Brainy Dose Presents:
14 Interesting Psychological Facts About Dreams
People dream about six years during their
lives on average.
Imagine!
Six years spent absorbed in wondrous, frightening,
thrilling and sometimes completely incomprehensible
sensations.
Your dreams, if you could record them all,
would certainly prove just what a creative
being you really are.
Why we dream what we do might appear to be
totally mystifying, but in fact, the disciplines
of dream and sleep science have actually discovered
quite a lot about dreams.
This video will give you some deep insight
into dreams.
You will discover a lot of information that
will truly astonish you!
Let’s get started.
Number 1 - Your Mind Is More Active During
A Dream Than When You’re Awake
During sleep, the mind and body relax.
After all, the primary reason why we sleep
is to recover from the day’s stress on the
body, to repair muscle damage, and to freshen
up for the next day’s demands.
Yet, as paradoxical as it may seem, your mind
is a buzz of activity while you are asleep,
even more so than when you are awake.
Sleep studies - where a brain’s electrical
activity is measured - provide solid data
documenting brain activity.
But why is the brain so active when you are
asleep?
Well, you experience a lot during a typical
day.
When you are awake, your brain is so busy
taking in everything you see, hear and feel,
that it has little time to actually process,
categorize and store all this information.
When you are asleep, your brain finally has
time to make some sense of it all.
There is also evidence that your brain becomes
even more stimulated when it has to deal with
a brand-new experience, or with some major
change you experienced - regardless of whether
that change was good or bad.
Number 2 - It All Happens in Your Subconscious
Your conscious mind relaxes when you are asleep,
but your subconscious never really sleeps.
When you sleep, your subconscious is where
all that dreaming takes place.
You see, your subconscious mind is busy processing
your thoughts and concerns - this processing
generates dreams.
Dreams speak the language of the subconscious
mind; and this language is composed of images,
metaphors and other symbols that your conscious
mind usually has a hard time grasping.
This is why most people have trouble making
sense of their dreams.
But you can be sure that your dreams don’t
just come out of nowhere - they come right
from your own, personal experiences.
Number 3 - Your Dreams Only See Familiar Faces
What?
All those weird events in my dreams?
I know all those people?
That’s right!
Your subconscious can’t invent new faces.
That only makes sense, because your subconscious
only “remembers” things.
So, any face that appears in your dreams is
a face you have already encountered.
This does not, however, mean that you actually
know the person.
Well, just think about it.
Your eyes see and take in things that your
conscious mind doesn’t really pay attention
to.
Just think of all the people you pass by during
the day, maybe faces in a crowd you glanced
at.
You may not recognize any of those faces,
but your subconscious stored all of them.
Most of the main actors in your dreams are,
however, people you would recognize - simply
because they occupy your thoughts more.
But sometimes, your dreams can concoct a strange
mix of familiar and unfamiliar people.
For instance, a friend of yours might appear
in one of your dreams.
His face and personality might seem to match
up with reality.
Yet, upon waking, you might realize that a
person with a different face actually played
the role of that friend.
Number 4 - You Can’t Read In Your Dreams
You are typically engaged in a lot of activity
in your dreams, but one thing you aren’t
doing is: reading!
Yes, books and signs might pop up, but you
aren’t reading any of them because you won’t
make out any words or letters.
This is because reading is a conscious activity!
Remember - your brain is the product of a
long period of evolution.
However, humans have been reading only for
about 5,000 years.
Your subconscious is not equipped for this.
When you are asleep, your conscious mind is
taking a break.
You can’t even read a clock in your dreams.
And it gets weirder…
You can’t see yourself in a mirror!
If you look into one in your dreams, the image
will be blurred or resolve into another person.
Number 5 - Sensory Incorporation
It may seem strange, but it actually should
make some sense.
In order for you to dream, your body needs
to be relaxed.
If your body is disturbed by some external
sensations such as noise; or internal sensation,
such as bladder pressure - your subconscious
will be affected by this.
Anything like that will bring you out of a
dream state.
In order to get back to it, your subconscious
has to be completely undisturbed.
So, you need to shut off the noise, or go
to the washroom - before your mind will be
able to start dreaming again.
Number 6 - Men And Women Dream Differently
Researchers have discovered that women and
men dream differently, and they dream about
different things!
Several studies have documented that men dream
about things like - for example, weapons - far
more often than women do.
Women, on the other hand, dream a lot more
about things involving clothes.
Furthermore, men’s dreams contain a lot
more aggression and physical activity, while
women’s dreams more often have to do with
emotional themes such as exclusion or rejection.
In addition, a lot more conversations are
being held in women’s dreams than in men’s.
Women’s dreams are also a bit longer and
involve more people than men’s dreams.
What might seem somewhat surprising, is that
in men’s dreams, men appear twice as often
as women.
Women’s dreams, for some reason, are more
balanced: men and women appear roughly as
often.
Number 7 - Fifty Percent Of Dreams Are Negative
According to research, negative emotions emerge
in many of your dreams.
Your dreams are, in a sense, fair about this
all: about half of them are positive, but
half are also negative.
Negative dreams tend to involve emotions such
as: anger, fear, insecurity and sadness.
Number 8 - Dreams Can Be A Sign Of Anxiety
Or Underlying Stress
Our dreams show that humans everywhere seem
to have a lot in common!
No matter where we are born or where we grow
up, our dreams often involve being chased,
attacked or falling.
Other common themes are feelings of being
frozen or immobilized, or arriving late.
Sometimes we even dream about appearing naked
before others!
While the meanings of such dreams can differ
depending on a person’s particular circumstances,
these dreams can often be connected to feelings
of anxiety or stress.
If you experience unpleasant dreams, try to
pay more attention to taking care of yourself.
Also try to deal with circumstances that are
causing you stress.
Number 9 - Premonition Dreams
There are some really astounding instances
in which people have foreseen things in their
dreams that would happen to them.
These dreams often turned out to be surprisingly
accurate.
Were these dreams a glance into the future?
Or were they just a matter of circumstance?
Well, some pretty strange cases of premonition
are recorded in history!
For example:
• Many of the 9/11 victims dreamed about
the coming terror attack
• Mark Twain dreamed about his brother’s
death
• Abraham Lincoln dreamed that he would
be assassinated
• The verified dreams of 19 people foresaw
the sinking of the Titanic
Number 10 - Dreaming In Black And White
Your dreams might be very vivid and colorful.
A lot of people have such dreams.
Yet some people say that their dreams are
black and white.
Why?
Studies have established that ‘age and the
media’ one is exposed to, might play a role
in what colors occur in people’s dreams.
For example, older people grew up with black
and white television and photography.
Many of them have monochromatic dreams: it’s
the way they picture people and events external
to themselves.
Younger people, on the other hand, have known
nothing but color photography and television.
Number 11 - Dreams Recharge Your Creativity
OK, so dreams might contain some subconscious
messages, but what use can they really be?
Well, dreams can help you in various aspects
of your life - every day.
Researchers suggest that dreams are especially
helpful in developing your creative capabilities.
Artists often remark on how useful their dreams
are in their creative processes.
But dreams can help anyone - by providing
creativity toward solving everyday problems.
Just as you use your waking imagination when
you are trying to be creative, dreams do precisely
this while you are asleep.
While you sleep, your subconscious is dealing
with and working out problems.
The process is actually quite similar to the
creative process you use when awake.
In other words, the creative process continues
when you’re asleep, and your dreams actually
help improve your creativity.
As you may be aware, dreams can even directly
provide you with inspiration.
Let’s say, for example, that you’ve just
dreamed something really amazing, or you experienced
something challenging, or you relived some
emotional event.
These kinds of dreams can help connect you
to strong feelings, and thus, help you be
more creative.
Number 12 - Dreams Have Changed History
So, you now know that dreams serve to refresh
and support the creative process.
History shows that many dreams directly led
to ideas that changed the world!
For example:
• Larry Page came up with his idea for Google
• Dimitri Mendeleyev came up with the periodic
table of elements
• Elias Howe was inspired to invent the
sewing machine
• James Watson envisioned the DNA double
helix
• Tesla got the idea for an alternating
current generator
Number 13 - It's Possible To Control Your
Dreams
Have you ever had a dream while you were sleeping
and were aware that you were dreaming at the
time?
That kind of dream is referred to as a “lucid
dream”.
It is thought that lucid dreaming arises from
a state that combines both consciousness and
R.E.M. sleep.
While you are in such a state, you can often
control the contents of your dreams!
About fifty percent of people remember having
a lucid dream at least once in their lives;
and some people have lucid dreams over and
over again.
Number 14 - You Always Dream, You Just Don’t
Always Remember
Yes, always - even if you don’t remember
a single dream.
Most people have several dreams each time
they sleep.
These dreams can concern any number of scenarios
and differ in intensity.
Yet, many people just don’t remember them
once they wake up.
Over half - about 60% in fact - don’t remember
anything of their dreams after five minutes
of waking up.
After just ten minutes, most people forget
about 90% of the details from their dreams.
So what you remember of your dreams, is only
a small fraction of what you actually dreamed.
But there is an exception.
If you happen to wake up suddenly while you
are in the R.E.M. phase of sleep, you are
often able to remember quite a lot of your
dream’s content.
Of course, dreams can also stick with you
if you have a particular dream repeatedly,
or if they contain some very strong emotions.
If you want to remember more of your dreams,
keep a notepad by your bedside.
As soon as you wake up, write down anything
you can recall.
Once you’ve recorded your dreams, you can
refer to your notes and see whether any themes
are recurring.
You can even try to identify any messages
your subconscious may be communicating to
you!
So, there you have it!
Pretty interesting, don’t you think?
These dream facts may just be the tip of a
very large iceberg.
Psychologists and neuroscientists are still
conducting research into the purpose of dreaming
and the meanings of dreams.
Many are convinced that there is still a lot
to learn!
Share YOUR thoughts and comments below!
And, tell us about some of your most interesting
dreams - if you remember any.
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