Someone once said, “Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not
know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new
country” (Nin, The Diaries of Anais). Dreams are the result of subconscious
thoughts and desires. The other theory to dreams are random noises in the
neurons of the brain without special meaning. Dreams are the mental activity
that takes place during sleep. “Usually during REM sleep is when dreams
occur” (Oxford University). Normally everyone dreams several times a
night…some drugs and alcohol may impair the dream process. The inability to
recall dreams is not abnormal though. Dreams are communication of the body,
mind, and spirit in a symbolic state. The human brains are in constant activity
when sleeping. Different states of conciseness cause different brain wave
activity. The brain usually has ordinary sequences of imagination. For thousands
of years dreams were regarded as “visions” or “prophesies.” Dreams seem
to be a way for the subconscious mind to sort out and process all the input that
is encountered while people are awake. Dreams can also improve your emotional
well being, reduce stress, improve creativity, and provide a “playground for
your mind” while your body recovers and repairs itself. Contrary to the view
that dreams server no function one theorist suggests that, “dreams are the
brains way of ‘unlearning’ or removing certain or unneeded memories” (Kasschall,
Richard). In other words dreams are a form of mental housecleaning. Such mental
housecleaning might be necessary because it is not useful to remember every
single detail of your life. There are two functions of dreams: to fulfill
conscious wishes, to guard sleep. Most dreams also have been recorded as
unpleasant. “As you begin to fall asleep your body temperature declines, your
pulse rate drops, and your breathing begins to slow and even, this is called
stage one sleep” (Kaschall Richard). A more active type of sleep is
characterized by rapid eye movement is called REM sleep. Most humans spend at
least one third of their lives sleeping, during that one third, people are
usually dreaming also, some scientists characterize dreams as mass
hallucinations. The four main categories of dreams are prophetic, standard,
physical, and nightmare. The amount of sleep needed varies depending on the
individual and on the different times of the day or night. Sigmund Freud was the
first scientist to study dreams thoroughly. Although dreams contain elements of
the ordinary…the elements are often jumbled in fantastic ways. Freud was also
the first theorist in the modern era to argue that dreams are an important part
of our emotional lives. Some scientists are skeptical of dream interpretations,
Nathienal Kleiman, one of the pioneers who discovered REM sleep, wrote in 1960,
“ Dreaming may serve no function whatsoever” (Kasschall 32). Everybody
dreams, not only all humans, but mammals are shown to have REM sleep, which is
associated with dreams. With just a few exceptions, all mammals go through a
dreaming cycle of rapid eye movement. Since (with pets at least) this coincides
with movements of the animals all having some kind of dreaming experience.
Students who get good REM sleep retain the information better and for longer
periods of time. This is because the brain needs time to process information
form a pattern out of it, and place it in long term memory. When people are
randomly awakened during REM sleep and asked what they had just been dreaming
about the reports are usually very dull or even boring, although most people do
not remember what they were dreaming about. Theories about REM sleep and why we
dreams are as “bountiful” and different as dreams themselves. Some reasons
why we have REM sleep are, REM sleep aids the consolidation of long-term memory,
cleans the brain of unneeded information, and is necessary to provide the brain
with occasional stimulation during sleep. Some scientists also say REM sleep is
necessary for brain growth. Sensual input while sleeping is incorporated into
dreams. Most notably, while sleeping, you hear as well as while your awake-the
ears are never turned off. This leads to the consequence that what you hear
while your sleeping, you’ll hear in your dreams. The sound is always coming
from somewhere. Common experiences of this kind are a telephone ringing or music
from a radio. It’s not important how loud the noise is to get noticed when
sleeping. Even an otherwise unnoticed sound, like a mouse running over your
floor, can wake you up if it is uncommon, or otherwise alarming to you. On the
other hand, you can get accustomed to high levels of noise, like construction
work, or traffic on the road near by. Many dreams contain the same images, and
these symbols are consistently associated with certain real life conditions and
feelings. Certain conditions, stresses and personalities seem to be associated
with particular dream symbols. “In my dreams, I am on the way to work when I,
notice that I have a loose tooth. I wiggle it, and then to my horror, it falls
out, then I notice other teeth are loose and they too begin to fall out. Soon my
gums are empty and bleeding, and I rush around wondering how I’m going to
handle this or cover it up so none notices me this way” (Dream
Interpretations). There is some disagreement what certain things in dreams
actually mean, for example in this dream the bleeding might represent energy or
"life force," loss of blood in a dream implies that some person,
situation, or relationship, is creating a drain or energy. Dreaming about teeth
represents the very roots of the self, the values of a person, dreams of tooth
loss often occur when a compromise is made (even for good reasons) in which the
person is not sure on the decision. Research in the area of paranormal dreams
has been well done in many cases, but despite interesting findings, the
scientific community has poorly received paranormal dreams. "The mind
cannot deal with chaos very well, in fact it will resist and sometimes
manufacture order" (The Basics about Dreaming). Dreams are easily
influenced by factors in life, they are also influenced by random outside
sounds, and sometimes dreams are even influenced by earlier experiences and
memories. It is normal to dream of the deceased, particularly during the first
year after they have died. It is also common to dream of them on their birthday
or the anniversary of their death. These dreams tend to be upsetting and bizarre
at first, and then take on a less dramatic state, and grow more comforting over
time. If people think they don’t dream, they probably just don’t remember
it. The most important reason why people don’t remember their dreams is
because they just don’t care. Dream recall can be trained by thinking over
what you have dreamed for some time and writing it down. McCarley, for example,
argues, that the common experience of feeling paralyzed in a dreams simply means
that the brain cells that inhibit muscle activity were randomly stimulated.
People tend to remember the more important things that happen in life and on the
most part forget the rest. If that theory is correct, then those things that
need to be forgotten are included in dreams, and the very act of dreaming
somehow helps erase them. Francis Crick, Nobel Prize winner and Co.-Discover of
DNA proposed this idea. The images in a humans dream may seem strange, but they
are all parts of a story about you and your life. Nothing appears in dreams
accidentally, each symbol presents valuable information. People may have an
instinctive sense to understand the most confusing part of the dream, which is
usually the most important part to understand. By translating the most common
meaning of contemporary dream symbols, the dreams could become very meaningful.
“Shared dreaming” is being reported more frequently then ever in this
century, shared dreaming in most common to, married couples, siblings still
living at home, and very close friends that are living together. Although the
striking nature of shared dreaming seems to suggest that these dreams are more
important then others, has not yet been proven. New methods discovered to
analyze and record dreams and to determine similarities and differences between
different people’s dreams. Most dreams contain references to, people, animals,
physical objects, and mental objects. Most dreams interact with the objects.
There is also memory, memory is very vast. During cycles of brain activity, we
view dreams with out conscience mind and record them in our memory, that is why
we sometimes remember dreams. Dreams help us understand ourselves and long as we
know how to interpret them. Understanding of dreams greatly advanced in the 20th
century, but the work of Freud and Jung., and the discovery of REM sleep by
Kleitman and Aserinsky. Today dreams are studied scientifically to learn more
about “mans nature.” Specific purpose: To Inform people about what dreams
are and their purpose. Introduction: “Throw your dreams into space like a
kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a
new love, a new country" (Nin, The Diaries of Anais). Thesis statement:
Dreams are usually are caused by subconscious thoughts. I. Subconscious thoughts
A. Neurons of the brain B. REM sleep C. Drugs and alcohol II. Communication of
dreams A. Mind B. Body C. Spirit 1. symbolic state III. Subconscious mind A.
Sort out information B. Improve emotional well being C. Reduce stress D. Improve
creativity IV. View of dreams A. Brains way of unlearning B. Mental
housecleaning C. Purpose of dreams 1. fulfill conscious wishes 2. to guard sleep
V. What happens during sleep A. Temperature declines B. Breathing begins to even
C. REM 1. rapid eye movement D. Spend one third of lives sleeping E. Four
categories of dreams 1. prophetic 2. standard 3. physical 4. nightmare VI.
Sigmund Freud A. First to study dreams thoroughly B. First to argue about dreams
1. Important part of the emotional life VII. Who dreams? A. Humans B. Mammals C.
House pets VIII. Theories about REM sleep A. REM sleep aids long term memory B.
Clean brain of unneeded information C. Provides brain with occasional
stimulation during sleep 1. Necessary for brain growth IX. Sample dream A. Tooth
loss B. Bleeding X. Paranormal dreams A. Poorly received B. Cannot deal with
chaos XI. Remembering dreams A. People don’t care about dreams B. Dream recall
1. Thinking over dreams 2. Writing them down C. Feeling paralyzed 1. Brain cells
were stimulated XII. Shared dreaming A. Reported frequently B. Most common in 1.
Married couples 2. Siblings living at home 3. Very close friends living together
XIII. Methods to analyze dreams A. New methods B. Most dreams include 1. People
2. Animals 3. Physical objects 4. Mental objects