Our dreams can be both a sweet escape from reality and something we want to escape from. They can be the reflection of our worries or memories or of our greatest desires. Sometimes dreams can be so powerful that when we’re awake, for a moment there we can’t figure out whether it was real or not.
When we sleep we move consecutively from one sleep phase to the other. All the magic happens when we get to the final phase, called the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase. This is when our dreams comfortably dwell. It’s not known for sure why this phase stands out, but our body indeed behaves in a particular way: eyes move around very fast, our muscles get temporarily paralyzed, while the brain becomes highly active.
We still don’t know exactly how to interpret our dreams if it’s at all possible. There are many theories, of course. Sigmund Freud, for instance, believed that our suppressed emotions and thoughts as well as unresolved issues are reflected in our dreams or nightmares in a very abstract way. He was sure that if you look into your dreams, you can see what’s going on in the back of your mind.
Often dreams simply mirror the events of the day or the emotions we experienced not so long ago. They can be a bizarre interpretation of familiar things, too. Dreams seem strange because the part of the brain that is in charge of logic and self-control becomes far less active during the REM phase.
Brain works in a very unusual way when we sleep, so our dreams can even spark an inspiration. Many great ideas of famous inventions and works of art came from dreams: Google, the sewing machine, the ‘Yesterday’ song and so many others. And then there are prophetic dreams that still remain a mystery to science.
So, you see that dreams are a truly fascinating phenomenon that cannot be treated as something plain and trivial. You can simply enjoy them or try to decipher what they mean to you personally.