The Science of Dreams: How Sleep and the Subconscious Work

From a position in ancient mythologies to an investigation conducted by modern psychology, the dream has always captured the human's interest since time immemorial. In sleep, the human brain is occupied with such complex activities that outline the subconscious, emotions, and sometimes even creativity. Though much remains a mystery about the dream, scientific studies threw light on why and how we dream, the mechanism of the brain behind the dream, and all the interesting experiences which take place during sleep.

In this blog, we are going to delve deep into the science of dreams-from lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis to dreams of the blind-and why they exist, and through what means they may serve in an evolutionary manner.

1. Common Dreams: Fears of Relationships and Insecurities

These include having dreams of one's spouse or partner having an affair. This dream was reported by men and women in a study involving over 5,000 people. Alarming though it is, this actually reflects insecure and anxious feelings about the relationship instead of any real problems in trusting one's partner.

While we sleep, it works through emotional anxieties; these are deep fears or doubts that our conscious mind would not go through.

Interesting it is, these dreams of betrayal prove that our various emotional states act like dictators over what we dream. Some of the important emotional triggers with regard to such dreams are: trust, fear of abandonment, and suspicion over loyalty. The dream world is acting like a mirror to the wakeful thoughts by showing us our hidden feelings.

2. Lucid Dreaming: Taking Control of Your Dreams

Ever wake up and find yourself still dreaming? This is called lucid dreaming: when the person dreaming is aware that they are dreaming and are sometimes able to control events. Lucid dreams can be as real; the person is allowed to express their creativeness and solve problems in this controlled dreamland.

The lucid state is achieved mainly by practice, but there are a number of techniques to further facilitate it. This includes marking the palm of your hand and checking it on a regular basis during wakeful hours to check whether one is awake. Eventually, the dreamer sees the marking in their sleep, takes the realization that they are dreaming, and takes control.

It is also of immense help for those who want to solve their daily problems through fantasy. In that respect, during a lucid dream, the manner in which the mind can transcend reality reflects human brain power, even during sleep.

3. Dreaming of the Blind: No Sight, Yet Perception

The question probably arises of what blind people dream about, for instance, in cases of those who have never seen. Surprisingly, blind people dream just like everyone else; it is only that the nature of the imagery is varied, depending a lot on their senses-majorly sound. Blind persons born blind actually dream, though their sensory experiences in dreams are dominated by elements relating to auditory, tactile, and olfactory perceptions.

Furthermore, studies have shown that blind people dream worse than sighted people-about 20% more. What dictates this higher incidence in nightmare prevalence among the blind is unknown, but it may reflect a generally heightened sense dependence and emotional response to the environment in the absence of any visual input.

It points to the human brain's adaptability, making up for any defectiveness of vision. In pointing out that in both persons, be it the blind or the sighted, with experiences, the relation that was held to the world bodes closely with dreaming.

4. Do Animals Dream? Yes, and some more than others!

Man is not the only dreamer. Rather, most animals do dream, although the length and frequency differ across species. While dolphins dream relatively little amongst animals, other species such as armadillos and opossums have been considered some of the biggest dreamers, with long periods committed to dream-like states of sleep.

This discovery speaks loudly of dreaming serving major biological functions aside from human experiences. In animals, it might play a role in memory processing, development of survival instincts, or even solving problems, similar to human beings.

These divergences, in turn, suggest that the function of dreaming, if single, may have evolved to serve a variety of purposes-be it information processing or behavioral rehearsal critical for survival-in different species.

5. REM Sleep: The Deepest, Yet Not Really or Not Entirely

Most dreams occur during a stage of sleep known as REM sleep. About 25% of our time in sleep is spent in REM, a period of rapid eye movements, rapid brain activity, and very vivid dreams. The body is temporarily paralyzed during this stage to prevent acting out of our dreams. That's a kind of paralysis that holds us from physically reacting to whatever dream scenarios we go through.

But should the person be abruptly awakened during REM, he or she may experience a condition known as sleep paralysis-a very frightening phenomenon whereby the person is already awake but cannot move. Several have reported extreme fear during this state and, at times, hallucinations, like seeing shadowy figures or other creatures inside the room. These hallucinations are unreal, but the inability of the mind to completely toggle from sleep mode to wakefulness can be quite distressing.

Despite how fearsome the paralysis can be, sleep paralysis actually plays an important role in preventing injury to one's self while the brain is highly aroused during the process of dreaming.

6. Somnambulism: Acting out one's dreams in real life

When REM sleep is not occurring properly, or if the mechanism that causes the body to be paralyzed doesn't happen, then the person may begin enacting dreams through acting out physically. This generally becomes what is described as sleepwalking. This can lead to a range from harmless to harmful activities. People are said to have risen, dressed and eaten breakfast, conversed and even driven cars while asleep. The most unbelievable tales are those where the individual is said to have engaged in dangerous activities, such as jumping from high-rise buildings, without any recollection of the acts the following morning.

Sleepwalking raises some interesting questions about consciousness and control during sleep, suggesting that this normal process of relative motor inhibition during dreaming sometimes breaks down, resulting in the unpredictable and often hazardous behaviors associated with the sleepwalker.

7. The Chemistry of Dreams: What Constitutes Them?

What causes the appearance of dreams, then? The key influence on this is dimethyltryptamine, better known as DMT, a chemical compound in our brains whenever we are sleeping. Being one natural chemical, dimethyltryptamine is thought to be responsible for most of the vivid, often surreal dream experiences.

Curiously enough, it is also synthesized and is said to induce extreme hallucinations if ingested. People who have ingested synthetic DMT report experiences strikingly similar to dream states, with fantastical imagery and bizarre distortions of reality. While the function of DMT in the process of dreaming remains active research, the function it has in both natural and drug-induced hallucinations works to further elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms by which dreams occur.

8. Why Do We Dream? Evolutionary Theories

Despite advances in neuroscience, one of the great unsolved mysteries of the scientific world is what dreams really achieve. One rather compelling hypothesis is that, through evolution, dreams developed as an adaptation for survival with the threat-simulation theory, in which it allows dreams to become a behavior that enables us to rehearse our responses to life-threatening events in a non-threatening simulated environment. In other words, through dreaming our brains can rehearse responses to imagined dangers-an attacking predator, an attacking enemy-while our physical bodies incur no actual danger. But in this sense, thereby giving our ancestors an evolutionary advantage through dreams by way of improving the survival tools at their disposal-a function which, either less or more subtly, is still operating today.

Conclusion: The Enigma Called Dreaming

Dreams are the means whereby our subconscious communicates to our consciousness of our fears, desires, and even solutions to problems during our wakeful moments. Those most common of relationship dreams, the lucid dreaming state to attain control over our dreams, or reacting to strange dream events through sleep walking or paralysis-all have made the realm of dreams a world of fascination within human and animal life. Although science can understand any mystery of the brain concerning sleep, it is hoped that some day it will be completely disclosed why people dream and how dreams protect health and favor creativity and evolution.