source On The Internet For Information on Dreams and Dreaming
An interactive site where your specific dreams can be Interpreted
Sleeping is the one thing that almost everyone in the world can see eye to eye on. Everyone has to sleep to replenish their body’s energy, and while we are asleep we do a strange thing called dreaming. One definition of dreaming is an experience of a sequence of images, sounds, ideas, emotions, or other sensations usually during sleep (“Dream”). No one really can explain why we dream but there are many theories.
Sleeping is the one thing that almost everyone in the world can see eye to eye on. Everyone has to sleep to replenish their body’s energy, and while we are asleep we do a strange thing called dreaming. One definition of dreaming is an experience of a sequence of images, sounds, ideas, emotions, or other sensations usually during sleep (“Dream”). No one really can explain why we dream but there are many theories.
One theory that lead to the research on dreams was Sigmund Freud’s Theory. Freud began as a psychologist and saw that many of his clients often referred to their dreams as a reason for their stress. After that Freud began to study dreams and try to connect people’s dreams to what their state of mind was during the day. Freud soon came up with the idea of the unconscious mind (“Sigmund Freud”). Once people started to catch on to the unconscious mind they got curious as to how we dream and why.
Even today we don’t really know why we dream, we do know how, to an extent. When we fall asleep we begin to think about things that have happened through out the day or what is on our mind and then we begin to drift off. As we start to fall asleep we have, a sort of a daydream but once our brain waves start to slow down we begin the first stage of sleep (“Dreams”).
Stages one through four are considered NREM or non-Rem sleep periods.
During the first stage of sleep you are barely asleep and this is where many people get the feeling as if they are falling. You get that sensation because this is where you muscles tend to have large contractions. The second stage of sleep is much like the first except the brain slows down even more and the eye movements slow as well. After this the person enters the third stage of sleep where they are considered to be in deep sleep.
In the third stage your brain waves will continue to drop and you will have no muscle or eye movement. Much like the third in the fourth stage your heart rate is still slowing as well as your movements. In this stage children will have their night terrors, or wet the bed if they are going to (“The Stages of Sleep”). During all of these periods you can dream but the most vivid dreaming occurs during REM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep.
During REM sleep your brain waves are much like they are when you are awake. Much like the name says you have rapid eye movement, and your heart beat and you breathing changes frequently (Winson). During REM sleep you are likely to be awakened by a dream and you will most likely remember those dreams. This sleep occurs 90 to 100 minutes after you begin sleeping and it can last for as long as an hour. All of these stages repeat themselves through out the night while you are asleep (“Dream Moods”).
Everyone has different dreams and no two dreams are exactly the same but many people have dreams of the same topic. Some of the most common topics are dreams about being chased, being in a car accident or dreams about being naked in a public place. There could be many different reasons for these dreams, but it is said that the reason why we all share common themes in our dreams is because we are all connected in some way and we share many of the same issues (“Dream Moods”).
There are a few different types of dreaming as such lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is when a person reaches a point in their dream when they realize that they are dreaming and they can control the way the dream is going so that it can be put in their favor. Another type of dreaming is nightmares. Nightmares are ways of your inner conscious telling you that you are facing a problem on the outside (“Dream Moods”).
Not everyone remembers their dreams. Many people can teach themselves how to remember their dreams and by doing so they can learn a lot more about themselves. Dreams are feelings and emotions that are you can only tap into when you are sleeping, that usually have deep emotional meanings. To be able to remember your dreams gives you the power to change the way you deal with the stress in your life. If you can remember your dream you are able to see what your mind was thinking and possibly change the things that you subconsciously have a problem with (“dream moods”).
Today a lot of people worry about what their dreams mean and if they are going to die if they hit the ground in their sleep. There is a lot of information out there about dreams and how they affect peoples lives but a lot of it is controversial. There isn’t really one reason why we dream or how we dream or even what they mean. Many people have different ideas.
Works Cited
Dream moods. 17 Sept. 2007. Dream Moods. 13 Dec 2007.
