Sweet dreams are made of this...

[Garbarsardar]

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.


What is a dream?

We don’t know (that was easy)

When is a dream?

Sleep can be divided in 5 rough stages. Rough, because their differences are not always apparent. This division comes mainly from EEG (electroencephalographic) findings and it is partially supported by physiological data and lately by neuroimaging studies.
The stages are REM or rapid eye movement sleep, and non-REM stages 1 through 4.

Sleep stages:


Dreams or rather visual and auditory internal phenomena, occur in all stages but mainly the REM stage.

Dreams in REM are quantitatively different; they last more, and qualitatively different: more vivid, with persistence of feeling after awakening, more structured and coherent imagery. Dreams from stage 2 are more like daydreams with a prominent feeling that you somehow control the course of the dream, while dreams arising from stage 4 can be terrifying bursts of agony (night terrors-not to be confused with nightmares).

We all see dreams, actually between 12 and 18 dreams in a normal night, while recall depends on psychological and environmental factors and it usually of no more than three dreams.

Deprivation from REM sleep has some beneficial effects on depression, but long term deprivation has shown to have adverse psychological effects.

Duration of sleep stages:


What is a dream, again?

Well, there is an abundance of theories out there make your pick: Dreams refer to the future, drams have predictive value, dreams are the highway too the subconscious, drams are a balancing act between our needs and desires, dreams are divine or evil manifestations, dreams are real and life is but a dream…

So, any thoughts?



This is a very nice article if you have the time: http://psych.ucsc.edu/dreams/Library/domhoff_2001a.html

[imb39]

Well, with no evidence whatsoever, I went with: Dreams are glimpses of the subconscious.

I think that the brain uses dreams to purge itself of some of the clutter that it accumaltes over time. It also draws from memories and junbmes them up and an effort to resolve various issues that concerns it (the subconscious, I suppose). Again, this has no supporting evidence and so can be disregarded.

[MoROmeTe]

Glimpses of the subconscious... cause that's my experience with my dreams and those around me tells me... so, clasify it under empirical proof...

[Nihil]

I also chose that dreams are glimpses of the subconscious, as that's the closest to what I think, although I might not phrase it exactly like that.

I reckon that we use them to tell things to ourselves that we are too busy to tell ourselves during wakefulness. When we relinquish conscious waking control of ourselves, during this quiet time we sometmes sned memos to ourselves in the form of dreams; use them to play out hypothetical practice scenarios; play around with non-linear solutions to problems, and so on.

Sometimes I get really good ideas in my sleep. Sometimes, like all good dramas, the apparently mindless entertainment of our dreams can nonetheless be meaningful and educational. As we can often learn from observing the affairs of other people's lives, so can we learn from our dreams. Dreams add to our total experience of life by rearranging elements of life experience into new possible permutations.

[I Have a Clever Name]

To be frank, I honestly don't know. Nor do I have any beliefs regarding the subject matter. My dreams are very rarely discernible, comprehensible or sane for that matter.

[Nihil]

To be frank, I honestly don't know. Nor do I have any beliefs regarding the subject matter. My dreams are very rarely discernible, comprehensible or sane for that matter.

Not only do you have a clever name, but you have a cool avatar too...

[MaximiIian]

Subconsious glances.
Question: what happens when we don't dream or remember our dreams? I don't remember my dreams often, and usually only get about an hour or two of sleep a day.

[kid]

I'll go with the peer pressure. Manifestations of the subconscious it is.
I don't do the whole religion or moving tarot card or prison reality thing, but I do think most dreams have meaning, to you.

Your mind can't just pull up completely random stuff or we'd all have dreamed of non-carbon based lifeforms long long ago, and repeatedly. Moreover, I think we've all experienced exposure to a continued activity or fictional world (that's pompous speak for a book or movie) that carried over in our dreams that night. This suggests that dreams are an extention of our active thoughts, which in turn suggests that when we can't directly find the reason for a dream, there should be a more subtle one somewhere in there.
We can hide things from ourselves (some of us have gotten quite good at it through long years of practice and dedication), and perhaps dreams are like an AA sponsor, telling you to let go of the *******ing denial.

[Justinian]

In my opinion, dreams are completely random. A person's dreams CAN reflect part of their personality, but don't necessarily; thus they're random.

Your mind can't just pull up completely random stuff or we'd all have dreamed of non-carbon based lifeforms long long ago

Well, obviously they're more likely to pull up things the brain would recognize. Doesn't mean that dreams have a meaning.

[kid]

Doesn't it? If we dream about things we recognise, then we dream about things that mean something to us. Besides, you're sidestepping the second point. If when you read or watch something that stays on your mind, you dream about it, then it can't be completely random can it?

I like the idea of dreams as an AA sponsor. Perhaps we can add it to the poll? If it wins, I want royalties.

[Richard the Lionheart]

I voted "other". I think dreams are the results of a combination of a bunch of different things.

[Punkus]

Dreams have meaning. They are the product of our active and very real subconscious. Even if it is about something seemingly unimportant, what another poster said is true: if you can imagine it, it has some meaning to you.

[Niles Crane]

Voted that dreams are a glimpse of the subconscious.

[westy159]

I dont really get "dreams are glimpses of subconscious." Anyone care to explain?

[Spiff]

Well its probably a bit Freudian but to say that a dream is a manifestation of your unconcious mind is to say that these apparently random images and sequences of events in reality have specific meaning. Ever heard of one of those "analyse your dreams" books? Same sort of idea. Except Freud would probably say every single object or person in a dream relates in some obscure way to either your parents or sex, and fulfiling wishes to that effect.

I dont see how it can be proven though, i took a basic course in psychology to make up some easy points for uni but we didnt really cover dreams as far as i can remember

[orange slice]

i think dreams are totally random, they could be something that your where doing during the day, or something you where playing right before you went to bed, or something that you wish or desire for.

[Garbarsardar]

I dont really get "dreams are glimpses of subconscious." Anyone care to explain?

According to the psychoanalytical (or psychodynamic) approach, our self is a composite of three distinct domains of power. Ego=what we perceive our self, id=the subconcious, of which we are not normally aware and holds our deep desires, secrets,frustrations and so on, and Superego=the representation of the social normative influence that judges and controls the primordial needs of the id, as to make a social existance possible.

Now the id (subconcious) cannot be revealed in a simple way (being repressed by the Superego). When we sleep, the Superego does not function, hence the notion that dreams reveal parts of our subconscious.

Now, for me there are two important facets in this theory. First it is unprovable. Second it is extremely important because either we like it or not, psychoanalytical thinking has permeated many aspects of our life and culture. It is the same as the existance of God. The problem of a God existing will never be solved, but the fact that the majority of people believe it does, or debate about it, cannot be easily brushed aside.

[Cluny the Scourge]

My superego functions when I dream. I'm always worried about what the other dream-characters are going to think about what I do. Notice that I say 'other dream-characters', since I myself have long realised that I am just a character in a dream anyway. It's pretty egotistical to think I'm especially important in dreams - everyone else there is just as important as I.

[Mathias]

My dreams are always about things I have thought about, so I would say glimpses of subconcius.
Dreams can be very helpfull to; two weeks ago I had gym in school the next day and in my dream, I dreamt that I forgot my gymbag, so when I woke up the first thing I thought was "I must remember my gymbag", very helpfull indeed.

[Spiff]

As an aside.. i'd always thought it was considered the "unconcious" mind, not the subconcious. I assume it's the same meaning though?