The Science Behind Dreams: What Happens When We Sleep

Most people experience three to six dreams every night, though they immediately forget many of these hallucinatory experiences. Your brain does a fascinating dance spinning out stories while you sleep, and not just for fun. Understanding dreams can help you understand your subconscious in an intriguing new way.

The Sleep Cycle and Dreams

Rapid eye movement or REM sleep is most associated with dreams, but this is far from the only dance your brain does at night. Your mind puts on an entire production around that coveted dream time.

Sleep Stages

Every night, your brain goes through a predictable sequence of repetitive sleep cycles. It knows four moves, including three non-REM or NREM stages and one REM stage — always reserved for the grand finale. The entire production takes about 90 to 120 minutes, just like a good movie. After that, your brain starts the cycle again. The key sleep stages include:

• Stage 1 NREM: The lightest stage of sleep, comprising the first few minutes after you close your eyes.
• Stage 2 NREM: A slightly deeper sleep stage where your brain waves begin to pause between small bursts of activity. Your brain loves this stage and repeats it several times before moving on.
• Stage 3 NREM: The most precious of all sleep stages where your brain waves slow significantly so your body can focus on boosting your immune system and repairing injuries.
• REM: The land of dreams.

REM Sleep

During REM sleep, your brain activity is much like when you're awake. Your brain must climb out of deep Stage 3 NREM sleep back into Stage 2 before jumping off the cliff of dreams into the wild world of REM. Your first REM stage of the night usually lasts for about 10 minutes. Subsequent returns to dreamland will each last a little longer, typically maxing out at around an hour.

How Dreams Work: The Neurological Perspective

Technically, you can experience dreams in any stage of sleep. However, most dreams occur in the REM state, and REM dreams are more immersive and vivid. 

Your Brain on Dreams

The hippocampus, associated with memory, contributes significantly to dreams, providing a toybox of faces, places, and experiences to draw from. The prefrontal cortex, meanwhile, seems to step back and take a break. This is the area responsible for reasoning and logic. As the prefrontal cortex checks out, it becomes much easier to believe the bizarre things experienced in dreams, like going to work naked or suddenly taking flight.

Nighttime Neurotransmitters

Though the brain is extremely active while dreaming, it contains a different cocktail of neurotransmitters than when it's awake. Histamine, serotonin, glutamate, norepinephrine, noradrenaline, and hypocretin are all inhibited to promote sleep. Meanwhile, dopamine, melatonin, oxytocin, and acetylcholine are present. 

This means you have a different flavor of neurotransmitters in your brain while sleeping, which contributes to a unique blend of physical drowsiness and muscle relaxation combined with active memory and social centers. Anxiety-triggering neurotransmitters shut down. This can promote a safer and healthier state for processing thoughts and feelings than what we experience in our waking state.

Why We Dream

The phenomenon of dreaming is much researched, yet little understood. There are many theories about why we dream, but none is conclusive. Studies have shown no measurable effects of depriving a person of REM sleep for two weeks. Dreams align with other mysteries and mystical experiences that we can't quite explain. Some theories about dreams suggest that they:

• Help us consolidate our memories.
• Provide a place for emotional processing.
• Offer a dumping ground for unwanted patterns of neural activity.
• Provide insights into the deeper psyche.
• Contain messages from other planes of existence.

Understanding Dreams: Psychological Aspects

Many scientists speculate that dreams play a critical role in our emotional well-being. Cross-cultural dream studies reveal that dream experiences vary noticeably with one's socioeconomic culture. In remote tribal cultures that rely heavily on social cooperation, people often dream about how social support solves problems. In Western cultures where individuals are more isolated, anxiety and other negative emotions are more prevalent in the dreamscape.

Many of the common dream experiences in developed Western cultures also revolve around these themes. People often dream of falling, which represents feelings of insecurity and anxiety. Dreams about being naked indicate a feeling of vulnerability and exposure.

Dreams are likely a subconscious expression of the feelings and situations we experience in everyday life. Playing these out in the REM state allows the brain to work through emotions in a safe place, hopefully contributing to a more peaceful and collected state of being when the prefrontal cortex reawakens in the morning.

The Benefits of Studying Dreams

Interpreting dreams is a fine art that takes practice and assistance. Taking a regular deep dive into your REM adventures can yield valuable insights for your personal growth. At PathForward, we're passionate about helping you understand and interpret your dreams so you can mine them for all the insightful gold they offer.

Dreaming can be a kind of unconscious therapy session. When you can remember your dreams, you can assess them and, by extension, evaluate your mental and emotional state. You may also find that REM sleep allows you to interpret things differently. You might pick up on messages from the world around you that your waking brain overlooked.

REM sleep offers a wealth of opportunities to explore your deeper psyche. If you're having a lot of vivid dreams or experiencing a particular recurring dream, it's time to discover what these experiences are about. Contact our Psychics and start exploring your dreams in detail.