Question: Why do we Dream?
Comments
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[Little off topic] When you dream your brain still believes the dream is real, example of this is when I had a ” Dream” I slid on a bit of cardboard and hit my head on the tiles, but just before I hit the ground I woke up! In your ” Dreaming” state when you feel shock in the dream your body creates a warning waking you up! , eWrC
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I have dreamed I was jumping off a cliff and into water but when i awoke my legs kicked out as a natural reaction to jumping!
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ewrc
reneesmirnios12
This is way outside my area of expertise, but I think the basic idea is that our brain continues to work and continues to process inputs that we received during the day, even when we are not consciously thinking about it. So if the brain is still chugging along, it is going to seem like you are experiencing new things even if they are not really happening outside of your brain.
Probably a neuroscientist would be able to give you a better answer, though.
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It’s like a brain dump at night so we can get over one day and get on with the next one.
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The scientific study of dreams is called ‘oneirology’. Evidence suggests that birds, reptiles and other mammals dream (ever seen a dog dream-running, barking or drinking? I have!).
Dreams help us process all the information we’ve taken in during a day and helps our minds organise this information in place with our other memories and understanding.
There are a lot of different theories about why we dream:
Theory 1
The Evolutionary Theory: We Dream to Practice Responses to Threatening Situations
Theory 2
Dreams create wisdom
Theory 3
Dreaming is Like Defragmenting Your Hard Drive
Theory 4
Dreams Are Like Psychotherapy
Theory 5
The Absence of Theory (they have no meaning)
Most people have 3-5 dreams per night , but we don’t always remember them on waking.
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I really like Mia’s answer here. My guess is theory 3 or 4. Our brains need some time to re-process the events of the day.
Scientists have done experiments with letting people sleep but not dream; it doesn’t take too long for them to become totally silly, so it clearly serves some purpose.
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