What are dreams for?

If you have ever wondered what the function of dreams is, here is the answer.

Human beings have a strange habit: we try to convince ourselves that we are experts in what we ignore the most. Our curiosity is insatiable, as is our fear of the unknown. Maybe that's why we want to solve mysteries too quickly. This is what happens with dreams. We narrate them, we interpret them, we want to give them a meaning that is far removed from their reality. What are dreams for?

To date, psychology has not been able to discover all the functions of dreaming. However, we do know quite a few things about why we dream, and above all, what we dream for, why we dream, and above all, for what. Throughout history, human beings have tried to discover the meaning of dreams... both in psychoanalysis and in esoteric currents (from Joseph in the Old Testament of the Bible as modern clairvoyants) the interpretation of dreams has always been subject to previous theories... This is not at all scientific. If there is a previous, rigid theory about the 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 sleep or dream state. REM (rapid eye movement, REM). During this phase we may experience as many as 30 to 40 dreams each night.Surprised, why then do we only remember a few or even none at all?

How are dreams constructed?

During this phase of sleep, you are unconscious but your brain and your whole organism continue to work to keep you alive. Just as your Heart pumps and your lungs continue to breathe in and out, emotional and creative processes occur in your brain that help you learn and develop.

The brainstem The brainstem then sends images, sounds and sensations to the brain in a haphazard mannerThe brain stem then sends images, sounds and sensations to the brain randomly, depending on the people you see most, or think about most, or worry about most. Then, the brain (the neocortex, to be more precise) tries to interpret all these images and construct a coherent narrative. Since you are asleep, the usual boundaries we create in our mind don't exist, so dreams are like a child's imagination... creative, strange, full of possibilities, going beyond the physical limits of our material world.

What are dreams for?

Not all their functions are yet known, but here are some of them:

• For the physiological regulation on an emotional level (in your dreams, you feel emotions that you repressed by a bad emotional management).

• Learning (during sleep and with dreams, you assimilate the knowledge that you tried to acquire during the day... in such a way that you put it into practice in your dreams in some way).

• Creativity (to find new solutions to new problems).

• Decision-making (to face problems in a more direct, emotional way, without escape, so that we have to make quick decisions).

That is to say, if sleep helps us to regulate the homeostasis of the organism, to rest, to recover our energies and to regulate them, dreaming serves us to regulate our learning, to manage our emotions (perhaps, feeling during the dream what we do not allow ourselves to feel during the day and must be felt and experienced), to develop our creativity... in short, to look for new ways of dealing with problems.

Some curiosities about dreams

During the REM sleep phase, people move their eyes under their eyelids and move their eyes under the eyelids. At that moment, we are dreaming, and the physiological stimuli we receive stimulate the dreaming or narration we experience. That is why, when we are touched we feel those sensations in the dream, or if we are put a finger in water, we may feel that we are drowning. If in those moments someone wakes us up abruptly... we will be able to remember, in detail, up to 5 or 6 daydreams.

To learn more about the world of dreams and the curiosities associated with them, you can read the article "10 curiosities about dreams", by psychologist Bertrand Regader.

Finally, what do dreams mean and do they have any interpretation?

Dreams are just a response to what we tend to think and experience day after day. If we are angry and we repress that anger, it is common to dream of violence, or that we confront some of our loved ones. Dreams are just that, a reflection, sometimes random.

Some people become other people (simply because they are habitual images in our lives), we remember events from the past that had a special impactWe dream of situations that repeat themselves and that bear witness to our patterns and perhaps some of our personal blocks and beliefs that still need 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 longings, desires and.... of our dreams, properly speaking.

Finally, who should interpret our dreams?

Only you can interpret your dreams. Perhaps the most sensible thing to do is not to interpret them, but simply to feel them and answer the question: what can I learn from my dreams? People who relate more positively with their dreams, use them to enhance their decision making and learning. You can do it too. Time to dream!