Dreamworld

The Looking Eye of the Emotional Compass: The Dream World of the Human Mind

By: Brittany Hall

              Swirling smoke licks your skin; as your brain churns and muscles burn with rigidity, waiting with anticipation. The creature screams and your muscles slam into the ground, forcing your body into a spasmodic run. Headlong into the whit mist, enveloping a milky film over your eyes and that’s when you feel the solidity of ground no more; the nightmare has won. Waking up from dreams can be sometimes pleasant and also be terrifying. Dreams are fascinating and intriguing to mankind kind since the beginning of existence. Dreams allow one’s mind to exert power; in which allows us to create our own reality, whether it is our subconscious sending us messages or altogether another dimension. Perhaps, dreams are only the product of nerve synapses flickering on and off, while discharging leftover energy into sleep. However, some may interpret dreams as being worthless and that they are mere fragments of the brain after each passing day. Dreams allow one the freedom of exploration and gives a window into the psyche of one’s mind; in which gives one the power of personal interpretation and opens the door to opportunities of growth, understanding and the significance of dreams in the human unconscious and conscious minds.
              The English dictionary states the definition of dream as being a series of images, ideas emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during a certain stages of sleep. Dreaming occurs in the stage five, in the sleep cycle. In, stage five most people are experiencing rapid eye movement sleep (REM), also known as active sleep or paradoxical sleep. REM sleep is referred to as paradoxical sleep because muscles become more relaxed while the brain and body systems become more active. During this stage, there is an increase of eye movement, an increase in the respiration rate and in the brain activity. On average, it takes approximately ninety minutes before a person enters the REM stage. The REM stage can last for only a short amount of time but with each cycle becomes longer (sleep cycles through all five stages can repeat four to five times throughout the night). The repeating of the sleep cycle indicates why some people experience one or more different dreams in one night.

              Dreams can’t only occur in the fifth stage in sleeping. Dreaming can also occur during any of the sleep stages; in which dreaming in these stages is referred as non-rapid eye movement (NREM). NREM dreams don’t have the intensity of REM dreams. Brain waves are measured by an instrument called the electroencephalogram. This instrument detects alpha waves when the sleeping mind is in the REM sleep cycle and beta waves in the earlier stages of sleep.
              Even with all of the gadgets and technological advances that the world possesses, little is known about how the brain operates and what happens when it enters the dream world; brain activity varies from person to person and dreams are highly personal. Dreams coincide with memories, in which both long and short term memories are stored in the hippocampus region of the brain. Creams can be complete fictional but can also play out events from our waking lives’ especially if one focuses’ his/hers attention in one direction. 

              Dreams are more related to implicit memory; which is known as non-declarative or unconscious memory. In other words, they are memories that are not part of our waking consciousness but are just there. Implicit memory is separated into to categories’ procedural and semantic memories. A procedural memory is a type of long-term memory of how to perform different actions and skills; like riding a bike or tying your shoes. A semantic memory refers to the memory of meanings, understandings, and other concept-based knowledge.
              Sigmund Freud a Viennese psychiatrist describes dreams by saying, “All dreams are in a sense dreams of convenience, they help to prolong sleep instead of waking up. Dreams are the guardians of sleep and not its disturbers.” These night time visions should not be easily forgotten and should be thought upon.  In order for dreams to occur; the brain pulls out past memories and emotions; in which can be reacted out in a dream. A good way to remember one’s dreams is to record it in the morning when you wake up or even describe the dream to a friend or family member, so that way it will stay fresh in your mind. Also, by telling other people about your dream who know you well, they might be able to see the connection more clearly then you can. The realization of meaning in dreams and what you’re unconscious and conscious mind wants can take a person to the path of self actualization and allow one to make connections between reality and the dream world.