15 Interesting Psychological facts about dreams The topic of dreaming and dreams has for thousands
of years fascinated philosophers and scientists, and not only them.
We all tend to think about our dreams, try to figure out if they mean anything, and share
with others our interesting dreams.
Here are 15 interesting psychological facts about dreams:
No1: We all dream every time we sleep The fact is - everybody dreams.
You may question this saying that you rarely dream; you may think sometimes months pass
without you dreaming.
In fact, we all dream every single night (or, more accurately, whenever we sleep) and up
to 2 hours per night.
Researchers have found that people usually have several dreams each night, each one typically
lasting between 5 and 20 minutes.
During a lifetime, one person spends an average of six years dreaming.
It just happens that we forget most of our dreams so we are unaware of the fact that
we dream a lot.
No2: We forget the majority of our dreams Forgetting is the reason we think we don’t
dream every time we sleep.
People usually forget up to 90 percent of everything they dream, including 50 percent
within the first 5 minutes of waking up.
Up to 60 percent of people do not remember their dreams at all.
It seems that it’s simply not easy to hold onto the content of our dreams.
One of the reasons why may be that, while in the dreaming phase of sleep, parts of the
brain in charge of memory are relatively inactive, which sometimes prevents us from remembering
what we have dreamed.
No3: Men and women dream differently There are many differences between men and
women, one of them being dreams.
In general, almost equal amounts of both men and women appear in women’s dreams.
However, around 70% of the people in men’s dreams are other men.
In addition, men’s dreams tend to have more aggressive content than women’s do.
For example, men reported dreaming about weapons significantly more often than women did.
On the other hand, women tend to have somewhat longer dreams that feature more characters
than men do.
No4: The brain is more active during sleep then when we are awake
Most of us associate sleeping and dreaming with rest, peace, and inactivity.
Although this usually is true for our bodies, it appears that it is not true for our brains.
Research shows that brain activity is greater when we are dreaming than when we are awake.
This happens because our brains are processing all the information from our waking hours
and making sense of everything we experienced when we were awake.
Our brains are even more active during sleep when we experienced something new while awake,
which supports the theory of processing information during sleep and dreaming.
No5: Dreams can help us process emotions One of the explanations of the nature of dreams
argues that, in dreams, we can process the emotions we experience when awake.
One of the functions of dreaming is to help us process and cope with our emotions in the
safe space of dreamland.
Part of the brain in charge of regulating emotions, the amygdala, appears to be very
active during vivid dreams.
Dreams could also function as a form of psychotherapy, allowing the dreamer to relive past experiences
without real-life risks, process emotions (especially negative ones), and cope with
the troubles of waking life.
No6: You can control your dreams Have you ever had a dream in which you are
aware that you are dreaming and could even make some decisions and alter the content
of the dream?
If you did, then you have experienced what is called ‘lucid dreaming’.
Lucid dreaming is a kind of combination state of both consciousness and the dreaming stage
of sleep.
In this state, you can often direct or control what happens in your dream.
Some people claim that one can learn how to experience lucid dreams, and many sources
on the internet offer instructions.
These methods have not been scientifically proven, although there has been some proof
of the influence of some substances on promoting lucid dreaming.
No7: You can experience frightening sleep paralysis
Unlike the phenomenon of lucid dreaming, which can be pleasant, there is something less enjoyable
called ‘sleep paralysis’.
Sleep paralysis is a state in which you are awake but temporarily paralyzed, unable to
move or speak.
It can last from a few seconds to a few minutes, and it can be very scary.
It usually happens while transitioning from sleep to wakefulness.
Normal sleep involves muscle inactivity because it helps prevent acting out our dreams and
hurting ourselves.
Under normal circumstances, that state of immobility ends upon waking up, so a person
rarely becomes conscious of it.
But, sometimes a person can become aware of their paralysis while waking up and even experience
awful hallucinations of someone being in the room.
No8: Dreams can incorporate what we actually experience while dreaming
Sometimes, we dream about what is happening to us while we are dreaming.
Did it ever happen to you that you dream about drinking water only to wake up and find that
you actually are very thirsty?
If it did, you know what we are talking about.
We can also incorporate external sensations, like sounds or smells.
It appears that we are not completely cut off from the real word while sleeping.
What is happening around us and inside us while we are asleep can actually change the
content of our dreams.
These sensations are often not strong enough to wake us up (as the alarm clock is, for
example), but they are noticeable enough for us to include them in the dreaming process
and to change the course of our dreams.
No9: Dreams can help in sorting out and retaining memories
Similar to processing emotions, while dreaming, we sort out memories of what happened to us
while we were awake.
We relive parts of our daily experience and sort out what is important to keep and what
is irrelevant that should be forgotten.
This process also aids our memory because it helps us empty it of unimportant content
and make room for what is crucial to be memorized.
Some studies show that there is improvement in learning complex skills in people who dreamed
about doing them.
No10: Dreaming helps us solve problems When you had trouble solving a certain problem,
maybe someone gave you advice to “sleep on it”.
Research shows that there is some science behind that advice.
Sleep is crucial for brain activity, but dreaming also aids creativity, which is important when
searching for a solution to a complex problem.
Evidence shows that the REM stage of sleep helps organize and link together in novel
ways the facts we know and the things we experience, which helps find solutions to problems.
So, the next time you have a problem that requires divergent thinking, really try sleeping
on it – it may be crucial for solving it.
No11: We can only dream about faces we have seen in reality
Our brains can’t invent new faces.
This means that any face we see in our dreams is one we have seen somewhere before.
This doesn’t mean that you personally know that person, only that you have seen them
before, although you probably didn’t notice them or consider them important.
These faces could be from the newspaper or someone we passed by on the way to work.
We didn’t remember them because they were not important to us, but they came up in our
dreams.
So, that serial killer that chased you in your nightmare or that cute guy you dated
in you last dream – those are all people you have seen somewhere in your waking life.
No12: Dreams could be byproducts of our mental activity during sleep
When we dream, excessive electrical activity is created in some areas of our brain.
These areas are in charge of processing emotions, sensations, and other events.
One of the explanations of dreaming is that dreams are our interpretation of this electrical
activity.
That may be why we rarely dream about something we have never heard of, seen, or experienced
before.
Dreams are not creative in a way that their content is something entirely new to us.
Rather, dreams are the way we interpret mental activity that occurs during sleep.
This is one of the explanations of the nature of dreams.
No13: Animals could be dreaming too If you have a pet, maybe you have seen them
twitch their limbs or even growl or purr when sleeping.
They seem like they are dreaming, don’t they?
Until the development of various brain activity scanners, animal lovers could only speculate
if their furry friends were actually dreaming.
Monitoring animals’ brain activity during sleep brought us closer to conclusive answers.
Animals’ brains show almost identical brain activity while sleeping as humans while dreaming.
This means that human’s and animals’ brains show similar brain waves while sleeping and
could be definitive proof that animals experience dreaming too.
No14: Dreams can be interpreted, but it is serious and hard work
Many people often engage in dream interpretation as a pastime.
Since ancient times, dreams have been considered very important and they could sometimes change
the course of history.
Although dream interpretation books can’t be considered universally accurate, dreams
can be interpreted in a way that allows dreamers to benefit.
It can be done, but it is hard work in which the dream interpreter and the dreamer are
equally important and involved.
Symbols in dreams have a highly individual meaning to the dreamer, and the interpreter
helps the dreamer find out what the dreamer’s subconscious is trying to tell them.
No15: Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of dreaming still evokes discussions
Although many of Freud’s work now have but historic value, some of his theories are still
discussed.
One of them is his “Interpretation of dreams”.
He argued that dreams are an expression of our subconscious.
Dreams represent our unconscious desires, thoughts, wishes, and motivators.
Nowadays, researchers agree this could be based on the fact that we often dream precisely
about things we try to repress from our conscience when we are awake.
Freud’s theory was the foundation of the popularization of dream interpretation and
has incensed the people’s interest in learning about themselves through their dreams.
Dreams continue to be the source of mystery for scientists of various professions.
If you have ever wondered about your dreams, we hope this video helped you understand dreams
better and maybe inspired you to do your own research on this topic.
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