Have you ever had a weird dream and can't get over it all day? Although we are accustomed to dreaming throughout our lives, we cannot prevent this difficult-to-describe situation from surprising us. In order to understand the subject of dreams, first of all, let's answer the questions of what is sleep and why do we sleep. To put it very simply, sleep can be defined as a process in which the hormones necessary for resting and renewing the body are secreted. Thanks to sleep, which is very important for health, the immune system is strengthened and the energy required for the brain to be used during the day is renewed. One of the most interesting effects of sleep is the transfer of information recorded in short-term memory during the day to long-term memory. While our memory system is still a mystery, many studies have revealed that behind the scenes of sleep, this system performs its maintenance and storage processes. Although scientists are not in a consensus as to why we sleep, the correct and common reason is that we sleep because of our biological clock. In addition, sleep is of great importance in terms of psychology.
According to EEG measurements at five different frequencies, human sleep is divided into different stages. This classification was grouped into two basic stages and named as REM and NREM. Most of the time we spend in sleep is spent in slow wave, or NREM. In the REM (Rapid Eye Movements) phase, although the eyelids are closed, it is as if the person has not fully fallen asleep and your eyes move quickly, just as if you are looking at something. At this stage, the brain is very close to the state we are awake and has a high energy consumption. Dreams are also seen in this phase. There are many hypotheses about what dreams and the REM phase are. What is agreed upon is the knowledge that especially the important data gained during the day in this phase are strengthened, the unimportant ones are cleared and the old ones are archived by making arrangements. The important function of REM sleep is to control the neurological connections of emotions, analyzing many risks such as danger, threat and fear. As a result, we can say that the person has an indirect effect on the decision-making mechanism. In the light of all these, dream can be defined as the integrity of visual and auditory emotions that we feel during sleep.
Another strange information is that there is no concept of time in dreams. Dreams usually occur within seconds and cannot be compared to real-world time. Therefore, it is very difficult to predict the dream duration because the flow rate is very different. The most interesting point that draws attention in research is that our brain needs a lot of work even though there is no bodily activity while dreaming. In some research results, dreaming is seen as a different activity of the brain. According to other studies, it is defined as the outflow of the subconscious during sleep. Dreams can be cited as an example of the human brain being active while sleeping. Many theories about dreaming have been put forward by scientists. According to Freud, dreams are seen due to the fact that thoughts and feelings that are pushed into the background in daily life of people, kept under control or suppressed by social and moral values, come out easily during sleep. Dreams often represent that person's concerns, interests, and emotional experiences. In their dreams, some people try to solve the problems they had at work that day. Some evolutionary psychologists, on the other hand, have suggested that dreams are a simulation against dangers and threats, and that they help us to protect ourselves from them and help us to solve problems more easily. But it can be said that the scientific world about dreams is really divided into several parts. Because, according to some scientists, dreams have no meaning. Dreams are just a part of our neural development and are extremely pointless.
According to the results obtained from the researches, the most common emotion among the factors that cause dreaming in people is anxiety. It has been claimed that men have more aggressive dreams than women because of their life or creation. Generally, 10% of dreams have sexual content and this is more common in young people due to their hormonal structure. In some studies, only 12% of people realize that they dream in black and white. In experiments conducted in sleep laboratories, it has been observed that people who are awakened while entering REM sleep and therefore have REM deprivation have more anxiety, irritability, intolerance and difficulty concentrating the next day. According to some studies, it has been determined that if REM sleep is suppressed, the brain has difficulty in learning new information and remembering information about the current day.
Another interesting assumption on this subject is that people who never dream are actually less interrupted at night, and these people sleep soundly and deeply. Studies have claimed that we usually forget 50% of the dream five minutes after we dream, and 90% after ten minutes. Searching for an answer to this issue, Freud said, “We forget our dreams because they contain our repressed desires and impulses. We do not want to remember them in our consciousness.” The fact that dreams come true may actually be related to the process of remembering dreams. For example, if a person sees a swing in his dream, he will remember seeing a swing the next day when he encounters a swing in his life. With the emergence and realization of the possibility of encountering the swing, the brain will automatically guide the person about the dream come true. To summarize, although there are many theories and studies on dreams, there is still no clear explanation for this issue and this issue needs more research. But even with the information at hand, it would not be wrong to say that human sleep and dreams are quite strange and interesting.
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