The world of dreaming is an entirely separate world that has the most bizarre nature in this world. In fact, this is the world that forgets all sorts of realities and shapes itself in the manner of thinking of the human beings. There is no single human soul present in this world who does not dream even once in their lives. In fact, reports have suggested that almost two hours or sometimes more is spent in dreaming during night time sleep.
This may sound odd, but this is indeed true although the actual reason behind dreaming is still controversial. Scientists have tried hard to find out a proper solution or explanation for dreams, but till date, there is no robust theory that can define dreams completely. This is like one of those unsolved mysteries of the world that remains very much alive in the lives of the people even in today’s harsh world. Sigmund Freud, who had a significant impact on the field of psychology with his theories, had once described dreams as the “safety valve for unconscious desires” of the human beings. In other words, through dreams, all the unfulfilled yet carefully harnessed wishes of the human beings are expressed in a way that can hardly be interpreted.
Dreams: Illogical or Important?
Sleep and dreams are interconnected with each other because dreams usually occur while sleeping. However, there is a concept of daydreaming as well that goes in common saying but that is not quite covered under the domain of dream because the person is awake at that time but might have been thinking about something else in the conscious state. In the other hand, dreams are solely the results of the sub-conscious state of mind in the brain.
The pons area that lies at the base of the brain is responsible to an extent for the kind of sleep where dreams are most prominent. This field induces a particular type of sleep known as REM sleep by sending signals to the thalamus of the brain and finally to the cerebral cortex. This region of the brain is responsible again for any learning, thinking, and organization of information by the human beings. During sleeping, the brain as such does not have any work to perform, and it is usually in the resting stage.
After a day’s hectic schedule, when a person sleeps, this is the time when the brain relaxes, and as it does, all the hidden aspirations that are usually pushed away by a person in real life come alive inside the brain and appear in the form of dreams. People have a feeling of irrationality related to dreams once they remember the same afterward, but dreams are not completely illogical. These have got lots of significant impacts in the lives of the common people. Some of these are mentioned here under:
- Dreams are vital for maintaining a certain mental and emotional health because all the latent anxieties, fears, hopes and fantasies that otherwise remain curled up inside the individuals get a path to vent out in some form through the dreams.
- Every individual has a personal and private space that is totally one’s own and this is the world where the dreams reside. This is such a world where a person gets to interact with self sans the interruption of the outside world, and hence, this is the place where there is no need to pretend or disguise anything. It is a fact that people tend to get tired by always trying to adapt according to the world to survive and dream is the best ways to live in one’s world at least for some moments in the life.
- Sometimes dreams are indications of some incidents or facts that might be overlooked in the actual life while in the conscious state. These can be related to relationships or any other kinds of indications that can help an individual to get out of any self-doubts as well. Hence, in a way the dreams are also aiding in the process of decision making for the human beings. The subconscious and unconscious states of mind speak through dreams or rather advice through these dreams to the human beings for coming to a solution or a decision for some problem.
Hence, as can be understood from the points mentioned above, dreams are indeed integral to the lives of the human beings. In fact, it can be very well concluded that if a person does not dream, then there are high chances of being affected with mental problems in the long run. Therefore, it is always good to dream while sleeping!
I used to have lots of dreams in past whenever I sleep and I would remember the details in the morning. But now I don’t see dreams or maybe I don’t remember them. Does it have anything to do with the age or quality of the sleep you get? I want my dreamy sleep back 🙁