Why do people dream? Why do we see images in our dreams and not hear them? Practice deep breathing

Sleep is another dimension. Very often in a dream we experience a strange and sudden sensation of falling from the roof of a house, from a tree or even from a train. We wake up because sudden movement as if someone had pushed us. What makes us wake up so abruptly? Why is this happening?

During sleep, a person is in a motionless, relaxed state. However, during sleep we change the position of our body, make some movements - we shudder, jump out of bed and even talk in our sleep. The relationship between sleep and muscle activity is actually more complex than we think. During sleep, the brain sends signals that contract the muscles. The jolt we feel when we suddenly wake up is an attempt by the brain to wake us up and warn us of danger or check whether sleep is functioning correctly. But there are other versions of scientists about this signal.

Version No. 1
Some scientists believe that the signal sent by the brain goes in the wrong direction. Instead of suppressing the contraction of the muscles, it strengthens them even more, and when a person jerks upon awakening, the sudden change in body position may lead us to believe that the sensation experienced in sleep is a fall.

Version No. 2
During sleep, the body relaxes and breathing slows down. The feeling of falling may occur due to a person's relaxed state, especially if he is worried about something. The muscles begin to gradually relax, and the brain itself remains awake. The brain does not sleep because it monitors the situation so that problems do not arise. Muscle flaccidity seems to lead to a person “sagging.” The brain perceives this situation as dangerous and tries to wake the person up. This protective reaction of the brain works quite often.

Version No. 3
Some experts explain this decline by the mechanism of hallucinations itself. Hallucinations are not terrible disease, as many believe. It’s just that our brain in some situations makes hasty conclusions and creates a picture that turns out to be not entirely true. For example, you saw a glove in the snow, you began to approach the object, approaching the glove, you see that it is a small black bag. In general, hallucinations intensify when a person is stressed. In such situations, the brain cannot process information normally, so it produces an error, which we mistake for a hallucination. When you fall asleep while experiencing anxiety, which can cause your brain to receive a sudden signal of danger. This signal is associated with the body falling and then the brain forcibly wakes us up in order to understand the reason for the fall. All images associated with this sensation are produced exclusively by the work of the brain.

There is no reason to worry about this. The fact is that dreams most often do not show any deviations. The feeling of falling occurs when you are very tired or frequent stress. Try to maintain harmony within yourself and not get nervous, especially over trifles, and then your dreams will become pleasant and calm.

Sleep is the time when our brain switches to analyzing signals coming from internal organs

Brief summary lectures by Doctor of Biological Sciences, Chief research fellow Laboratory of Information Transmission in Sensor Systems IITP RAS Ivan Pigarev .

To put it very briefly, the essence can be boiled down to the following: when we are awake, the brain is busy analyzing the “outer world,” and when we sleep, it is busy analyzing the “inner world.”

"Our brain, like a kind of universal computer, ensures our life during wakefulness. external environment. It receives signals from the outside world through the eyes, ears, body, tactile reception, etc., in order to ensure our active behavior in the environment. But we have another world, we have an inner world, the world of our internal organs, which is also incredibly complex, but Unlike the external world, the world of our internal organs is not represented in our sensations. We don't feel our intestines, our kidneys. Ask any person what is inside of him, he will not tell you anything until he reads a book on anatomy. But this world exists, it is incredibly complex. When physiologists study it, it becomes clear how complex it is.

We all know well how important vision is for us. So we receive visual information through receptors located in the retina of the eye - rods and cones. Everyone knows this from school anatomy courses. In human eyes, there are about one and a half million of them. Signals from rods and cones are transmitted to the brain for analysis. As a result of this analysis we see. We can judge distances, recognize faces, and organize our normal, normal visual behavior.

So, it turned out that only in the walls gastrointestinal tract there are as many receptors as in both retinas of our eyes.

These receptors transmit signals about temperature, chemical composition digested food, about mechanical changes there, and, apparently, about many, many other things that we cannot even guess about, because it is not given to us in sensations. We can see with vision, we can touch with tactility, but we don’t know what comes from there. Our visceral world is not represented in the world of our consciousness. But the flow of information coming from there is enormous, it is comparable to the visual flow.

And a very simple hypothesis was proposed:

Sleep is the time when our brain switches to analyzing signals coming from our internal organs. If there are so many sensors there, then it’s not for nothing that they are located there. If they are there, then they are working. If they work, then someone must analyze this information.

By this time, an amazing picture emerged: in our entire huge cerebral cortex there is no representation of internal organs, they are not represented there. Absolutely ridiculous picture! And then, wonderfully, everything fits together. When we are awake, our cerebral cortex deals with signals from the external world, and during sleep it deals with signals from our inner world, from our internal organs. Here, it seems, we get a hypothesis that allows us to explain everything and connect one thing to the other.

Why do you need sleep?

The easiest way to understand why sleep is needed is to deprive the experimental animal of sleep and observe what happens to it.

The first work that was done and attracted the attention of the scientific community was done in America in the laboratory of Allan Rechtschaffen on rats.

Depriving animals of sleep during numerous experiments showed that after about a day of sleep deprivation, the animals began to eat a large number of food, but lost weight at a high rate. Ulcers appeared on the skin, fur came out. After a few days the animals died. When they did the autopsy, it turned out that the entire gastrointestinal tract was like one continuous ulcer: stomach ulcers, intestinal ulcers.

But what was most surprising for both the experimenters and all those who read these works was that the rat had the only organ that practically did not suffer from sleep deprivation. It was the brain! If everyone previously thought that sleep was, first of all, a state necessary to maintain brain function, then these experiments showed that this is most likely not the case. That the brain manages to maintain its performance and integrity, regardless of any conditions. The animal dies, but the brain is still intact.

NREM and REM sleep

Many people have heard the story in some magazine articles that REM sleep is the state of the brain when we dream. Almost all scientists have already abandoned this statement. A large number of experiments have been done that have shown that dreams can occur both in the slow-wave sleep phase and in the sleep phase. REM sleep.

The mechanism of the appearance of dreams will be described below; it will be clear, most likely, that the sleep phase does not play a role here.

What then is this REM sleep? Pigarev’s group has not yet seriously studied the answer to this question. REM sleep is different from NREM sleep only in that there aren't these big slow waves. And if we look at our internal organs, we will see that there are internal organs that have clearly expressed rhythmic activity, like the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), breathing, heart. A there are organs that do not have rhythmic activity, – liver, kidneys, reproductive system, vascular system, lymphatic system. There is no such obvious rhythm.

So, most likely, simply, the brain conducts some sequential scanning of all parts of our body during one sleep cycle. When it scans those parts of the body that have rhythmic activity, we see EEG (electroencephalogram) waves - slow sleep. When we come to organs that do not have rhythmic activity, it becomes so non-rhythmic, we call it “rapid eye movement” sleep.

Schema of Wakefulness within the framework of the visceral theory of sleep

Diagram showing the organization of information flows in the brain during the transition from wakefulness to sleep.

The left half is what happens in the waking state. During wakefulness, signals from the environment through the so-called extero-receptors (these are all sensors that receive signals from the outside world) enter the cerebral cortex (the conventional name for the higher nerve centers; in addition to the cerebral cortex, they include the hippocampus and amygdala). On the way, they pass through some device, which can be called a “valving device” or “blocking device”.

Its meaning is that inputs from receptors never go directly to the cortex, this medical fact. They pass through a special intermediate structure called the thalamus. And there a switching of signals occurs from one neuron to another neuron, and where this switching occurs, the signal can be transmitted, or the signal can not be transmitted. During wakefulness, these signals are passed to the cerebral cortex for analysis, here they are analyzed and the result is given. Where?

Issued in two blocks, one block is associated with our consciousness, sensation - the feeling of ourselves in the outside world. The second block is associated with ensuring behavior and motor activity.

Where does Consciousness hide?

Everyone knows from school that the cortex is connected with consciousness, with memory, with all complex higher cognitive functions. But sleep work challenges this generally accepted conclusion.

During sleep, our consciousness is turned off. But neurons in the cerebral cortex are just as active during sleep as they are when awake. If consciousness were associated with the activity of cortical neurons, then, apparently, it should have been active during sleep, but this is not the case. This means that we must assume and conclude that either consciousness is not associated with neural activity, or neurons associated with consciousness are not localized in the cortex.

And indeed, there were special structures called “basal ganglia”, the neurons in which behave exactly this way. They are active when awake and silent when asleep.

Sleep scheme within the framework of the visceral theory of sleep

Internal organs transmit signals through interoceptors to the nervous system, which is called the autonomic nervous system (this is a recognized medical term, because everyone believed that it was autonomous, had no connection with the head, with the cerebral cortex, and deals with internal markers). It is small, there are not many neurons there. It is absolutely clear that such a gigantic flow of information that comes from the internal organs is something that the poor autonomous nervous system is not able to sift through. But she is able to maintain the functioning of internal organs for a short time.

Another disadvantage of this autonomous nervous system consists in the fact that she knows only what is happening in the organ for which her piece is responsible, but does not know at all what is happening in other parts. There is no such place in the autonomic nervous system that would collect information about all our internal organs and begin to coordinate them, so such complex tasks she can't decide.

So, during sleep, our inputs from the outside world are actively blocked. Now signals from the outside world do not reach the cerebral cortex; we have installed a block on this path. But in a dream, the same neurons, along the same fibers, through the thalamus, begin to receive signals coming from the internal organs. They are processed here in a block that we will call the “cerebral cortex,” but now the result of this processing, naturally, does not need to be sent to consciousness and behavior.

But during sleep you need to open an exit to a certain part of the brain, which we will call "associative visceral regulation", and now signals from all visceral systems processed in the cerebral cortex will be collected in this block. An optimal strategy will be developed to restore the functionality of what has broken down over the past day, and these signals will go back to the internal organs, and the right half of the picture will function.

Where problems await us and what are Dreams and Somnambulism

When everything is in order and all the parameters of all internal organs are returned to normal, a signal will go out that you can wake up, and the system will again return to a state of wakefulness. And this is how the system will work in a real, healthy, good young body. But this does not happen often and not always, and the older our age, the more more likely that something will start to be not quite right here.

Every blocking device that stands in the way is a chemical device. There certain chemical substances, through the mediation of which conduction through one or another channel can be opened or closed. And this already makes them very vulnerable and dependent.

We are chronically lacking something in our food, we do not have some substance in order to synthesize the necessary mediator that works in this system, there is less of it, and this block began to work worse, and then, potentially, what us maybe? It may turn out that signals coming from the outside world will begin to be used in controlling internal organs. Or it may happen that signals coming from internal organs mistakenly enter our zone of consciousness and our zone of behavior. There can be such beauty too.

The first thing that is easy to explain in such a system is mechanism of dreams. It is enough to imagine that for one reason or another the block of output to the valve on the way to consciousness was not completely closed.

This may be due, for example, to the fact that we were very excited during the day, not ready to sleep, and all the time we are grinding in our heads some nonsense that happened during the day, and maintaining an active state of consciousness. And now, in a remarkable way, signals coming from the visceral system begin to be thrown into the block of consciousness.

And when this impulse comes into consciousness, it is perceived as a signal coming from the outside world. And now these very random requests for signals from the visceral sphere, entering the consciousness department, will cause us some random, the strangest visions. And there the mechanism of associations continues to work.

Most likely, it is clear that dreams are a moment of transitional state, when this block either has not closed completely, or at the moment of awakening it has already opened a little. And then we see these strange phenomena called dreams.

Not only dreams are easily explained. But also the phenomenon of somnambulism, also associated with sleep. It often occurs in boys in adolescence, sometimes persisting into adulthood, although it rarely appears in adulthood. People suddenly wake up at night, get up and walk in different directions. They walk from one room to another, they can lie down on the rug again and fall asleep. They can leave the apartment and go to the other end of the city. When they walk, their eyes are open, they don’t bump into objects, their movements are well coordinated, you won’t suspect anything.

The only thing is that they have no idea about the world around them, they do not perceive it. This is the only good thing about somnambulism, it says that consciousness is separated from movement, it is a separate box.

Well, there is one more variant of pathology that can be deduced from this diagram - sleep paralysis This is also a very common thing. We can probably say that everyone has experienced this sensation to one degree or another. What's going on here? The picture is exactly the opposite of somnambulism, a person woke up, an entrance from the outside world opened for him, his consciousness turned on, he perceives perfectly environment, sees everything, understands everything, but cannot move a single muscle of his body, he has complete atony, and he lies absolutely motionless. This may last different time, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, a minute can pass, such episodes happen up to 10 minutes. Then movement is gradually restored, the person gets up and begins to move normally.”published

1 6 554 0

Plunging every night into the “kingdom of Morpheus,” we see dreams. Some people, waking up in the morning, do not remember the dream, while others perceive the plot very emotionally and give it a certain meaning.

Why do we have dreams? Until now, the mechanisms and causes of this human condition remain at the level of scientific hypotheses.

WITH medical point vision, sleep is natural physiological process, and night visions are the result active work brain

Ancient peoples It was believed that during a night's rest the soul of the sleeping person leaves the body and travels around the world.
Esoterics attributed to dreams mystical properties– a warning about danger or a prediction of the future.
Psychologists They believe that this is how the subconscious “speaks” to us.

How are dreams different from dreams?

The dream is physiological state, inherent in both people and animals. This is a state of relaxation and reduced reaction of the body to external influences.

A dream is a set of visual images that a sleeping person dreams of and causes accompanying experiences.

The stage of sleep during which dreaming occurs is called REM sleep. At the same time, a person does not feel the border between the imaginary world and reality.

Often both words are used interchangeably, but sleep should be considered a natural physiological process. “Telling your dream” means telling about the dream (images, actions, experiences that arose during sleep).

“A dream, first of all, reveals an indisputable connection between all parts of hidden thoughts by connecting all this material into one situation...”

Sigmund Freud

What do dreams mean?

During the period of nighttime relaxation, our brain produces all kinds of pictures. In most cases, they are a consequence of emotions experienced the day before.

Did you watch a scary movie in the evening? It is likely that terrible images will haunt you at night.
After a quarrel with a loved one, you may dream of fighting a monster.

Such dreams mean practically nothing, so you should not attach much importance to them.

It is more important to pay attention to the actions performed in a dream and the feelings experienced. If they are not related to recent life events, they can carry a certain semantic load.

What did you dream about?	What means
Joyful feeling after sleep	a direct hint that everything will be fine in the near future and the intended goals will be achieved.
If after a dream there is an unpleasant aftertaste in your soul	Take this as a “psychological message”, a warning about possible future troubles or illness.
Recurring dream	trying to convey to you important information about unfinished relationships, possibilities for solving a pressing problem, ways to change your life for the better. The brain continues to solve the “puzzle” that it encountered in reality. Until you analyze this dream, you will dream it again and again.

Psychologists' opinions on dreams

Fundamental theories about dreams began to appear only at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. Scientific researchers have tried to explain the phenomenon of dreams in different ways.

The father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, believed that dreams are manifestations of the subconscious and unconscious in our psyche.

While falling asleep, a person does not stop thinking, that is, his brain continues to work, but only in a different mode. Information located in the subconscious and unconscious areas flows into consciousness. It is this amount of information that is the basis for the occurrence of dreams.

“It is obvious that a dream is the life of consciousness during sleep”

Sigmund Freud

In most cases, according to Freudians, dreams are a way of realizing our repressed desires and hidden aspirations. This is a specific mechanism that allows you to “unload” the psyche through the fulfillment of unrealized desires in a dream.

Oneirology is a science whose subject of study is sleep and various aspects dreams.

However, there is the exact opposite opinion of researchers explaining the mechanism of dreams.

Psychiatrist Alan Hobson claims that sleep carries absolutely no meaning. According to his theory, called the action-synthetic model, the brain interprets random electrical impulses during sleep, resulting in vivid and memorable visions.

Opinions of other scientists and psychologists studying the phenomenon:

Sleep as "sending short-term memories to long-term storage"(Zhang Jie, author of the "constant activation theory").
Dreams as “a way of getting rid of unnecessary trash"("Reversal Learning Theory", Francis Crick and Graham Mitchison).
The biological function of sleep as practice and “rehearsal” natural reactions organism (Antti Revonusuo, author of the “theory of the protective instinct”).
Sleep as a solution to accumulated problems (Mark Blechner, author of the “theory natural selection thoughts").
Dreaming as “a way of smoothing out negative experiences through symbolic associations” (Richard Coates), etc.

Ernest Hartman, one of the founders Modern Theory Dreaming, considers dreams to be an evolutionary mechanism by which the brain “mitigates” the consequences psychological trauma. This happens through associative images and symbols that arise during sleep.

Color and black and white dreams

The overwhelming majority of people see dreams in color, and only 12% of the inhabitants of our planet are able to perceive images in dreams in black and white.

Bright, colorful, colorful dreams are most often seen by creative people.

As a result of research, it was found that the color saturation of dreams is influenced by a person’s level of intelligence. In addition, colorful dreams are typical of impressionable people who perceive the world emotionally and react excitedly to various events in their lives.

People with a more rational mindset dream of black and white.

Dreams without color help you better know your “I” and comprehend what is happening. Therefore, they are characteristic of pragmatists who, even in their sleep, try to “digest” information and carefully think about something.

According to parapsychologists, colored dreams foreshadow future events, while black and white dreams are a reflection of the past. Some scientists see a relationship between a person's mood and dreams.

Sadness, fatigue and melancholy “discolor” sleep, and good mood is the key to a bright and colorful dream.

There is also an opinion that black and white dreams can not be. People focus only on the content of the dream, and not on the colors, and therefore claim that they see black and white dreams.

Bad dreams

A bad dream is a dream with negative images and experiences that cause a person to experience anxiety and discomfort. Such dreams are remembered in detail and do not leave your head.

According to scientists, bad dreams reflect an influx of negative information that the brain does not have time to cope with during wakefulness. Therefore, he continues to “digest” this information at night.

Bad dreams about natural disasters, catastrophes, wars, etc. are a signal from the nervous system about a person’s powerlessness, the inability to cope with some task.

Doctors have identified a direct connection between dreams and health problems.

For example, people with heart disease often dream of chases.
Malfunctions in the functioning of the respiratory system are reflected in dreams where a person is “strangled” or drowns in water.
Wandering in a dream in labyrinths and forest thickets can signal the presence of depression or overwork.

Nightmares

In a nightmare, a person feels the approach of death. This is its main difference from a “bad” dream.

“Nightmares exist outside the boundaries of logic, there is little fun in them, they cannot be explained; they contradict the poetry of fear" (Stephen King)

If a person is in a difficult situation, worries for a long time about some unresolved problem, then negative energy finds a way out through dark dreams. Stressful events manifest themselves in dreams so that a person can finally “process” them.

Frequent nightmare plots:

encounters with monsters, monsters, evil spirits and so on.;
bites from poisonous spiders or snakes;
pursuit and pursuit;
natural disasters and car accidents;
military actions (attacks, shootings, capture);
receiving injuries and injuries;
death of a loved one.

Lucid dreaming

Almost every one of us has the experience of experiencing a lucid dream with a clear understanding that everything that is happening around is a dream and an illusion. This condition occurs during the REM sleep stage, when muscle tone is very low.

Experts have found that lucid dreaming is accompanied by synchronization of activity various areas brain and the appearance of high-frequency rhythms (about 40 Hz) in the temporal and frontal areas. Such gamma rhythms are associated with a state of active wakefulness. This explains the “on” consciousness of a person during sleep.

The term " lucid dreaming"was first used by the Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden at the end of the 19th century.

The ability to be aware of oneself in a dream and to independently simulate a dream is most often innate. However, gamers and people with high level self-control are also susceptible to such experiences.

Today there are special techniques that help control dreams. Such abilities can be fully developed only by individuals with the highest level of intelligence in the cognitive sphere (most often yoga).

Prophetic dreams

People try to predict the future based on dreams. Esotericists suggest convincing facts of existence prophetic dreams. According to many researchers, such dreams are nothing more than the voice of intuition or “smoothing out” negative emotions through symbolic associations.

Memory improves when we become more deeply interested in the inner world. Accordingly, we remember dreams better.

Psychologists have found that women, due to their emotionality and impressionability, treat dreams more carefully than men.

Reasons for lack of dreams and how to get them back

It may seem strange, but some people don't dream at all. Why is this happening? British scientists concluded that only smart people, with a high IQ level.

If a person does not strive to understand the world and himself, then he sees dreams extremely rarely, since his brain is “sleeping.”

Other reasons for the lack of dreams include brain overload in daytime. Consciousness does not generate dreams so that the mind can recover from the abundance of impressions. That's why we don't dream after long trips or active holidays.

Nervous and mental disorders, alcohol intoxication, moral or physical fatigue– those factors that “destroy” sleep.

How to regain the ability to see and remember dreams?

Relax before going to bed.
Meditate at night.
Do not abuse alcohol.
Alternate mental and physical work.
Stick to your daily routine.

Conclusion

The phenomenon of dreams has not been fully studied. Only one thing is clear: our thoughts and perception of the world, emotions and impressions are reflected in the quality of sleep and control our subconscious. This is how vivid and emotional dreams are born various stories, which make our life more mysterious and interesting.

If you see an error, please select a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Sometimes sleep is simply a continuation of daytime worries and thoughts. But sometimes he has nothing in common with real life: war in the distant past or in the future, unknown places, mysterious creatures, completely unreal events. Some dreams surprise us - and this is a sure sign that their plot hides some other meaning. How do dreams arise?

What can dreams tell you?

Dreams convey messages from the unconscious and help to enter into dialogue with it. According to Freud, they symbolically reflect forbidden desires, allowing us to experience what we cannot achieve or do in reality. And as Jung believed, dreams help maintain mental balance. What are dreams made of? 40% - from the impressions of the day, and the rest - from scenes associated with fears, anxieties, worries, says neurophysiologist and somnologist Michel Jouvet. There are dream plots that are common to all humanity. But the meaning of the same plot is unique for everyone.

We see nightmares if our “I” ignores what the unconscious is trying to communicate

What do you dream about most often? Men dream about other men, sex with strangers, cars, tools and weapons. The action takes place in an unfamiliar place or open space. But women are less likely to leave the premises. They often dream about food, clothes, work. In addition, women usually pay more attention to dreams than men and remember them better.

Dreams work for us, even if their images are frightening. They talk about anxiety, dissatisfaction, and indicate unsolved problems. But if we calmly think about what we saw in the dream, the fear will gradually decrease.

“Frightening dreams, shocking us, force us to think,” explains Jungian psychoanalyst Vsevolod Kalinenko. “We see nightmares if our “I” ignores what the unconscious is trying to communicate.” Consciousness strives to “forget” everything that is incompatible with our beliefs, but in some circumstances we can no longer do without this “forgotten” thing.

What is a paradoxical dream

We dream in a special phase of sleep, which was discovered by the French neurophysiologist Michel Jouvet in 1959. Such a dream was called paradoxical.

“While studying conditioned reflexes in cats, we unexpectedly recorded an amazing phenomenon,” says Michel Jouvet. - The sleeping animal exhibited rapid eye movements, intense brain activity, almost like during wakefulness, but the muscles were completely relaxed. This discovery changed all our ideas about dreams. The state we have discovered is neither classic sleep nor wakefulness. We called it a “paradoxical dream” because it paradoxically combines complete relaxation muscles and intense brain activity."

On the verge of sleep and reality

Some are convinced that they are not dreaming. “Illness, accident or injury can cause neurological changes, which lead to the disappearance of dreams, explains Michel Jouvet. - Also, dreams may disappear if the phases paradoxical sleep become too short and too frequent.” But there are many more who simply do not remember dreams. This is possible in two cases: either the person woke up a few minutes after the end of the dream, and during this time it disappeared from memory, or the images that emerged from the unconscious were subject to strict censorship by the “I”.

For those who do not remember dreams and regret it, there is a method of “free waking dreams”, developed by the psychotherapist, somnologist and writer, author of the “Dictionary of Dream Symbolism” Georges Romey. A patient immersed in an intermediate state of consciousness (waking dream) describes to the therapist the images that come to his mind without trying to find logic in them.

According to Georges Romey, “past traumas or difficulties have fixed neurons in certain positions. In a state of relaxation nerve impulses improves by identifying and releasing blockages and thus promoting awareness of images, memories and emotions.” And not only does a waking dream change what is recorded in neurons, but studying it reinforces these changes. By combining Freudian dream interpretation (deciphering fantasies and personal repressions) with Jungian analysis (collective unconscious) and using the typology of symbols developed by Georges Romay, the therapist helps the patient understand the dream.

Is it possible to decipher a dream?

So, I had a dream that surprised or alarmed me. What should I do to figure it out? To begin with, show interest and curiosity, since forgetfulness is a consequence of insufficient attention to the world of dreams. And vice versa, if we begin to be interested in the inner world, if the dream touched us or seemed important, memory improves.

“We can almost forget a dream, but if we remember the most insignificant fragment of it, or even the feeling of the dream, its aftertaste, this is sometimes enough to, with the help of fantasies and memories, penetrate the slightly open door into the unconscious,” says psychoanalyst Andrei Rossokhin. Often we immediately try to explain our dream to ourselves... but this is not worth doing: thinking is a function of consciousness, and dreaming is the result of the activity of the unconscious.

“We can be sincerely confident that we understand the dream, but this is nothing more than an illusion: in reality, we only hear the voice of our own logic,” believes Andrei Rossokhin. “Therefore, take your time, let the dream “breathe”, allow different thoughts and sensations to come that will arise in connection with what you saw.”

Words and thoughts may at first glance seem completely unrelated to the dream. The obvious meaning of a dream is only a screen behind which the deeper “messages” of the unconscious are hidden. It is necessary to notice details, especially unusual ones - often the main idea of a dream is encrypted in them. By changing the appearance and shape of ordinary objects, creating strange situations, the unconscious gives a hint: you need to look here.

People have been trying to understand the meaning of their dreams since history began to be recorded. And, probably, our ancestors did this even earlier, so it is not at all surprising that we continue to unravel our dreams in an attempt to at least understand something.

One of the most famous researchers in this field was Sigmund Freud, but today, thanks to modern technology, scientists can literally peer into the brain to see what happens to us while we sleep.

Why do we dream

In 2004, scientists were able to explain where in the brain, by studying a patient with Charcot-Von Willebrand syndrome - rare disease, which leads, among other things, to the loss of the ability to dream. Scientific American reports that researchers were able to find a person who does not have serious symptoms, but still lacks dreams.

During the experiments, it turned out that the girl had damage to the part of her brain associated with emotions and visual memories. This led scientists to suggest that this particular area of the brain is associated with the generation or transmission of dreams.

Medical Daily cites a 2011 study in which a team of Italian scientists measured electrical brain waves and concluded that lower wave frequencies were the reason people were healthier. frontal lobes at the moment of awakening. This suggests that the mechanisms of dream memory and real events almost identical.

What dreams can tell about us

Dream books often try to interpret events or images that we see, but these descriptions are relative and unscientific. However, this is not to say that dreams mean absolutely nothing. Sleep is an indicator of what a person is thinking about. A DreamsCloud survey showed that people with higher degrees of dreaming are more likely to see situations related to work or study, and, in addition, they dream quite often, unlike less educated people.

“We dream about the things that bother us most,” Angel Morgan, MD, PhD, explains to The Huffington Post. In other words, the dreams of an educated person are more complex and always filled with events, since in his life, it is quite likely, more problems that need to be resolved.

Some studies suggest that people who lucid dream (that is, understand that it is a dream and can even control it) are more effective in solving everyday problems.

According to Live Science, dreams can also talk about our lives. Researchers from the Central Institute mental health(Central Institute of Mental Health) in Germany have proven that people who commit murder in their sleep are more often introverts in life, but rather aggressive. Business Insider reports that people prone to schizophrenia discuss their dreams using few words, while people prone to schizophrenia talk a lot and in a confusing manner.

Why are dreams needed?

Sigmund Freud argued that dreams are manifestations, and today a number of experts share the same opinion. Others suggest that dreams do not exist at all. This theory, also known as the activation and synthesis hypothesis, proposes that dreams are thought of as brain impulses that pull random thoughts and images out of our memories, and people construct a dream from them after waking up.

But most experts agree that dreams have a purpose, and that purpose has to do with emotions. “Dreams most likely help us process emotions by encoding them. What we see and experience in our dreams does not have to be real, but the emotions associated with these experiences certainly are, writes Sander van der Linden, a lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science (London). School of Economics and Political Science), in his column for Scientific American.

Simply put, dreams try to rid us of unpleasant or unnecessary emotions by tying them to experiences in the dream. Thus, the emotion itself becomes inactive and ceases to bother us.