For most of humankind’s history, dreams were believed to be messages from beyond. Dream interpretation was a sacred art requiring intelligence, experience, and divine guidance. In the 19th century, psychoanalysts became the dream interpreters. In his 1899 book, The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud described dream analysis as the “royal road into the unconscious.” In the late 20th century, Carl Jung introduced the Western world to the field of modern dream psychology.
Today, dream science has been added to dream psychology. The scientific (neurobiological) understanding of dreams is relatively new. In the 1950s, the use of electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain waves during sleep led to the discovery that most dreams occur during periods of increased brain wave activity, along with rapid eye movement beneath the eyelids. They called this rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Researchers discovered that if they woke someone during REM sleep, they were almost always in the middle of a dream.
In the 1990s, brain imaging technology showed that areas of the brain, called the limbic system, are active during REM sleep. This system in the deeper parts of the brain is responsible for emotions, sensations, and memories. When you are not in REM sleep or awake, areas of your outer brain that control judgment, logic, and reasoning take over. That is why, during REM sleep, your dreams are vivid and more emotional, but less logical. On the other hand, when you are in non-REM sleep, you may still have dreams, but they may be more realistic and less emotional.
Almost everyone dreams every night. In fact, most people will have up to five periods of REM-sleep dreams per night.
Dream science has discovered how and when we dream, but not why. So far, dream experts only have theories. Popular theories include strengthening and building memories, processing emotions, rehearsing for real-life situations, and some say dreams are just meaningless byproducts of the sleeping brain.
A new theory gaining support is called the empathy theory. It says dreams are made to be shared. As humans evolved in small groups, survival depended on people supporting and caring about each other. Sharing dreams may have been a way for them to create bonds of empathy and intimacy. Dream sharing empowers individuals with sympathy, understanding, self-esteem, and a sense of community. A recent American Psychological Association study offers some support for the empathy theory. It included 700 adults, and found that couples and friends who shared their dreams more frequently were significantly more intimate.
Every aspect of waking life flows into dreaming, and vice versa. Dreaming experiences inform waking life as well. But dream science can’t tell us what our dreams mean. Today’s dream experts avoid the concept of dream interpretation. They prefer to think of dream work as dream reflection. A modern dream therapist may offer useful questions and give informed feedback that often includes ways to make dream life more accessible to waking life. But only the dreamer has the right to determine what the dreams mean to them.
For example, a dream that keeps occurring may be trying to tell you something you have been avoiding or trying to help you work out a source of anxiety or the need to deal with some ongoing trauma. Often, a very important message will repeat until it’s understood or worked through by the dreamer. People who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder often have recurrent dreams related to their trauma.
Although self-help books and internet sites claim to interpret your dreams based on dream content or symbols, these interpretations are usually more in the realm of astrology and fortune telling than dream psychology.
Let your health-care provider know if you have dreams or nightmares that are very frequent and upsetting. Dreams of anxiety may be caused by an anxiety disorder that should be evaluated by a mental health professional. If you are having a disturbing nightmare once a week or more, you may have a nightmare disorder, which requires treatment.
For most dreams, sharing with friends or loved ones offers the most value. Have an open mind to the dream experiences of others in a safe, non-judgmental environment. Dream-sharing groups are becoming more common. These groups range from informal gatherings among friends to more organized groups led by a dream therapist.
To share your dreams, you need to remember them, and as we all know dreams are easy to forget. There are tips to help people retain dream recall, including waking up more gently, not jumping up out of bed, and keeping a dream journal next to your pillow so you can write a few words down about your dream. Writing your dreams down is like an invitation to your dreams, stating you want to remember them and develop a relationship with them. Scientifically, getting up too fast shifts the brain chemistry from back to front too quickly, functioning like an Etch-a-Sketch to erase the memory of the dreams. Quiet, gentle alarms help, too.
The time we spend dreaming can help us solve problems by giving our minds free rein to examine all possible scenarios. In our waking lives, our rational, thinking minds can often get in the way. In dreaming, our waking-life barriers come down, and new ideas can spring forth freely.
