One night, you dream and wake up with a confused mind, don’t know if the dream you just met is a good omen or a bad omen, don’t worry because you are not alone, the desire to understand and decipher the dream has appeared. long time ago.
Much archaeological evidence shows that around 3000 BC, the Mesopotamian civilization began recording and deciphering dreams on wax tablets. A thousand years later, the ancient Egyptians wrote a book listing more than a hundred common dreams and their meanings. And many years later, the interpretation of dreams continues, we are always curious and constantly searching to understand the meaning of the dream.
To this day, in what people say is the modern age, with the application of advanced technological techniques to scientific experiments and research, along with perseverance, we have not found The answer is satisfactory, but there are some pretty interesting theories.
In the early 1900s, Sigmund Freud proposed that all dreams, including nightmares, besides being a collection of images from everyday life, they also have meanings related to the fulfillment of wishes. in the subconscious. Freud theorized that the things we remember when we wake up from a dream represent our subconscious thoughts, urges, and desires when unhindered by reason. Freud believed that by analyzing what we remember, our unconscious contents reveal our true desires.
To increase performance for certain mental tasks, sleeping is good, but dreaming while sleeping is even better. In 2010, scientists discovered that study subjects found their way out of a maze game better if they took a nap and dreamed about the maze before playing a second time. In fact, they did ten times better than those who were awake between attempts and those who slept but didn’t dream about the maze. Scientists hypothesize that certain memory processes can only happen while we’re asleep, and dreaming is a sign that the brain is reviewing and remembering.
There are about 10,000 billion neural connections in the architecture of your brain. It is created by what you think and what you do. In 1983, a neurobiological hypothesis suggested that mainly during the REM sleep cycle, your cerebral cortex evaluates neuronal connections and discards what is not needed. Without the process of forgetting through dreams, your brain will be overloaded with useless associations and miscellaneous thoughts that can interrupt the key thoughts you need to do when you’re awake.
This theory suggests that dreams are the result of the brain needing to continually consolidate and create memories in order to function properly. So when we sleep, the brain automatically activates data from memory in the form of thoughts and emotions you experience in dreams. In other words, a dream is a random wait screen that the brain pops up so it doesn’t shut down completely.
Dreams involving dangerous and threatened situations are common, and the main theory is that your brain is rehearsing your instincts. Whether it’s an anxious night being chased through the woods by a bear, fighting a ninja in a dark alleyway, or flirting with a beautiful girl, these dreams allow you to practice your tactics and stay ahead of the game. feel if you encounter the same thing in real life.
The stress neurons in the brain are less active during the REM phase of sleep, including during nightmares, and some scientists have hypothesized that the purpose of dreams is psychological stabilization. before painful experiences. Revisiting painful events in your dreams with less stress can give you a clearer perspective and give you the mental strength to deal with them in a healthy way. Some scientists believe that lack of dreams may be a factor in people with mood disorders and PTSD.
Unconstrained by normal logic rules, in dreams, the mind can generate unlimited scenarios to help grasp problems and build solutions that you might not have thought about while awake. John Steinbeck and scientists have demonstrated the effectiveness of dreams in problem solving. That’s also how the famous chemist August Kekule discovered the structure of the benzene molecule and it’s why sometimes the best solution to a problem is sleep.
The above is just one of many prominent theories. As technology advances, many secrets of the brain are gradually revealed. Maybe one day we will discover the real reason for dreams. But until then, think that dreams always bring good.