The Reality of Dreaming 12/10

Dreams are a strange figment of our imagination. Although we may not remember any of our dreams, those over 10 years old dream at least four to six times a night. It is a strange notion not everyone understands, so why exactly do we dream in the first place?

According to WebMD, without dreaming, it is possible to experience anxiety, depression, weight gain, and much more; however, dreaming seems to process emotions, absorb memories, and possibly help solve our life problems. It seems to be that dreaming has some significance in our lives, and it is an interesting yet mysterious asset that we carry.

As intriguing as this all sounds, there is a downside to it all. Nightmares are never pleasant, and if you experience sleep paralysis, it makes dreaming seem even worse. Sleep paralysis occurs when the body wakes up before REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is unfinished. During REM sleep, our muscles are shut off and our brain experiences vivid dreaming. Stories always go around about seeing an evil spirit while experiencing sleep paralysis, but because the body doesn't allow itself to move, the only thing anyone could do is wait until it all ends.

Dreaming doesn't seem to be all that amazing since most of them are random and the rest may be night terrors; however, dreams can resemble another reality that we get to experience. If you have a dream where you are rich and famous, you get to feel that for the short amount of time that you do dream. It almost feels as though it answers our "what if?" questions. We can come up with scenarios in our head, but that is nothing compared to visually seeing it unfold.

The interpretation of dreams could be hard to understand. Analysts have spent time identifying what some dreams mean, and the connections made seem to make sense. An example used is to dream about falling. The article states that "falling dreams are a sign that something in your life isn't going well. It might suggest that you need to rethink a choice or consider a new direction in some area of your life." While dreaming about falling, there isn't a clear place to go because you can only go down, and the result is not a good one. This relates to the idea of having to reconsider our choices and our paths in our life because the "falling path" may be a sign to make a change.

Our subconscious holds many feelings and emotions, but we don't always acknowledge that. Dreaming allows us to see another side of what is going on in our head. It is a feature that is commonly overlooked, but the next time that you dream, think about why you dreamt what you did and admire the creative ideas your mind creates.