Hey Psych2Goers and welcome back to another Psych2Go video!
It’s the end of the day. You’re probably tired from hard work at school or a job,
and you’re looking to recharge your batteries.
You start to unwind, you settle into bed, and it feels great.
You close your eyes and drift off into the various stages of sleep
and perhaps you start to dream.
Dreams are the images, thoughts, and sounds that go through your mind while you sleep,
and there’s actually a lot more to them than you may think!
Here are 8 interesting facts you might not know about dreaming:
1. Lucid dreaming is not as common as you think.
Lucid dreaming is when a person knows that they’re dreaming
and can even control what takes place in the dream if it is a lucid one.
Many people have heard of this phenomenon but not many people actually experience it.
A 2018 study by The International Journal of Dream Research
concluded that only about 20 percent of the human population lucid dreams.
2. Dreaming is crucial for your health.
It has become clear to researchers that you actually *need* to dream,
as it “serves its own important functions in your well-being”.
We know that constant lack of sleep will eventually lead to health problems
like heart disease, obesity, and Alzheimer’s.
But sleep deprivation isn’t the only culprit –
it’s the lack of dreaming as well.
If you are deprived of deep REM sleep and the dreams it allows,
it becomes difficult to go about doing what you have to do.
This is because dreaming helps restore your brain
by allowing you to subconsciously process things, work through real-life fears, and reorganize memories.
3. Dream journals improve how well you remember your dreams
Have you ever experienced waking up in the morning knowing you had a dream
but you’re unable to actually remember it?
It’s okay, that’s normal! As much as 95 percent of all dreams are quickly forgotten shortly after waking.
The good news is, being able to recall dreams is actually a skill that can be improved.
You can do this by jotting down everything you remember about your dreams upon waking up each day,
so be sure to keep a pen and paper by your bed at night!
4. Dreams get more complex as the night goes on.
For those who do remember your dreams, do your dreams become weirder the longer you sleep?
More than this, do they get more bizarre, more vivid, and emotional?
This is likely attributed to the fact that the longer you sleep, thee deeper sleep you achieve,
which allows you to process things, work through fears,
and reorganize memories more intensely than in lighter sleep in your subconscious.
5. Even animals dream.
Have you ever seen your pet dog twitch or make sounds in its sleep?
It’s because they’re dreaming, just like we do.
This is true of most mammals, and even some reptiles.
In fact, in an MTI study, researchers tested this concept on rats.
As they observed the sleep cycles of the rats, they simultaneously recorded their brain activity,
ultimately finding that the activity matched what it does as the rats are running.
This indicates that the rats do in fact dream.
6. Not everyone can dream.
You may wonder, who?
Well, people who’ve suffered a traumatic brain injury may find that they no longer dream.
According to Psychology Today, this is potentially a result of damage to the part of the brain
that involved in emotion, memory, and imagination.
7. We have multiple dreams a night.
Can you guess how many?
We typically have four to six dreams every night for anywhere from a minute to twenty minutes each.
This is made possible by the fact that sleep happens in cycles;
people typically get to REM sleep, which is required for dreams to happen,
about four to six times a night.
So in an eight hour sleep period, a person might spend two of them dreaming.
And 8. scientists today still have a lot to learn about dreams.
Dreams are an incredibly interesting aspect of psychology.
Our understanding of dreams is constantly expanding.
Researchers are currently studying what dreams actually are,
the relationship between neurophysiology and dream psychoanalysis,
the brain waves that are involved in dreaming, and so on.
What are your thoughts on dreams? Are you able to remember your dreams?
What do you usually dream about?
You can check out our video “7 Common Dream Meanings You Should NEVER Ignore” to learn more!
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Thanks for watching and see you in our next video!