- You know, all of these inspirational quotes
keep telling me to live my dreams,
but why would I want to skydive with a clown and Popeye
while wearing the bottom half of a horse costume?
Uh, that's not what I dreamt about last night, or anything.
(laughs)
Welcome to Facts in 5, the series that covers the coolest
and most interesting facts on a topic
in five minutes or less.
Today's episode is going to focus on something
that the average human being spends six years
of their life doing.
Uh no, not taking pictures of their food for Facebook.
That other thing you do for six years.
This is Facts in 5 All About Dreams.
So, what are dreams?
Dreams occur multiple times a night while we sleep
and are a series of images, thoughts, and sensations,
which sadly, usually carry a negative tone.
The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety,
followed by anger, sadness, and fear.
Don't worry, though.
It's been documented that the average human
has up to 2190 dreams a year,
so chances are you're bound to have good dreams, as well.
According to studies done by experts,
the most commonly reported dream
is the one in which the dreamer's significant other
is being unfaithful.
Now, this doesn't necessarily represent
that your actual partner's cheating,
but can suggest a fear of being wronged or left alone.
Who dreams the most?
There are people out there who,
being unsatisfied with how much sleep they get,
take an extremely potent and illegal
hallucinogenic drug called dimethyltryptamine,
which keeps you in a dream state
well after you should have woken.
On the healthier side of the scale
are those people who have mastered the ability
to lucid dream.
A lucid dream occurs when the dreamer
becomes aware that they are asleep
and can actually gain control over the ability
to express some control over their surroundings
and even themselves.
Imagine being able to fly wherever you wanted,
teleport anywhere with just a thought,
or even revisit a moment in time.
Lucid dreamers can do it, just like that.
Where do dreams come from?
The whole brain is active during dreams,
but it's the cortex that's responsible
for the content of dreams,
including the monsters that we flee from,
the people we meet, or the experience of flying.
In our dreams, we only see the faces
we viewed in real life, even if it's only been in passing.
If you see a crowd of people in your dream,
rest assured that every one of them has a face
you've seen while being awake.
For women, people who appear in dreams
are usually split evenly, gender-wise,
while men statistically see 70% of figures
in their dreams being male,
with only 30% being female.
The frequency and intensity of which we dream
increases when we go through life changes.
So, if you're dreaming a lot more lately, think,
"Are there big changes happening in my life?"
When does dreaming affect us the most?
Everyone outside of a few with REM disorders dreams,
but up to 60% of people don't remember dreaming at all.
And though the time of day actually has little to do
with dreaming overall,
the act of dreaming can lead to some insane experiences
for some people.
For instance, there is a nurse in London named Lee Hadwin
who often dreams of being a famous artist,
and one day awoke to discover
that he had created amazing art in real life.
That's right, believe it or not,
he actually sleep-draws and paints
fantastic works of art, all while asleep.
In fact, while awake, he has very little artistic talent,
but his dreams somehow manifest onto the canvas.
And the kicker?
This is a medically proven disorder.
Why is dreaming beneficial?
Believe it or not,
some of mankind's greatest inventions were conceptualized
while the inventor was fast asleep.
Larry Page reportedly came up with the idea for Google,
Elias Howe, the sewing machine,
and Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev
thought up the Periodic Table of Elements,
all while dreaming.
See, dreaming can actually recharge your creativity,
enhance your ability to learn,
and improve memory.
A study that appeared in Current Biology magazine
reported that dreams are the brain's way of processing,
integrating, and understanding new information.
So tonight, when you go to bed,
turn off that laptop, tablet, and cell phone,
kill the lights, and eliminate all distractions,
because you never know.
Tomorrow you might wake up with that billion dollar idea.
And now you're a little bit smarter.
Sweet dreams!
My friends, if you enjoyed this, give it a like.
And be sure to push the links in the description,
which will subscribe you to this channel,
as well as my vlog channel,
so that you never miss a video.
Thank you all for watching,
and I will see you next video.
And in your dreams.
Sweet dreams. (laughs)