What are the dreams for?
The human being has a strange habit: we try to convince ourselves that we are experts in what we most ignore. Our curiosity is insatiable, as is our fear of the unknown. Maybe that's why we want to solve the mysteries too quickly. This is what happens with dreams. We narrate them, we interpret them, we want to give them a meaning that is very far from their reality. What are the dreams for?
To this day, psychology has not been able to discover all the functions that it has to dream. However, we do know a lot about why we dream, and above all, for what. Throughout history, human beings have tried to discover the meaning of dreams ... both from psychoanalysis and esoteric currents (from José in the Old Testament of the Bible like modern seers) the interpretation of dreams has always been subject to previous theories ... This is not scientific at all. If there is a previous, rigid theory about meanings, this theory will totally condition the experience.
At the end of the article we will tell you how to interpret your dreams truthfully. First, we will expose what we do know about dreams .
What are dreams?
Dreams, or daydreams, are narratives that we visualize, experience and feel in the deep phase of the dream or state MOR (rapid eye movements, REM in English). During this phase, we can experience up to 30 or 40 dreams every night . Are you surprised? Why then do we only remember a few or even none?
How are dreams constructed?
During that phase of sleep, you are unconscious but your brain and your entire organism continue to work to keep you alive. In the same way that your heart pumps and your lungs continue to inspire and expire, in your brain emotional and creative processes occur that help you learn and develop.
The brainstem sends then images, sounds and sensations to the brain in a random way , depending on the people you see the most, or the ones you think about the most, or the ones you care about the most. Then, the brain (the neocortex, to be more precise) tries to interpret all these images and build a coherent narrative. Since you are asleep, there are no habitual limits that we create in our mind, so dreams are like a child's imagination ... creative, strange, full of possibilities, they go beyond the physical limits of our material world.
What are the dreams for?
Its functions are not yet known, but these are some:
- For the physiological regulation on an emotional level (in your dreams, you feel emotions that you repressed due to bad emotional management).
- Learning (during sleep and with dreams, you assimilate the knowledge you tried to acquire during the day ... in such a way, that you put them into practice in your dreams in some way).
- Creativity (to find new solutions to new problems).
- Decision making (to find ourselves facing the problems more directly, emotionally, without escape, in such a way that we have to make quick decisions).
That is, if sleep helps us regulate the homeostasis of the organism, to rest, to recover our energies and regulate them, to dream helps us to regulate our learning, to manage our emotions (perhaps, feeling during sleep what we do not allow ourselves to feel during the day and must be felt and experienced), to develop our creativity. .. in short, look for new ways of dealing with problems.
Some curiosities about dreams
During the sleep phase (REM or REM) people they move their eyes under the eyelids . At that moment, we are dreaming, and the physiological stimuli that we receive stimulate the reverie or narration that we experience. That is why, when they touch us, we feel those sensations in the dream, or if they put a finger in water, we can feel that we drown. If in those moments someone awakens us abruptly ... we can remember, with great detail, up to 5 or 6 reveries.
To delve into the world of dreams and the curiosities associated with these, you can read the article "10 curiosities about dreams", by the psychologist Bertrand Regader.
Finally, what do dreams mean? Do you have any interpretation?
Dreams are just an answer to what we usually think and experience day after day. If we are angry and repress this anger, it is usual to dream of violence, or that we face some of our loved ones. Dreams are just that, a reflection, sometimes random.
Some people become others (simply because they are habitual images in our life), we remember events from the past that had a special impact , or we dream of situations that are repeated and that are witness to our patterns and perhaps some of our personal blocks and beliefs that still have to be worked on. In short, the meaning and interpretation of our dreams is that these dreams are a master example of our mental patterns, our fears, obsessions, and also desires, wishes and ... of our dreams, properly speaking.
Finally, who should interpret our dreams?
Only you can interpret your dreams. Perhaps the most sensible thing is not to interpret them, just feel them and answer the question: what can I learn from my dreams? People who relate more positively to their dreams use them to enhance their decision-making and learning. You can do it too. Time to dream!
