Dreams are still a mystery, have you ever thought why do we dream and what is the reason behind them? Let’s have an in-depth look at weird facts about dreams.
Why Do We Have Dreams?
People earlier thought dreams were a bridge between God and humans, why do we have dreams? And where do dreams come from? There are many popular theories for it, but the exact reason is still unclear. It is commonly believed that your dreams are deeply associated with the instances and incidents that happened 1 or 2 days back, it is your body confronting the emotional dramas of your life.
1. REM Stands for Repetitive Eye Movements.
- A. True
- B. False
During sleep, our brain has to undergo certain stages, one of which is the REM(Rapid Eye Movement) stage, and the rest of the stages are called NREM( Non-Rapid Eye Movement) each one can last up to 5 to 15 minutes whereas, the non-REM stage can last up to 1 hour. But you will enter the REM sleep only after 90 minutes of falling asleep, most of the dreams occur only during this stage and it is when our brain performs more actively. In this stage, you experience increased heartbeat and blood pressure, and sexual arousal in men and women.
All about dreams! Reading about dreams can be unique and exciting but reading about the facts of dreams can be more interesting, here are some psychological facts about dreams.
- We tend to forget 50% of our dreams within 5 minutes and 90% within 10 minutes of waking up. In a study, when the brains of the sleeping individuals were scanned, it showed that the frontal lobes, an area that is responsible for memory formation was inactive during the REM stage so your brain does not process information and does not provide storage for the formation of memory. This is the reason why you forget your dreams.
- Blind people can also dream if they become blind only after birth and those who are born blind cannot see visuals in their dreams but can still dream with other senses such as smell, touch, and taste. But a study discovered that some people who are born without eyesight can still see images. Usually, blind people tend to have fewer eye movements during their dreams.
- A research discovered that we often tend to have more negative dreams than positive ones in general. Those dreams also reveal many emotions, most commonly anger, anxiety, sorrow, and fear.
- While we dream if we think we saw an unknown person, then you are totally wrong as you can only see faces that your brain has already registered. Your brain cannot invent new faces. We usually come across hundreds of people a day so, if you get to see a new face in your dream you must have already seen the person in real life.
- Do you dream in color? Wow, great. Then you are lucky as not everyone dreams in color like you. Around 12% of people dream in black and white and majorly studies from 1915 to 1950 revealed that people dream in black and white. Scientists also say that it was the period when the world started adopting from black and white films to color films so it might be one of the reasons. One more study has also revealed that we dream mostly in pastel colors. The next time you dream, do not forget to observe the colors!
- If you ever see your pet wagging their tails, moving their paws, making noises while sleeping, just know that they are dreaming. Yes, animals can dream too. Your pets can have similar brain waves as humans while sleeping.
- Here is one of the coolest dream facts. During the REM( Rapid Eye Movement) stage your body reaches a state of temporary paralysis making your body difficult to move. This phenomenon is known as REM atonia, it is because the motor neurons are not stimulated in your body and your brain signals the spinal cord to lock the movements of the arms and legs. About 8% of the general population experience this phenomenon. This is a protective mechanism to prevent you from acting out of your dreams. This way you can also avoid any physical injuries. Sometimes, the paralysis may also last up to 10 minutes.
- Men and women may have an orgasm during sleep. Nocturnal Penile Tumescence is a phenomenon that causes men to have around 3 to 4 erections per night. But only about 4% of men and women dream about sex. There is a sleep disorder called sexsomnia in which people dream of having sexual intercourse. This explains how lucid dreaming works.
- There is a concept called Lucid Dreaming in which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and can also have control over the place, characters, and situations. It is a state where your conscious and subconscious minds are combined. Many people have lucid dreams often and it is also used as a technique to do things that they cannot do in their real-life like having superpowers and traveling to different places.
- Here is one of the funny facts about dreams, have you ever felt this situation in life where you do not know whether you are dreaming or you are in real life? Here is an amazing trick to find out. While dreaming it is observed that people cannot tell the time or read. If you try to read and you cannot then you are probably dreaming. While you are dreaming, you cannot find a constant time as it keeps on changing every time you see the clock.
- Sometimes when you wake up from your dreams you might feel that they are illogical and inexplicable. This is because while dreaming, the emotional regions of the brain are triggered then the logical regions.