Category: Dreams

10 Mind-Blowing Ways Dreams Shape Your Mind And Life (P)

Your dreams are shaping your mind in ways you never imagined — science reveals how!

Why do we dream?

Scientists have long searched for answers, uncovering fascinating ways our dreams shape our minds, emotions and even creativity.

From the bizarre to the profound, dreams may serve surprising functions that go far beyond simple imagination.

Here are 10 studies that reveal the hidden power of dreaming.

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Dreams Have This Beautiful Effect On Your Memories

Usually when we recall emotional memories, the brain pumps out stressful neurochemicals…

Usually when we recall emotional memories, the brain pumps out stressful neurochemicals…

One of the purposes of dreaming is to take the edge off emotional memories, research suggests.

While dreaming, which we do during 20% of our sleep, the brain chemistry related to stress powers down.

This enables us to process emotional memories without the same jolts of fear and anxiety.

People in the study who looked at a series of emotional images felt much less disturbed by them after sleeping.

Those who looked at them in the morning first, then in the evening, without sleeping, reported a higher emotional reaction.

Brain scans also showed lower emotional reactivity in the amygdalas of those who slept.

Dr Matthew Walker, who led the study, said:

“The dream stage of sleep, based on its unique neurochemical composition, provides us with a form of overnight therapy, a soothing balm that removes the sharp edges from the prior day’s emotional experiences.”

The research was inspired by the treatment of war veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.

This type of dream therapy may be inefficient in veterans since when a…

 “…flashback is triggered by, say, a car backfiring, they relive the whole visceral experience once again because the emotion has not been properly stripped away from the memory during sleep.”

Dr Els van der Helm, the study’s first author, said:

“During REM sleep, memories are being reactivated, put in perspective and connected and integrated, but in a state where stress neurochemicals are beneficially suppressed.”

Dr Walker explained that the research was inspired by the side-effect of a blood pressure drug.

It happened to reduce levels of norepinephrine in the brain.

Dr Walker said:

“We know that during REM sleep there is a sharp decrease in levels of norepinephrine, a brain chemical associated with stress.

By reprocessing previous emotional experiences in this neuro-chemically safe environment of low norepinephrine during REM sleep, we wake up the next day, and those experiences have been softened in their emotional strength.

We feel better about them, we feel we can cope.”

The study was published in the journal Current Biology (ven der Helm et al., 2011).

The Surprising Benefits Of Daydreaming Revealed (M)

Explore the fascinating overlap between memory and imagination in the brain’s default mode network.

Explore the fascinating overlap between memory and imagination in the brain's default mode network.

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What Your Dreams Say About Your Mental Health (M)

The purpose of dreams may be partly to prepare us for anxiety-provoking situations in waking life.

The purpose of dreams may be partly to prepare us for anxiety-provoking situations in waking life.

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What Are Dreams For? Evidence From Hunter-Gatherer Societies (M)

Hunter-gatherer societies still live something like our ancient ancestors did, thousands of years ago.

Hunter-gatherer societies still live something like our ancient ancestors did, thousands of years ago.

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What Your Dreams Say About Your Mental Health

After treatment for depression or anxiety, people’s dreams often improve in tone.

After treatment for depression or anxiety, people’s dreams often improve in tone.

People whose dreams are more positive have better mental health, research finds.

However, those who have more negative dreams tend to experience more anxiety while they are awake as well.

Indeed, after treatment for depression or anxiety, people’s dreams often improve in tone.

It may be because people who can regulate their emotions better while awake can also keep their emotions more positive while they sleep.

For the study, 44 people kept a dream diary for three weeks, recording what they remembered each morning.

They also rated the emotions they experienced with the dreams.

The results showed that people who experienced more positive dreams generally had greater peace of mind while awake as well.

Ms Pilleriin Sikka, the study’s first author, said:

“These findings show that if we want to understand how dream content is related to waking well-being, it is not enough to measure only the symptoms of mental ill-being but we should measure well-being in its own right.

Surprisingly, those aspects that are typically considered and measured as ‘well-being’ were not related to dream content.

So there seems to be something unique about peace of mind and anxiety.”

Anxiety while waking was linked to negative dreams, the authors explain:

“…individuals with more symptoms of anxiety expressed more negative affect in subsequent dream reports and rated their dreams to contain more negative affect.”

Previous studies have linked depression and anxiety to worse dreams:

“People with different mental health disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression), sleep disorders, and health behavior problems report more nightmares and negatively toned dreams in general.

Interestingly, the reduction of depressive symptoms as a result of antidepressant treatment has been shown to accompany a corresponding change in dream affect.”

Related

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Sikka et al., 2018).

Lucid Dreaming: The Benefits That May Surprise You

Lucid dreaming — realising you are in a dream while dreaming — has these cognitive benefits.

Lucid dreaming — realising you are in a dream while dreaming — has these cognitive benefits.

People who realise they are in a dream while they are dreaming — a lucid dream — have better problem-solving abilities, research finds.

This may be because the ability to step outside a dream after noticing it doesn’t make sense reflects a higher level of insight.

Around 82 percent of people are thought to have experienced a lucid dream in their life, while the number experiencing a lucid dream at least once a month may be as high as 37 percent.

Lucid dreaming study

The study, published in the journal Dreaming, recruited participants into three groups (Bourke & Shaw, 2014):

  • Frequent lucid dreamers: those who experienced a lucid dream more than once a month.
  • Occasional lucid dreamers: those who had had a lucid dream at least once in their lives.
  • Non-lucid dreamers: those who had never experienced a lucid dream.

All the participants were given a test of problem-solving which required a flash of insight.

Each problem was made up of three words which led to another word or phrase.

For example, one problem gives you the words ‘mile’, ‘sand’ and ‘age’.

What other single word can be combined with all three to create three new words or phrases?

Got it?

Give up?

The answer is ‘stone’, which can be combined with the three words to produce ‘milestone’, ‘sandstone’ and ‘Stone Age’.

Solving insight problems

The results showed that in comparison to those who had never had a lucid dream, the frequent lucid dreamers solved 25 percent more of these insight problems.

Dr Patrick Bourke, who led the study, said:

“It is believed that for dreamers to become lucid while asleep, they must see past the overwhelming reality of their dream state, and recognise that they are dreaming.

The same cognitive ability was found to be demonstrated while awake by a person’s ability to think in a different way when it comes to solving problems.”

Lucid dreaming and solving insight problems may tap into similar cognitive abilities, the authors suggest:

“‘Insight’ can be seen to be related to other demonstrated cognitive correlates of lucidity in dreaming.

The tendency towards ‘field independence’ for example allows people to ‘step back’ from perceived reality, reflect on it and evaluate the perceptual evidence.

For the insight that leads to lucidity, people also seem able to step-back from the obvious interpretation and consider a remote and at the time implausible option – that it is all a dream.” (Bourke & Shaw, 2014)

How to start lucid dreaming

If you’d like to increase the chances you’ll catch yourself dreaming while asleep, here are three tips:

  • During the day, repeatedly ask yourself if you’re dreaming.
  • When you’re asleep, try to identify any signs or events that would be weird in real life. As you know, dreams are usually chock full of them.
  • Keep a dream journal to help you focus on your dreams. Write down whatever you can remember when you wake up.

Sweet dreams!

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