In your dreams
I can feel myself falling asleep, which would be fatal. Not to me, but to the uninterrupted sequence of blogs. Imagine that! I could nod off to sleep now, not wake up until 9am – midnight in the UK – and find that the dream was over. I’m going to post now so that we don’t have to fret about this possibility.
Last night I had one of these weird sleeps where you somehow roll over onto your arm and sort of trap it, and then your dream mutates to make sense of this, so I was sort of dreaming that I’d lost an arm, and I started yelling frantically (very keen to keep both arms – cricket, general life etc) and woke up. This kind of nonsense happens quite often. I wonder why we have dreams. Presumably the point of sleep is to rest the body and brain, but then, couldn’t we have evolved to go into a deeper state of inactivity, rather than our minds still working at 25 percent and getting massively confused and sometimes waking up more troubled than before we went to sleep?
What are dreams for? Hmm? Every physical process fulfils some sort of useful function, doesn’t it? Are they just a by-product of more important things that are happening to the brain as we sleep? Are they some sort of mechanism for giving us coded information we don’t easily absorb in everyday life? Eh? WHAT ARE DREAMS FOR? Someone must know.
Also, is it true they only last a few seconds? That freaks me out. Bye.
Posted by Katy on May 23, 2011
I used to be fascinated by dreams when I was younger and was convinced that I was actually living them when I was asleep.
Recently I’ve started having dreams where I’m assaulted. Which, as you can imagine, is quite worrying. Hopefully they’ll stop soon.
Posted by cymruangel on May 20, 2011
I quite often have vivid and very strange dreams (it’s something of a family joke), I can wake up in terror that something is happening, or sit up and start searching for something, and I used to sleepwalk too. Thankfully the latter seems to have died down, but an ‘expert’ (aka a student at uni with me who was studying medicine) suggested that my over-active imagination was what was propelling me.
One of the strangest, so much so that I still remember it, was on holiday in America last year.
The dream was that I had broccoli growing out of my hand, and a woman was trying to eat it.
And no, I hadn’t eaten broccoli that day.
When I woke up (in an effort run away from the woman), it turned out that my other half was also havign a nightmare, but his was more easily explained – he’d been watching a programme about diving accidents, and surprise surprise was havign a nightmare about being trapped in an underwater cave. But seems odd we were both having strange dreams at the same time.
Posted by Rachael on May 19, 2011
I often dream about having a fridge full of lovely food, nothing beats the disappointment when I realise it isn’t true.
Posted by Craig Tubb on May 19, 2011
Had a weird dream a couple of months back that i’ll never forget;
I was lying in my bed (which was outside) with my arms at my side. I watched as the horizon was engulfed in flame and I knew the world was ending. My final thought before I was hit was “Oh well.”.
BUT, then I came to sitting at a computer. I looked around and saw about 10 other people doing the same thing. We all were, however, ghostly. We all looked around confused – it was as if we were playing a computer game and all our avatars had just died.
Suddenly, Noel Edmonds came in the room saying something like “uh oh, something’s gone wrong”.
It was at that moment I knew I was still dead. I tried to leave the room through a door, but it was locked.
I looked back at Noel, and then I woke up.
Any ideas Mark?
Posted by Dawn on May 19, 2011
One of my recurring dreams is me driving a car. This may not sound very unusual but at the age of 52 I have never driven a car. I know which pedals to use and how to use the gear stick and indicators. I can park in a tight space and overtake other cars!
My other regular dream is being back at school and realising that I haven’t done any course work for my exams:-)
Posted by Catherine aka Cathy on May 19, 2011
Recurring themes:
I dream my teeth are loose and falling out.
I dream I didn’t graduate high school even though I have university degree.
I dream I can’t find my purse or can’t find my way out of a place.
I dream my ex and his girlfriend have had a baby and expect me to take care of it.
I also dream my work is never good enough for my now-ex husband.
I rarely have happy dreams.
Posted by MusicalLottie on May 19, 2011
As far as I know, dreams are the brain’s sorting process. So it sorts out recent events (most commonly the events of the preceding days), any future events one is anticipating (with pleasure, dread, or any other emotion) and any current issues. [Though quite what's going on in my brain when I'm half-hallucinating, semi-conscious and going round in circles when I'm ill, I haven't the foggiest.]
Every day when I went to school, I used to say to my friends ‘I had a really weird dream last night’ then proceed to tell them about it. In the end I stopped calling them ‘really weird’ because actually they’re normal for me, just absolutely bizarre for most others. Sometimes I have wonderful dreams and wake up feeling really warm and fuzzy; mostly I have unpleasant dreams, and on occasion I have downright disturbing dreams. I actually dreamt the other night that one of my friends (whom I love dearly) was raped by his ex-friend, and comforting him was impossible, and he wouldn’t go to the police. I’ve had scary dreams before, but this was the most disturbing I’ve ever had – it was truly horrible.
Posted by Helen on May 19, 2011
As others have said dreams are meant to be the brains way of processing information and planning coping strategies. When I was in hospital I really wanted to go home and I dreamt of trying to cram ruby red slippers onto my feet. It would of been more useful to dream of an escape plan from the hospital but clearly my unconscious mind thought it was better to interpret things through a children’s story from 1939. How very helpful of it.
Posted by Beth (Bloomability) on May 19, 2011
A quick google search reveals that nobody knows, though there are- as with most things- lots of theories. A few notable quotes:
“Freud believed that we dream so that we can release the deep, secret desires that we are not allowed to express in real life because of the rules of polite society…Another theory is that dreams allow us to solve problems that we can’t solve in real life.”
“Modern technology has allowed scientists to map the parts of the brain that are active when we dream. The primitive brainstem is very active, but so are other important areas like the frontal lobes that control emotion, memory, and experiences that come through the senses like hearing and vision. If these areas are injured, the person stops dreaming. On the other hand, the areas that control rational, logical thought are not active at all. This could explain why dreams are so strange. They have no logical sequence or time, which makes them very difficult to explain to other people when we wake up. ”
“Scientists are now suggesting that dreams have absolutely no purpose at all. ”
As of late I find myself stumbling on a lot of articles to do with sleep… lucid dreaming, polyphasic sleep etc. It’s quite intersting
Posted by Beau Brummel on May 18, 2011
To die, to sleep–
To sleep–perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
Posted by Kathryn on May 18, 2011
Dreams are frustrating when they involve wish fulfillment. I had a glorious dream where I had finished writing this week’s essay. And then unfortunately I woke up…
I think wish fulfillment is part of dreaming, but often fused with odd, random details from everyday life. It’s really interesting to try and work out why we dream of such abstract things if they’re supposed to be mundane, and inversely why we dream of such mundane things if they function as escapism from everyday life.
I’m surprised no one’s brought up Freud yet.
One of my friends claims she works in her sleep, and can wake up with a fully formed essay plan or a solution to a problem. I think that counts as extreme multitasking.
This is all very interesting but I really must get back to Hamlet now. And that is neither exaggeration nor euphemism.
Posted by Ingrid on May 18, 2011
I actually watched a program on that!
It said that it’s your mind trying to prepare itself for events that it might have to encounter in real life. When we are young, we have more primative dreams about monsters and things because we naturally we want to prepare for running away from things and such like.
When we get older, our minds change, and we start to dream about more realistic things, like starting a fire or loosing the house keys.
As for the few second thing, i cant remember. I think it has something to do with rems sleep or something, but i’m not sure…
Posted by Allie on May 18, 2011
I wish I knew more about dreams, i have read a couple of books trying to understand why I have such vivid, sometimes wierd, sometimes very scary, very rarely pleasant dreams, I dream every night and can nearly always remember them, If I don’t finish a dream I can make myself go back into it the next night if I want to. I have never been able to find anything that can explain the meanings or why we have them. Maybe I’m just a little strange!
Posted by Phill on May 18, 2011
I always just thought it was your unconscious mind sorting itself out. Don’t know whether that is true or not.
I don’t have many dreams… probably a good thing really!
Posted by Anji on May 18, 2011
Hmmm dreams. I don’t want my dreams at the moment, if I could take something to stop dreaming then I happily would! My dreams keep playing silly tricks on me at the moment and reminding of people I really dont want to be reminded of! They make me think everything is the way it was, which it isn’t and then I can’t sleep! And I don’t function well on lack of sleep!
Who would have thought dreams would evoke such rage! Normally I like dreams, just not the tricky ones!
Posted by a lot of rachels on May 18, 2011
That’s odd, Derren Brown tweeted the other day: “Been trying something out. You should have dreamt about me last night, or if not, will dream about me tonight.” maybe he’s behind your arm issue (also it made me happy when I went to see him a few weeks ago and he mentioned you in his programme)
I like dreams, they weird me out but make me really happy when I remember what happened, especially when I have an odd dream about someone I know but not well enough to say I dreamt about them so it feels like I hae a secret against them.
Posted by Rick Procter on May 18, 2011
I like dreams – I wish I had more of them. I don’t have many – or at least, I don’t remember many. I think having lots of dreams means that your mind is working and being imaginative, and that there’s plenty going on in your head that you can draw from in a creative way.
I believe that dreaming is the mind’s way of working through things that are going on in your subconscious. So I guess it is a kind of code for us to identify the things in life that we need to deal with, which we didn’t have the conscious head-space to consider properly during our waking hours. I reckon it’s a good idea to make friends with one’s subconscious mind.
Posted by Miz on May 18, 2011
I know exactly what you mean – the other day I had a nap that somehow hurt my back in real life (er, not quite sure how that bit happened), and in the dream I was suddenly wearing a confining and painful back brace.
Then there was the one where Jareth the Goblin King from Labyrinth was a vampire, and bit me. I really have no idea.
Posted by Josie on May 18, 2011
I had a dream that my older sister, who no longer lives at home, had died. I woke up, and I was too afraid to ask anyone if she was OK in case she really had died and I would upset someone. I wandered around for half a day thinking my sister was dead.
I have never experienced more relief in my entire life than when she rang home!
Posted by Cathy (traineeflorist) on May 18, 2011
I’ve had some amazing random dreams over the years about anything and anyone and yet, strangely, no dreams about you (yet). Please don’t take this personall though, as I’m guessing you haven’t had any about me either …
Posted by Lizzy on May 18, 2011
I had one of them dreams! I spent ages (dream hours!) wandering about in various situations, but with a recurring theme that my arms were stuck above my head and I couldn’t put them down! I was really quite worried. Then I woke up and found, somehow, I’d managed to get my arms stuck above my head in real life. Odd.
I also have some memories that I really have no idea if they were parts of dreams, or actually happened. Some I can work out, for instance, I remember once owning a gun… but obviously, I don’t own a gun. So that would go under *dream*. But I have other vivid memories of almost getting run over by a lorry, and crossing a really rickety weird bridge with no railing, to a hut. I have no idea the purpose of such things. Dreams are cool.
Definitely better than real life, inside my head.
Posted by sarahthemonkey2 on May 18, 2011
Dreams are weird, the amount of times I’ve had dreams where I’m still at school I can’t count. I’m 22 by the way.
I once heard that it’s the brain’s way of sorting everything and anything but what I know about dreams and brains could fill a shoe box. Oh well back to checking box office aberdeen as they are the only place quoting a 5 October date instead of the 9th December. If they haven’t changed it will be ringing for 3 dates on Friday. Can’t wait
Apologises for any spelling/ grammer mistakes
Posted by Misha on May 18, 2011
I’m not sure myself how dreams work, only that the ones i’ve been having recently are nasty. More along the lines of night terrors than anything else.
I had a very peculiar dream the other night that I was late for Karaoke circus and had a baby which belonged to Thom Tuck. I don’t think it was with him. Just that it belonged to him.
I think it made some kind of sense at the time.
Dreams/human bodies are weird.