What are dreams for?

The human being has a strange habit: we try to convince ourselves that we are experts in what we ignore most. Our curiosity is insatiable, as is our fear of the unknown. Perhaps that is why we want to solve the mysteries with too much haste. This is what happens with dreams. We narrate them, we interpret them, we want to give them a meaning that is very far from their reality. What are dreams for?

To this day, psychology has not been able to discover all the functions of dreaming. However, we do know quite a few things about why we dream, and above all, what for. Throughout history, human beings have tried to discover the meaning of dreams... both from the psychoanalysis as in esoteric currents (since Joseph in the Old Testament of the Bible like modern seers) the dream interpretation has always been subject to previous theories... This is not scientific at all. If there is a prior, rigid theory about meanings, this theory will totally condition the experience.

At the end of the article we will tell you how to interpret your dreams in a truthful way. First,

We will expose what we do know about dreams.

What are dreams

Dreams, or reveries, are narratives that we visualize, experience and feel in the deep phase of sleep or state. MOR (rapid eye movements, REM in English). During this phase, we can experience up to 30 or 40 dreams every night. Are you surprised? Why then do we only remember a few or even none?

How are dreams built?

During this phase of sleep, you are unconscious but your brain and your entire body continue to work to keep you alive. In the same way that your heart pumps and your lungs continue to breathe in and out, emotional and creative processes occur in your brain that help you learn and develop.

The brainstem then sends images, sounds and sensations to the brain in a random way, depending on the people you see the most, or the ones you think about the most, or what worries you the most. Then the brain (the neocortex, to be more precise) tries to interpret all these images and build a coherent narrative. Since you are asleep, there are no usual limits that we create in our mind, so dreams are like a child's imagination... creative, strange, full of possibilities, they go beyond the physical limits of our material world.

What are dreams for?

All its functions are not yet known, but here are some:

• For the physiological regulation on an emotional level (in your dreams, you feel emotions that you repressed due to poor emotional management).

• Learning (During sleep and with dreams, the knowledge you tried to acquire during the day is assimilated... in such a way that you put them into practice in your dreams in some way).

• Creativity (to find new solutions to new problems).

• Decision making (to find ourselves facing problems in a more direct, emotional way, without escape, in such a way that we have to make quick decisions).

That is, if sleep helps us regulate homeostasis of the organism, rest, recover our energies and regulate them, dreaming helps us to regulate our learning, manage our emotions (perhaps, feeling during sleep what we do not allow ourselves to feel during the day and should be felt and experienced), develop our creativity... in short, look for new ways of dealing with problems.

Some curiosities about dreams

During the sleep phase (REM or REM) people they move their eyes under the lids. At that moment, we are dreaming, and the physiological stimuli that we receive stimulate the reverie or narration that we experience. Therefore, when we are touched we feel those sensations in the dream, or if we put a finger in water, we can feel that we are drowning. If in those moments someone wakes us up abruptly... We can remember, in great detail, up to 5 or 6 dreams.

To delve into the world of dreams and the curiosities associated with them, you can read the article "10 curiosities about dreams", of the psychologist Bertrand Regader.

Finally, what do the dreams mean? Do you have any interpretation?

Dreams are just one response to what we usually think and experience day after day. If we are angry and we repress that anger, it is common to dream of violence, or that we are facing some of our loved ones. Dreams are just that, a reflection, sometimes random.

Some people transform into others (simply because they are common images in our life), we remember events of the past that had a special impact, or we dream of recurring situations that are witness to our patterns and perhaps some of our personal blocks and beliefs that still need to be worked on. In short, the meaning and interpretation of our dreams is that these dreams are an example master of our mental patterns, of our fears, obsessions, and also desires, desires and... of our dreams, properly so called.

Finally, who should interpret our dreams?

Only you can interpret your dreams. Perhaps the most sensible thing is not to interpret them, simply to feel them and answer the question: what can I learn from my dreams? People who relate more positively to their dreams, use them to enhance their decision-making and learning. You can do it too. Time to dream!