Dreams.

"A series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep." - Google definition

Like stated, a dream is a series of images etc that occur involuntarily in your mind during sleep. You generally have dreams in the REM phase (Rapid eye movement) of your sleep. During this phase, the activity going on in your brain is high, and it actually resembles activity while awake. Like the name suggests, the REM phase can be identified by rapid movement of the eyes. Dreams you have can last from seconds, up to 20 minutes. They generally seem longer, but are not. Dreams can also range from lots of different 'genres' like they can be; happy, sad, terrifying, magical and sexual. Fascinating.


'Incorporation of Reality' is a phenomenon in which during sleep your brain detects many stimuli and incorporates them into your dreams, imagine you are asleep and your phone rings - you may hear this ringing in your dream. Its even better though, you can train your mind to react to certain things differently, you could train it to wake up to a fire alarm or even a child's cry.


Another thing your body does during dreams is basically freeze, this is because while in REM your brain, the release of the neurotransmitters and histamine (there's more) is suppressed. As a result your motor neurones can not and are not stimulated, this is known as REM Atonia. This prevents you from making dangerous movements in your sleeps, which could harm you.


Ever awoke abruptly, thinking you are falling and you twitch? Yes? This is called a 'Hypnic Jerk' - when you are falling asleep, your muscles relax. Your brain could misinterpret these signals, thinking you are falling. So your brain sends signals to your arms and legs, telling them to jerk (to try to get you upright). However when you think you are falling, you generally aren't - you feel this as it is a hallucination that accompanies a hypnic jerk.


'Lucid dreaming', possibly the weirdest part of dreams. A lucid dream is a dream in which you know you are dreaming, you are physically aware you are. You can control dreams from the inside. Lucid dreams are generally much more vivid and realistic than usual dreams. Lucid dreaming is hard to master, but can be very beneficial if mastered; they can cure nightmares etc. But they can have a bad side. Sleep Paralysis. You may awake in REM Atonia, your body will feel paralysed - you will also suffer a hypnagogic hallucination, you will visualise and hear things which aren't actually there, or happening.


To conclude, dreams. What causes dreams? Why do we dream? Do they serve a purpose? To be honest no one really knows at this current moment in time. We do not understand how the brain works, it is the most complicated thing in which we know of. Would you ever lucid dream? It is easy to learn, but hard to master.


Thanks for reading, Ben.