អាថ៌កំបាំងនៃក្តីសុបិន្តនៅក្នុងសំណួរនិងចម្លើយ

According to dream expert Michael Breus, not a day goes by without someone talking to him about their dreams. “My patients, my children, the barista who makes my coffee in the morning, everyone is eager to know what their dreams mean.” Well, quite a legitimate interest. Dreams are an amazing and mysterious phenomenon that cannot be comprehended in any way. But still, let’s try to lift the veil of secrecy.

1. Why do we dream?

Scientists have been struggling with this riddle for a long time. There are many hypotheses about the nature of dreams. Some experts believe that dreams do not have a specific purpose and that this is just a by-product of other processes that occur in the brain of a sleeping person. Others, on the contrary, ascribe a special role to them. According to some theories, dreams are:

• archiving knowledge and impressions: by moving images from short-term memory to long-term memory, the brain clears the space for the information of the next day;
• support for emotional balance, reprocessing of complex, confusing, disturbing thoughts, emotions and experiences;
• a special state of consciousness that connects the past, present and future in order to rethink past and current events and prepare a person for new trials;
• a kind of brain training, preparation for possible threats, risks and challenges of real life;
• the brain’s response to biochemical changes and electrical impulses that occur during sleep.

It would be more accurate to say that dreams serve several purposes at once.

2. What are dreams? Do they all dream?

A dream is most simply described as a set of images, impressions, events and sensations that our consciousness broadcasts. Some dreams are like movies: a clear storyline, intrigue, characters. Others are messy, full of emotion and sketchy visuals.

As a rule, the “session” of night dreams lasts two hours, and during this time we have time to view from three to six dreams. Most of them last 5-20 minutes.

“People often say they don’t dream,” says Michael Breus. You may not remember them, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t exist. Dreams are for everyone. The fact is that many of us simply forget most of our dreams. As soon as we wake up, they disappear.”

3. Why do some people not remember their dreams?

Some can retell their dreams in great detail, while others have only vague memories, or even none at all. This is due to a number of reasons. Some researchers believe that remembering dreams depends on patterns formed by the brain. Perhaps the ability to remember dreams is due to the individual model of interpersonal relationships, that is, how we build connections with others.

Another factor is the change in hormonal levels during the night. During REM sleep, the phase of REM sleep, levels of cortisol increase, which blocks the connection between brain regions responsible for memory consolidation.

The REM phase is accompanied by the most intense dreams. Adults spend about 25% of their total sleep in this mode, with the longest REM periods occurring late at night and early in the morning.

In addition to the REM phase, the natural sleep cycle includes three more stages, and in each of them we can dream. However, during the REM phase, they will be brighter, more whimsical, and more meaningful.

Have you ever been unable to move or speak after suddenly waking up? This strange phenomenon is directly related to dreams. During REM sleep, the body is temporarily paralyzed, which is called REM atony. Thus, the sleeping organism is protected from damage, because atony deprives us of the opportunity to actively move. Let’s say you’re flying over rocks or escaping a masked villain. Can you imagine what it would be like if you could physically react to what you experienced in a dream? Most likely, they would have fallen from the bed to the floor and hurt themselves painfully.

Sometimes sleep paralysis doesn’t go away right away. It’s very scary, especially when it happens for the first time. Awakening in a daze is a sign that the body cannot smoothly switch between stages of sleep. This can be the result of stress, constant lack of sleep, and other sleep disorders, including narcolepsy caused by certain medications or the use of drugs and alcohol.

4. Are there different types of dreams?

Of course: all our life experience is reflected in dreams. Events and emotions, and sometimes completely fantastic stories, are intertwined in them in an incomprehensible way. Dreams are joyful and sad, scary and strange. When we dream of flying, we experience euphoria, when we are pursued – horror, when we fail in the exam – stress.

There are several types of dreams: recurring, “wet” and lucid dreams (nightmares are a special type of dreams that deserve a separate discussion).

សុបិន្តកើតឡើងម្តងទៀត characterized by threatening and disturbing content. Experts believe that they indicate severe psychological stress, both in adults and in children.

ក្តីសុបិន្តសើម also called nocturnal emissions. The sleeper experiences involuntary ejaculation, which is usually accompanied by erotic dreams. Most often, this phenomenon occurs in boys during puberty, when the body begins to intensively produce testosterone, which indicates a healthy development.

ក្តីសុបិន្ត lucid – the most fascinating type of dreams. The person is fully aware that he is dreaming, but can control what he dreams about. It is believed that this phenomenon is associated with increased amplitude of brain waves and extraordinary activity of the frontal lobes. This area of ​​the brain is responsible for conscious perception, the sense of self, speech, and memory. Research on lucid dreaming not only sheds light on the mysterious mechanism of sleep, but also explains many aspects of how the brain and consciousness work.

5. What dreams do we have most often?

Mankind has been trying to unravel the mystery of dreams since ancient times. Once upon a time, dream interpreters were revered as great sages, and their services were incredibly in demand. Almost everything that is known today about the content of dreams is based on old dream books and private surveys. We all have different dreams, but some themes remain the same at all times:

• school (lessons, exams),
• the pursuit,
• erotic scenes,
• ធ្លាក់,
• being late
• flying,
• ការវាយប្រហារ។

In addition, many people dream of dead people as living, or vice versa – as if the living have already died.

Thanks to neuroimaging technology, scientists have learned to penetrate our dreams. By analyzing the work of the brain, one can unravel the hidden meaning of the images that a sleeping person sees. A group of Japanese experts managed to decipher the meaning of dreams with 70% accuracy from MRI images. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin recently discovered that the same areas of the brain are activated during sleep as when we are awake. For example, if we dream that we are running somewhere, the area responsible for the movement is activated.

6. How connected are dreams with reality?

Real events have a great influence on dreams. Most often, we dream of acquaintances. So, the participants in the experiment knew by name more than 48% of the heroes of their dreams. Another 35% were identified by the social role or nature of the relationship: friend, doctor, policeman. Only 16% of the characters were unidentified, less than one-fifth of the total.

Many dreams reproduce autobiographical events – images from everyday life. Pregnant women often dream of pregnancy and childbirth. Hospice workers – how they care for patients or the patients themselves. Musicians – melodies and performances.

Another study showed that in a dream we are able to experience sensations that are not available in reality. People immobilized from early childhood often dream that they walk, run and swim, and deaf from birth – what they hear.

Everyday impressions are not always reproduced instantly in a dream. Sometimes life experience is transformed into a dream in a few days, or even a week later. This delay is called “dream lag”. Specialists studying the relationship between memory and dreams have found that different types of memory influence the content of dreams. They display both short-term and long-term memories, otherwise – the experience of the day and week.

Dreams about current and past events are considered an important part of memory consolidation. Moreover, the memories recreated in a dream are rarely consistent and realistic. Rather, they appear in the form of scattered fragments, like fragments of a broken mirror.

Dreams are not only a reflection of everyday life, but also an opportunity to cope with difficulties and unforeseen situations. While we sleep, the mind rethinks traumatic events and comes to terms with the inevitable. Grief, fear, loss, separation and even physical pain – all emotions and experiences are played again. Studies show that those who mourn loved ones often communicate with them in their dreams. Usually such dreams are built according to one of three scenarios. Human:

• returns to the past when the dead were still alive,
• sees them contented and happy,
• receives messages from them.

The same study found that 60% of bereaved people admit that these dreams help them cope with grief.

7. Is it true that dreams suggest brilliant ideas?

In a dream, a sudden insight may indeed visit us, or a dream may inspire us to be creative. According to a study on musicians’ dreams, not only are they regularly dreaming of melodies, but most of the compositions are played for the first time, suggesting that it is possible to compose music in a dream. By the way, Paul McCartney claims that he dreamed of the song “Yesterday”. Poet William Blake and director Ingmar Bergman have also claimed to find their best ideas in their dreams. Golfer Jack Nicklaus recalled that sleep helped him work out a flawless swing. Many lucid dreamers deliberately use dreams to solve creative problems.

Dreams provide inexhaustible opportunities for self-knowledge and reliably protect our fragile psyche. They can suggest a way out of an impasse and calm a tossing mind. Healing or mysterious, dreams allow us to look into the depths of the subconscious and understand who we really are.

About the Author: Michael J. Breus is a clinical psychologist, dream specialist, and author of Always On Time: Know Your Chronotype and Live Your Biorhythm, Good Night: A XNUMX-Week Path to Better Sleep and Better Health, and more.