What does it mean a person sees dreams. The Science of Sleep: Why We Dream and What They Can Tell About Us. Dreamland: Basic Psychological Theories

Why does a person dream? It is very difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question, because in fact scientists have not yet come to a consensus regarding dreams and their direct purpose. There is even a whole science - oneirology, which deals with the study of dreams, but even it does not give a clear formulation of their functions. However, there are a number of medical and psychological theories that seek to explain the mysterious nature of human dreams. It is about them and will be discussed in our article today.

Dreamland: Basic Psychological Theories

Let's start with the psychological theories of dreams, of which there are many adherents. In principle, the explanations that various schools give to the nature of dreams are quite logical and quite interesting. But unfortunately, none of these theories can be empirically confirmed, so they remain just guesses.

The notorious psychiatrist Sigmund Freud can be called a pioneer and one of the founders of oneirology. It was he who was the first of the psychiatrists who began to pay attention to dreams and their interpretation. Having a large clientele and an increased interest on the part of patients in their dreams, Freud received a rather extensive symbolic base. Drawing an analogy between the symbolism in dreams and the experiences of the clients themselves, the scientist came to the conclusion that in - repressed desires, feelings and fears. In other words, everything that we seek to avoid in reality sooner or later finds a way out in our dreams.

A follower of Freud, Carl Jung went beyond the limited scope of Freudian psychoanalysis and suggested that dreams are a kind of "language" spoken by the collective unconscious. Jung also believed that the images that arise in dreams are nothing more than archetypes -. Therefore, the main purpose of dreams is the opportunity to communicate with your archetypes.

More modern look psychiatrist Ernest Hartman, who developed his theory of dreams, was presented for the appointment of dreams. He suggested that dreams defense mechanism smoothing negative emotions and traumatic experiences. This is a kind of "psychotherapy session", during which we can resolve underlying problems.

A similar hypothesis was advanced by Prof. Harvard University Deirdre Barrett. According to her, dreams are a theater on the stage of which one can find answers to exciting questions. In addition, Barett came to the conclusion that dreams accelerate the formation of associative connections. On this score, in our folklore there is even a saying: "The morning is wiser than the evening."

In the footsteps of Darwin: evolutionary theories of dreams

Some scientists believe that dreams are a "side" effect of evolution. So, for example, there is a theory according to which a person in a dream behaves like many animals in front of mortal danger - pretending to be dead. In other words, the activity of the brain during sleep remains at the level of consciousness, and the body becomes immobilized. The dreams that occur in this state are the result of evolution, because in fact a person has lost the need for such protective behavior.

This theory fits perfectly with the hypothesis of the Finnish scientist Antti Revonusuo, who believes that in the state of sleep we model various situations and learn to respond to them. According to his theory, a person, fortunately, faced in real life With similar situation be able to respond quickly.

Why a person dreams: information theories

There are also theories that explain dreams from the perspective of information. For example, the reverse learning theory says that dreams help a person filter out unnecessary information and get rid of it through the process of forgetting. Adherents of the systematization hypothesis have an absolutely opposite opinion: dreams will allow you to systematize all the information received and contribute to its better memorization.

It is known that a person spends almost a third of his life in a state of sleep. And that's a big amount of time. Even in ancient times, people attributed certain meanings to dreams. AT Ancient Greece among other Greek gods on Olympus, Morpheus was known, who could make even Zeus or Poseidon himself fall asleep - formidable and strong gods. That is, Morpheus is a kind of ruler of dreams and dreams.

Why do we dream?

Many believe that when we sleep, the brain does not work and rests, but this opinion is erroneous. In a dream, the brain simply stops receiving information from the outside and therefore processes the information that has accumulated during the day, that is, the internal one. Saturation inside information determined by the events and experiences of the day. Everything that did not leave us indifferent during the day, our emotions create a picture, which is a dream. The content of dreams is influenced by various experiences, pain in some organ, fear, anxiety. In other words, we ourselves model our dreams.

Are dreams prophetic?

Since ancient times in Russia it was believed that a dream that occurred on a certain day of the week would be prophetic. Prophetic dream is still a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon. It is not clear how a person can foresee the events that will happen to him in the future. There are recurring dreams, and probably they reflect some big problem tormenting you for a while. If you are a creative person, then it is quite possible that in a dream a plot, an idea for your future work, will come to you.

Every person, no matter how skeptical he is about dreams, is still interested in the meaning of his dreams. There are many dream books with the interpretation of what we see in a dream. Our dreams are a kind of book full of images, which, it is desirable, to learn to read between the lines, while trying to take into account every little thing, building a chain of events. For example, if in a dream you overcome a mountain, strive to its top, and you succeed, then in reality you will definitely overcome the obstacle. That is, what is more important here is not the plot of the dream itself, but what you feel at the same time.

The Orthodox Church, to the question: is it worth believing in dreams, answers unequivocally: no. And even rabid atheists agree with her on this issue. But it is difficult to argue with the fact that there are dreams that can warn a person about upcoming troubles. The question of whether to pay attention to dreams remains open. And we will try to figure it out. This text should not be treated as scientific work, these are just thoughts.

Let's start with facts that have already been proven by science.

1. Sleep is one third of a person's life.

2. Dreams - obligatory part sleep is essential for mental health.

From this we can conclude that dreams are main part vital functions such as breathing, digestion, etc. Consider an example that speaks in favor of paying attention to dreams.

Imagine that a person has high blood pressure, dizziness, that is, there are signs of a disease, and the doctor advises him not to pay attention to it. The situation is clearly stupid. In this regard, we can draw an analogy: if you are worried about dreams that negatively affect real life, they should not be ignored. It is very important to draw the right conclusions. Only in no case should dreams be taken literally, this can be harmful mental health. It should be remembered that dreams are allegorical, the phenomena in them are veiled. Most often, their content is completely opposite. external form and it is impossible for a person, especially an unprepared one, to decipher the true meaning of his dream.

Dreams are a great indicator mental health person, and an excellent source of information, which should be approached quite carefully:

1. Never take dreams literally. For example, if in your dreams you are running from a problem, do not consider this a guide to action. Perhaps your dream means something completely different.

2. Don't jump to conclusions. If it seems to you that you have understood the meaning of your dream, think again, what if you wished for reality.

3. Do not be lazy to check the information received in a dream. If you are a believer, check your guesses, whether they correspond to divine laws. If you are an atheist, before following the advice given to you by dreams, check to see if it will bring harm to someone.

Misconceptions about dreams.

In our time of high technology, oddly enough, people do not know where they are for a third of their lives. Sometimes you can hear such statements about dreams and dreams that you don’t know whether to cry or laugh. In our article, we will look at the most common erroneous opinions.

1. Not everyone sees dreams.

Each of us at least once in our lives heard from someone that he does not dream at all. People who are sure of this, however, are mistaken. Why? They just don't remember their dreams. The reason may be a sudden awakening that occurred in the phase deep sleep in which the memory of dreams is poorly developed or for other reasons. But the facts show that these people saw dreams, however, they were not remembered. Science has proven that at night a person goes through REM sleep (when he dreams) from three to six times, depending on how long the dream lasts. Dreams are seen not only by people, but also by animals and even fruit flies, which is also proven by scientists.

2. Remembering dreams is a mental disorder.

There is an opinion that a person should not remember dreams. However, it is not. After all, dreams mirror our inner world, our emotions, anxieties, desires. Dreams are able to highlight the most important problems and, at times, provide answers to questions. Here we can recall Mendeleev with his table of elements. Just someone's brain remembers dreams, but someone does not. And both cases do not speak of abnormality.

3. Do not pay attention to dreams.

If you have dreams with vivid emotional pictures, you should definitely pay attention to them. The more real and brighter dream, the more serious information it carries. Ignoring the dream, you simply refuse to pay attention to yourself and receive useful information from your subconscious. This can lead to unpleasant consequences.

4. There are people who never sleep.

This is complete nonsense. Scientists have proven that if a person does not sleep, then in a day the destruction of brain cells begins, after three to five days he falls asleep on the go, dreaming with open eyes called hallucinations, and ten to twelve days later fatal outcome. People who claim to never sleep are likely not noticing that they are falling into a nap, but it seems to them that they continue to think about their problems. Most likely, they rarely fall into a phase of deep sleep, but even a drowsy state is enough for their body to rest.

5. Alcohol contributes to sound and healthy sleep.

This is also a big mistake. The quality of sleep under the influence of alcohol deteriorates significantly. Undoubtedly, it relieves stress, and falling asleep at the same time occurs faster. But the brain, instead of restoring the body during sleep, as usual, is busy fighting alcohol intoxication. Moreover, the dose of alcohol does not matter.

6. Dreams are out of control.

Despite the fact that there is now a lot of information that dreams can be controlled, a lot of people doubt it. However, it is not. There are techniques that allow you to control dreams and even make it possible to realize that you are now sleeping. But this is a topic for a separate discussion.

7. By spending less time sleeping, you can get more done.

In fact, a sleepy person has low working capacity, he is less energetic, and the brain does not work at full strength, since the body does not have time to recover. After all, sleep is one of the main opportunities to restore strength. Naturally, by reducing sleep, you reduce your potential. You can, of course, accustom the body to recovery in a shorter period of sleep, but this is a complex process, moreover, not immune from mistakes. So, if you decide to save on sleep, think carefully.

8. Optimal sleep is eight hours.

This is also an incorrect assumption. sleep duration, necessary for man- the value is not constant throughout life. For example, babies sleep from eighteen hours a day, and older people - from five to six hours. Don't count out individual characteristics the human body, depending on them, sleep time can vary from six to ten hours. Therefore, you should not pay attention to the standards, just listen to your condition for several days and determine your sleep rate.

9. Medicines - a panacea for insomnia.

This statement is simply dangerous. After all, the reason bad sleep can serve various factors. It should be remembered that insomnia is a symptom of some problems: with health, with the environment, and so on. Using medicines, you simply get rid of the symptom, suppress it, and the problem remains. Conclusion, I hope you make the right one.

10. Nightmares are better to forget as soon as possible.

It is also a controversial statement, because nightmares, a kind of litmus test showing that your inner world is not in order. If you do not begin to pay attention to them or, even worse, drown them out with medicines, then the cause of nightmares will not go anywhere, but will begin to manifest itself even more. You can draw an analogy with the common cold. If a person has a fever from hypothermia, a runny nose, etc., but he does not pay attention to this and will continue to be in the cold, then how can this end?

This, of course, is not full list erroneous judgments about dreams and sleep. It is important if, after reading all this, you understand the main idea: the area of ​​\u200b\u200bsleep is interesting, although poorly understood, and besides, it is a fairly important part of human life.

Why does a person sleep?

Here it was already possible to find the answer to this question, but I would like to supplement all of the above with another interesting version. In a dream, a person gains experience. In other words, dreams model situations in such a way that we need to find solutions to these problems in a dream, thereby helping to acquire certain skills that will help in solving real problems. That is why our dreams are varied. Every night in a dream, even if we do not remember dreams, we find ourselves in different situations, trying to find a way out of them, which gives us the opportunity to use reserves that were not used in real life. To make the statement clearer, consider the situation on specific example: man, for some reason for a long time does not use certain muscle groups, such as legs. It is clear that in this case, the muscles begin to atrophy. But when danger arises, he just needs to run away from it, that is, use his legs, otherwise he will die.

It is known that “what does not develop, then degrades” and this statement can be applied to absolutely everything, not only to physical, but also to personal qualities too. And dreams allow personal qualities to be in good shape, and contribute to their development, while preparing a person for various unexpected changes in his life. A series of recurring dreams can be explained by the fact that we have not yet extracted something important for us from the dream. Therefore, sleep will haunt us until it fulfills the function assigned to it. From this we can conclude that even nightmares have a certain function that we need.

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sense of self-importance

and what, gentlemen, is there any method to deal with the WHS? disturbs terribly. distracting... :(...

? This question has been asked by people since ancient times. Probably, each of us has seen dreams more than once and wondered, “What is this dream talking about?”.
Over the years, a significant amount of research has been done on the topic of dreams. However, scientists still do not have a definitive answer to the question "Why do we dream?". True, there are several theories, as well as specific knowledge about the physiology of sleep.
Dreams occur during (rapid eye movement). The stages of REM sleep themselves take up approximately 20% to 25% of a person's sleep time. Interestingly, brain activity during sleep is similar to brain activity when people finally woke up.
Dreams can last from a few seconds to 15-20 minutes. As already mentioned in the article, complete sleep cycles in healthy person occur about five times a night. In this stage of REM sleep is accompanied by periods of deep sleep, called slow-wave sleep (Non-REM sleep). Some scientists believe that it is during the stage of non-REM sleep that information about the dreams that have arisen is “erased” in people’s memory. Each of us is familiar with such a situation when, waking up in the morning, we know that we had a dream, but we do not remember what it was about.

Why do we dream? Theories...

There are many theories related to the question "Why do we dream?", some of them are physiological, others are psychological, and some are a combination of different ideas.
Relationship between sleep and daytime activities and emotions
Most research seems to confirm that daily activities that occur to us in the waking state have some effect on dreams, according to at least, part of sleep time.
In many cases, people can see the connection between their dreams and the hopes, fears, worries and experiences that occur in daily life. During various stages sleep, the brain and body go through a "Repair and Adjust" process in which hormones are rebalanced, renewed immune system, the pressure in the circulatory system decreases.
Some researchers believe that dreaming is just part of another function that is happening in our brain at this time - the reorganization and processing of past memories and experiences. Our dreams may be one of the mechanisms our brains use to find agreement between emotionally charged or traumatic events that happen to us while we are awake.
Activation theory
When considering the question "Why do we dream?", activation theory suggests that dreams are the result of the brain trying to organize random signals, messages, memories, and daily activities into something recognizable. This theory holds that there is no real logic or reason why our dreams develop.
Freudian explanation
Theoretically, the answer to the question "Why do we dream?", which was popular in its time, but has now declined attention, was put forward by Sigmund Freud. In his own words, Z. Freud believed that sleep could be "a hidden fulfillment of repressed desires." In other words, he believed that we hold back certain emotions and actions in our conscious world because they might be socially unacceptable. However, during sleep, the brain feels free to explore these activities. However, no research has proven Freud's hypothesis.
Justification Everyday life
This is a more recent theory about why we dream, which puts elements of different theories together to create a new one. During sleep, the brain takes over the thoughts, ideas, and emotions a person experiences while awake and mixes the information together in an attempt to interpret and organize it in a way that is consistent with each person's beliefs.

Sleep: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. It all starts with slow sleep, which includes 4 stages.

The first stage is sleep. Remember this feeling when you are on the verge of falling into a dream, in a kind of half-sleep that can be interrupted. a sharp shudder. At this time it goes down muscle tone.

The second stage is characterized by shallow sleep and takes most all the time spent sleeping. The heart rate slows down and the body temperature drops. In addition, there is a further decrease in muscle activity.

The third and fourth stages are the time of deep sleep. It is during this period that the body receives the necessary portion of physical sleep. There is blood flow to the muscles increased output growth hormone, etc.

After the end of the non-REM phase, fast sleep. During such a dream, rapid eye movements are observed under the eyelids, an increase blood pressure, increased blood flow to the brain, as well as irregular frequency heart rate and uneven breathing. It is at this stage that a person sees dreams.

The functionality of REM sleep is still not fully understood. American scientists believe that it is necessary in order to streamline the information stored in memory. Based on experiments, it was shown that nerve impulses, received by a person during wakefulness, are reproduced by the brain in a dream seven times faster. Such a reproduction of the impressions received during the day is necessary for the formation of memories. That is, all information is, as it were, rewritten from short term memory on long-term carriers.

Early 20th century scientific world spoke about the fact that during wakefulness in the human body they manage to accumulate chemical compounds such as: carbon dioxide, lactic acid and cholesterol. During sleep, these substances are dissipated, affecting the brain in such a way that it generates projections.

According to another theory, dreams are a way to reboot the brain. In other words, dreams help the brain get rid of information and work properly. Otherwise, the brain would not be slow to fail.

Another possible explanation the occurrence of dreams - erratic electrical activity. Approximately every 90 minutes, the brain stem activates and begins uncontrolled electrical impulses. Meanwhile, they are intercepted by the forebrain, which is responsible for the analytical processes, which is trying to make sense of obscure signals. This analysis manifests itself in the form of dreams.

It is unlikely that anyone will argue with the fact that sleep is directly related to emotions, fears, desires, both manifested and hidden. At the same time, some factors affecting the organs of perception of a person can also be superimposed on dreams. Depending on these factors, the plot of sleep is constantly changing. Anyone who goes to bed on an empty stomach is likely to see food in a dream. If the sleeper is cold, he will look for warmth and comfort. And a person who lays his hand during sleep will obviously dream that there is a wound on his hand, a cut, or worse.

Almost every person experiences some kind of “vision” during sleep. We dream of people, places, events, some objects or phenomena. Most often, a person sees a dream in the first person and in the morning forgets most of the dream. Some dreams affect emotions and can be very realistic. Today, scientists cannot say exactly why dreams occur, but there are several good theories that explain this phenomenon.

Why does a person sleep

First, let's figure out why we need sleep at all.

Sleep is a natural state of the body, which includes several cycles. During this period, brain activity is reduced, as is the reaction to external stimuli.

For a long time, the mechanism of the dream state and the cause of dreaming were shrouded in mystery, and scientists of different times made assumptions based on their conjectures. Modern technologies made it possible to study the human brain during sleep, and people received answers, however, only to some questions.

Until now, many believe that sleep is necessary for the rest of the brain and the body as a whole. But back in the 20th century, it turned out that this is not entirely true: during sleep, brain activity is only 10-15% lower than during a shallow nap, and the muscles may well rest, just being at rest. So why do we spend almost a third of our lives on special condition sleep?

Today it physiological phenomenon is considered not as just rest, but as a mechanism of self-regulation of the body. In the state of sleep, the systematization of memories occurs, the psyche is unloaded, the level of stress decreases, cells are renewed and toxins are removed.

What happens if you don't sleep

It is during REM sleep that a person sees vivid dreams, some of which can be remembered in the morning. Each stage replaces each other several times, while they are uneven in duration, and gradually REM sleep takes more and more time.

In ancient times, dreams were perceived as encrypted messages from underworld containing information about the future of man. "Knowing" people helped decipher these messages (). Over time, dream books appeared, which are still popular today.

However, with the development of psychology and physiology, new views on this phenomenon began to appear, reflected in several theories.

Theory 1: Dreams are images of human desires

The famous psychotherapist Sigmund Freud suggested that in dreams a person sees repressed desires and hidden longings. The subconscious seems to communicate with us through dreams. Sometimes this is an exact image, and sometimes it is veiled in some symbols (images).

Freud believed that discussing dreams with a psychotherapist can help resolve internal psychological problems person. He even wrote a book, The Interpretation of Dreams, where he talks about typical symbols in dreams that can have a similar meaning to different people.

Theory 2: The peculiarity of the brain

But the eminent psychiatrist John Hobson, on the contrary, said that dreams do not carry any semantic load. He studied how exactly a dream arises from a physiological point of view. It turned out that random signals from the brain stem lead to the vision of a plausible reality.

The brain tries to somehow interpret random impulses and puts them into certain plots.. He often takes memories as a basis.

Interesting fact! It has been experimentally proven that mammals such as cats and dogs also experience dreams.

Theory 3: Permanent activation

Psychiatrist Zhang Jie agrees that nerve impulses lead to dreams. That's just in her opinion, they are not accidental.

The brain organizes memories during sleep, and at the moment they move from short-term memory to long-term memory, they can be partially activated, and we see dreams.

Theory 4: Threat Modeling

This is a rather unusual explanation for why we dream. It is believed that this ability was inherited by a person from ancient ancestors, who, with the help of dreams, could imitate potentially dangerous situations.

Actually dreams are protective biological mechanism that allows you to "train" to survive threats. At modern man not like that dangerous life, like their ancestors, so there is an opinion that the functions of dreams have changed a little. Hence the next theory.

There was a period when it was believed that sleep is disease state arising from the accumulated poisons in the human body.

Theory 5: Natural Selection of Thoughts

Psychologist Mark Blencher suggests that situations that the brain models in sleep, allow it to choose the best emotional reactions . He remembers them and uses them in real life.

That is, in this case, we also train, but already taking into account what happens most often in our modern life.

Interestingly, a special kind of sleep are lucid dreaming when a person realizes that he is dreaming, and sometimes even manages a dream. Some researchers are convinced that everyone can master this with proper preparation.

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Conclusion

So far, no theory is universally accepted, but they suggest that dreams arise due to impulses in the brain and may be formed on the basis of memories.