Dreams are the result of Rapid Eye Movement of living organisms. Ok. What are all the living organisms that can dream?

Science and Research says that all the mammals can dream.

Definition of Dream

Dream is defined as the collections of imaginary pictures, scenes, voices and sounds etc., during the sleeping process due to the Rapid Eye Movement (REM).

What are dreams

Dream Analysis

The incidents that occur in the dream are almost happy and funny things. But often we get bad dreams. So what is actually happening inside our brain during the REM. The rapid eye movement occurs once in 100 minutes during our sleep and each course of REM lasts for 15-45 minutes.

There are possibilities of getting more than one REM course in a normal 6-8 hours sleep of humans. During this REM our brain activity is high and signaled by rapid horizontal movement of eyes. Most of the times we forget the dreams. But it is possible to remember it when a person is awake from the REM course suddenly by hearing some alarm sound or something like that.

Dream-Analysis

But we forget most of our dreams since it happens in a period called “delta sleep” where one dream can erase or fade the memories of other dreams.

A great Austrian psychiatrist named  Sigmund Freud,  analyzed these dreams and he himself identified (termed) a region of our brain called “subconscious”. This is the area where our all memories, desires, anger, happiness get stored. During the process of REM our brain recollects these information and display a picture called DREAM.

The Dreaming Process

The human brain is mega sized STORAGE DISK (non-volatile) J . Yes our brain stores almost everything we do in our day-day life like seeing a flying bird, watching a movie, hearing sound of a horn, taste of a candy and much more. These feelings are stored in the brain in a much comfortable way like images or files so that the brain can easily recall them whenever needed.

So what is it to do with the Dreams?

Stages-of-Sleeping

click here for larger image

When you go to sleep this is the real time where the brain actually becomes more active. You are not supposed to think or worry about anything when you go to sleep. Because you need some rest now. The brain now collects all those collected bits and pieces of information and puts them in a screen where you see it as “the dream show”. So many dreams will be scary, some will be funny and some will be interesting like a long story.

Many people interpret dream as future forecasting tool and many just ignores it.

Dream Theories

The dream theories are broadly classified into two important categories. They are,

1. Physiological dream theory

2. Psychological dream theory

Physiological dream theory

1. We dream to exercise the synapses (pathways) between brain cells.

2. When we are in our waking state, we constantly receive and transmit external messages.

3. Dreaming is the form this process takes in the sleeping state.

Psychological dream theory of Sigmund Freud

The most famous psychiatrist named Sigmund Freud proposed the Psychological theory for dream. He says “Man’s long lasting feelings and desires turn out to be a dream so that he is satisfying his need at least in his dreams.”

Psychological-dream-theory

Recalling and Remembering the Dreams

1. Before you get into sleep train yourself saying “I want to remember my dreams”. This will workout 98% as I remember most of my dreams after saying like this.
2. Set your alarm to ring for every 2 hours so that you can come out of REM sleep and can recall your dreams.
3. Have a notebook and pen near you. Whenever you got awake from the REM sleep, make a note of your dreams.
4. Drink lot of water before you get into the bed, so that you can get up in between at least once. Now you have a chance to remember your dreams.

 Don’t want to remember bad dreams?
 Just forget it…

Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming is a technique through which you can realize that you are in a dream and you will be able to control your dream. This is a rare and great skill that not all persons can get it.

Rapid-eye-movement-sleep

 click here for larger image

Through lucid dreaming you can control what dreams you can remember and what you don’t want to. Consider you have a dream like A Ghost is chasing you horribly. You are in more fear. Now apply the lucid dream technique. Stop running and turn back to the Ghost and say “Hey!!! why you are following me ? Get lost!!!”. Now you are out of  bad dream and you will not remember that no longer.Lucid-dreaming

Dreams can change lives

Dream is a great tool; you need to be a master to use it effectively. Dreams changed normal persons into great poets, writers, scientists, politicians. Here we can see few of them.

1. Kekule, the German chemist who discovered the structure of the benzene molecule, had worked endlessly to figure it out. Then, in a dream, he saw snakes forming circles with their tales in their mouths. When he awoke, he realized that the benzene molecule, unlike all other known organic compounds, had a circular structure rather than a linear one.
2.  Mary Shelly, author of “Frankenstein,” got the idea for the story from a dream.
3. Edgar Allen Poe got inspiration from a dream featuring large luminous eyes for his story, “Lady Ligea.”
4. Golfer Jack Nicklaus found a new way to hold his golf club in a dream, which he credits as significantly improving his golf game.

REM-Sleep-Process

Your Comments and feedbacks are welcome.

Regards,
R.Gopinath

THE BRAIN

How the Human Brain evolved?

The human brain evolved in three main stages . Its ancient and primitive part is the innermost core reptilian brain.

Next evolved the mammalian brain by adding new functions and new ways of controlling the body. Then evolved the third part of the brain, the neocortex, the grey matter, the bulk of the brain in two symmetrical hemispheres, separate but communicating. To a considerable extent it is our neocortex which enables us to behave like human beings.

So the human brain consists of these three different but interconnected brains and the way in which these three brains interact with each other underlies human behaviour.

Reptilian Brain

Innermost in our brain is what is called the reptilian brain, its oldest and most primitive part. The reptilian brain appears to be largely unchanged by evolution and we share it with all other animals which have a backbone.

This reptilian brain controls body functions required for sustaining life such as breathing and body temperature. Reptiles are cold-blooded animals which are warmed by the daylight sun and conserve energy by restricting activities when it is dark.

Mammalian Brain

Next to evolve from the reptilian brain was the mammalian brain. An enormous change took place as mammals evolved from reptiles, the mammalian brain containing organs:

1. For the automatic control of body functions such as digestion, the fluid balance, body temperature and blood pressure (autonomic nervous system, hypothalamus).

2. For filing new experiences as they happen and so creating a store of experience-based memories (hippocampus).

3. For experience-based recognition of danger and for responding to this according to past experience. And for some conscious feelings about events (amygdala).

Human Brain

And the mammalian brain became the human brain by adding the massive grey matter (neocortex) which envelopes most of the earlier brain and amounts to about 85 per cent of the human brain mass.

This massive addition consists mostly of two hemispheres which are covered by an outer layer and interconnected by a string of nerve fibres.

The brain is actually divided into its ‘hemispheres’ by a prominent groove. At the base of this groove lies the thick bundle of nerve fibres which enable these two halves of the brain to communicate with each other.

Brain Waves

The brain functions by sending electrical signals from one place to another. Very small charges pass between nerve cells, accompanied by changes in electrical potential, in voltage.

Mammalian Brain

Next to evolve from the reptilian brain was the mammalian brain. An enormous change took place as mammals evolved from reptiles, the mammalian brain containing organs:

1. For the automatic control of body functions such as digestion, the fluid balance, body temperature and blood pressure (autonomic nervous system, hypothalamus).

2. For filing new experiences as they happen and so creating a store of experience-based memories (hippocampus).

3. For experience-based recognition of danger and for responding to this according to past experience. And for some conscious feelings about events (amygdala).

Human Brain

And the mammalian brain became the human brain by adding the massive grey matter (neocortex) which envelopes most of the earlier brain and amounts to about 85 per cent of the human brain mass.

This massive addition consists mostly of two hemispheres which are covered by an outer layer and interconnected by a string of nerve fibres.

The brain is actually divided into its ‘hemispheres’ by a prominent groove. At the base of this groove lies the thick bundle of nerve fibres which enable these two halves of the brain to communicate with each other.

Brain Waves

The brain functions by sending electrical signals from one place to another. Very small charges pass between nerve cells, accompanied by changes in electrical potential, in voltage.

Operating frequencies of brain