• Question: why do people have dreams and what are they?

    Asked by mrspolly to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 24 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by abichohan.
    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 24 Jun 2012:

      Hi mrspolly,

      I don’t know why we have dreams I’m afraid, I was always told it is the way your brain sorts out what happened in the day and files it all away, but all I know is that the dreams I remember are often very strange!

    • Photo: Nuala Carson

      Nuala Carson answered on 24 Jun 2012:

      Hey Mrspolly,

      I don’t think anyone really knows what dreams are, i think there is loads of research going on trying to define what dreams are so maybe one day we will know. They are so strange though, i mean when you walk up and think ‘god that dream was so strange’ and then you get out of bed and cannot remember anything about the dream?!?whats that all about?

    • Photo: Gemma Purser

      Gemma Purser answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      Dreams are images, feelings and thoughts that you experience during sleep.
      Pshycologists have thought of several explanatins of what they are and why we have them and even if we need them!
      Some psychologists believe that our dreams are driven by our unconcious thoughts (the ones you dont know you are thinking about) and that we only become aware of them through dreaming. They think that the things we see in our dreams could have hidden meanings. This is the phychoanalytical perspective of dreams.

      Other psychologist believe that during REM the nerves in our brains fire random signals from one never to the next. REM stands for rapid eye movement and is the lighest stage of sleep, in which we dreaming happens. To try and make sense of all these random signals the brain trys to join them all up into a story. This seems like dreams are pointless but some psycologists argue that dreaming could infact be the time when our thoughts are the most free and that some of the best ideas can be created out of the chaotic state of dreaming! This is the activation-sysntesis model of dreaming. So on that note im off for a snooze to try and think of more answers to all your questions! Night! 🙂

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