Dreams can be exciting, scary, or just plain strange. We all dream, even if we don't remember it the next day. But why? And what do our dreams mean, anyway?
What Are Dreams?
Dreams are basically stories and images your mind creates while you sleep. They can make you feel happy, sad, or scared. They may seem confusing or perfectly rational. Sometimes, they can feel so real that you may question whether you're dreaming or not.
Some experts say we dream at least four to six times a night. You can dream at any stage of sleep, but the most vivid dreams occur during a phase called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. During this cycle of deep sleep, your brain is most active.
Dream lag
What you dream about may be linked to what's going on in your waking life. But it might not happen right away. Some experts have found what they call the "dream lag effect." Studies have found that it could take up to six days for a person's experience to show up in their dreams.
Why Do We Dream?
Many theories exist about why we dream, but no one knows for sure. Some researchers say dreams have no purpose or meaning, while others believe we need dreams for our mental, emotional, and physical health.
According to some experts, human beings have three basic needs to fulfill during our waking hours:
- Autonomy: We want to be able to make our own decisions.
- Competence: We want to feel effective as we move about our day.
- Relatedness: We crave connection with others.
When those needs aren't met, our frustrations may play out in our dreams.
Many studies have looked into the importance of dreams for our health and well-being. In one study, researchers woke people just as they were going into REM sleep. They found that those who weren’t allowed to dream had:
- More tension
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Difficulty focusing
- Lack of coordination
- Weight gain
- A tendency to hallucinate (see things that aren't really there)
Dreams could also exist to:
- Help us solve problems in our lives
- Store away important memories
- Process emotions
If you go to bed with a troubling thought, you may wake up with a solution or at least feel better about the situation.
Some dreams may also help our brains organize our thoughts and events of the day. Others may simply result from normal brain activity and mean very little, if anything. Researchers are still trying to learn more.
Types of Dreams
Experts have so far been able to identify several types of dreams. Among them are:
Lucid dreams
In this type, you know you’re dreaming. Research shows that lucid dreaming comes with a boost of activity in parts of the brain that are usually restful during sleep. You can think of it as a brain state between REM sleep and being awake.
Some lucid dreamers are able to control some things that happen in their dreams, changing the story, so to speak. While this tactic may help sometimes, especially during a nightmare, many dream experts say it’s better to let your dreams flow naturally.
A nightmare is a bad dream. It’s common in both kids and adults. You can have a nightmare for several reasons, including:
- Stress
- A recent conflict in your life
- Fear
- A traumatic event
- Medications you're taking
- Recreational drug use
- A health issue, such as untreated sleep apnea
If you keep getting a certain nightmare repeatedly, your subconscious mind (the brain activity that happens without you being aware of it) may be trying to tell you something. Listen to it. If you can't figure out why you’re having bad dreams, talk to a mental health expert. They may be able to help you figure out what’s causing your nightmares and give you tips to put you at ease.
Keep in mind that no matter how scary a nightmare is, it’s not real and most likely won’t happen in real life.
Recurrent dreams
It's common to have the same dream again and again. In fact, many people do. One theory is that it happens because you're concerned about something that keeps appearing in your dream. Your brain might be trying to find a way to process your feelings about it.
Other types of dreams include:
Daydreams. You're not asleep when you daydream. But at least one small study shows that these moments of quiet reflection could help improve your learning and memory.
Prophetic dreams. Throughout history, people of different religions have had intense dreams that they claim predict the future.
Does Everyone Dream the Same?
We're all curious about dreams, and how ours compare to those of other people. Here are answers to some common questions.
Does everyone dream in color?
It's unclear whether everyone always dreams in color, but your media exposure may have something to do with it. In the early 20th century, most people who participated in dream studies said that they dreamed in black and white. But by the 1960s, when you could watch movies and TV in color, that changed. By one expert's estimate, just over 82% of people began having "Technicolor dreams."
A small study compared the dreams of people who grew up watching black-and-white movies and TV with people who had access to color TV. The study found that people who watched these old types of media were more likely to dream in shades of gray.
Do blind people dream?
Yes, and not just people who recently became vision-impaired. People who were born without vision can also have lush, colorful dreams. The brain regions that control other senses, such as hearing and touch, appear to provide extra information, allowing the brain to create a mental "movie."
Do deaf and hard-of-hearing people dream the same?
Your own personal experiences affect your dreams. In one small study, 24 deaf people and one person with hearing loss who used American Sign Language (ASL) were compared to a group of people who weren't hearing-impaired. Researchers found that people with hearing loss signed in their dreams to communicate, just like they did in real life, while the other group used speech. The people with hearing loss also reported having much brighter and more vivid colors in their dreams.
How Long Do Dreams Last?
Although we're usually not aware of it, we sleep in 90-minute cycles. During that time, you move through different stages of sleep:
Stage I. Your brain and body are just starting to relax and drift off. This stage of light sleep usually lasts just 5-10 minutes.
Stage II. Your breathing and heart rate slow down as you get ready to fall into a deeper sleep. But you also have a few periods of brain activity that may have to do with "filing away" recent experiences. This stage lasts about 25 minutes.
Stage III. Your body and brain are fully at rest. If you're woken out of this stage, you'll probably feel foggy and may not know what's going on right away. You'll spend 20-40 minutes in this stage.
Stage IV. Here's when you finally reach REM sleep, where most dreaming occurs. In fact, your brain could be more active than it is during your waking hours! REM sleep lasts only a few minutes early in the night but gets longer in later sleep cycles.
Some experts think we spend about two and a half hours dreaming every night.
What Do Dreams Mean?
Just as there are different opinions about why we dream, there are different views about what dreams mean. Some experts insist dreams aren't connected to our real emotions or thoughts. They believe dreams are just strange stories that don't relate to normal life.
The famous psychologist Sigmund Freud was the first person to suggest that dreams are a window into our subconscious and that they reveal our:
- Unconscious desires
- Personal thoughts
- Motivations
Freud believed that dreams were a safe way to satisfy urges and desires that weren’t acceptable to society.
Common themes in dreams
Freud was also the first to point out that dreams often contain similar themes.
For instance, some common negative dream themes include:
- Falling
- Swimming
- Being chased
- Being naked in public
- Being paralyzed with fear
- Being around fire
- Being late
- Trying over and over to do something
Freud believed that the brain relied on such themes to process painful real-life situations, helping you distance yourself from things that may have really happened to you, but you may not want to think about them directly.
For instance, let's say that you just failed a big important exam. Maybe you dream of falling off a school ledge or being attacked while running down your school hallway. In your dreams, your brain may be trying to work through how helpless you feel.
While dreams can have similar themes, experts say the meaning behind your dream is unique to you.
Dream dictionaries
By interpreting our dreams, we may gain insight into our lives and ourselves. But experts say not to rely on books or "dream dictionaries," which try to provide specific meanings for images that often pop up in dreams. The reason behind everything that you "see" in your sleep isn't that simple to pin down. Everyone is different.
Can Dreams Predict the Future?
Sometimes, dreams come true or tell of a future event. But when you have a dream that plays out in real life, experts say it’s most likely due to:
- Coincidence
- Bad memory
- An unconscious linking of known information
That said, sometimes dreams can motivate you to act a certain way and change your future.
Why Are Dreams Hard to Remember?
Researchers don't know for sure why dreams are easily forgotten. Maybe we’re designed to forget our dreams because if we remembered them all, we might not be able to tell them apart from real memories.
During REM sleep, our bodies may also shut down systems in our brain that create memories. We may remember only those dreams that happen just before we wake, when certain brain activities are turned back on.
Some say it’s not that our minds forget dreams, but that we don't know how to access them. Dreams may be stored in our memory, waiting to be recalled. This may explain why you suddenly remember a dream later in the day — something may have happened to trigger that memory.
Who’s most likely to remember their dreams?
How well you remember your dreams could depend on many different factors, including your personality, mental health, and perhaps even your physical health. For instance, one small study found that people who were trying to manage either dermatitis (very itchy, dry skin) or a gastrointestinal issue were far less likely than others to remember their dreams.
At least one study has also linked "high dream recall" to more activity in parts of the brain involved in gathering and processing information, both during sleep and while awake.
How to Remember Dreams: Tips for Dream Recall
If you’re a sound sleeper and don't wake up until the morning, you’re less likely to remember your dreams, compared with people who wake up several times in the night. Here are a few tips that may help you remember your dreams:
Wake up without an alarm. You’re more likely to remember your dreams if you wake up on your own. Once an alarm goes off, your brain focuses on turning off the annoying sound, not on your dream.
Remind yourself to remember. If you make a conscious decision to remember your dreams before you fall asleep, you’re more likely to remember them in the morning.
Plan your dream playback. If you think about a dream right after waking, it may be easier to recall it later.
How to Make Sense of Your Dreams
If you’re curious about your dreams or want to figure out any possible meaning behind them, consider keeping a dream diary or journal.
Write it down. Keep a notebook and pen next to your bed, and record your dream first thing every morning, while the memory is still fresh. Jot down anything you recall and how it made you feel, even if you can remember only random pieces of information.
Journal without judgment. Dreams are sometimes odd and may feel awkward or embarrassing. Try not to judge yourself.
Give each dream a title. This may help if you want to refer back to a certain dream. Sometimes, the title you create can give you a clue about why you had the dream or the meaning behind it.
Keep an open mind. Science has allowed us to learn a lot about the human brain, but we may never know for sure the meanings behind our dreams.
Takeaways
Dreams are mental images that your brain makes while you're asleep. There are many theories about why we dream, ranging from helping to store memories to processing emotions. While many people have similar-sounding dreams, what they might mean is unique to you. Instead of relying on a dream dictionary, try asking yourself what's happening in your life, or what memories you have, which may have helped form your dream.
