What Is A Dream?
The Bizarre World of Dreams: Hallucinations, Delusions, and Amnesia
Did you know that you experience a series of peculiar phenomena seven times a week? These episodes involve hallucinations, delusions, disorientation, intense emotions, and, ultimately, amnesia. No, I'm not talking about a bizarre mental health condition. I'm talking about dreams.
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Dr. Matthew Walker, in his book "Why We Sleep" (2017), describes dreams as precisely these things: hallucinations, delusions, disorientation, and extreme emotions followed by amnesia. And he has a point.
In dreams, we experience hallucinations. We see, hear, smell, taste, and even touch things that aren't real. Our senses are bombarded with fictional stimuli, creating a sensory experience within a completely fabricated reality.
Delusions are equally prevalent. Within the dream world, seemingly illogical events make perfect sense. You might encounter talking animals, fly, or teleport without questioning the absurdity of these occurrences. This acceptance of the illogical is a hallmark of delusional thinking.
Another key feature is disorientation. Dream narratives often shift abruptly. You might find yourself in your childhood bedroom one moment and on the moon the next, with no clear transition. These sudden shifts in location and context contribute to a sense of disorientation and confusion.
Furthermore, dreams are a cauldron of intense emotions. Fear, joy, anger, and sadness can be amplified to extraordinary levels. The emotional impact of a dream can be so profound that it can leave you feeling elated, terrified, or deeply moved upon waking.
Finally, amnesia is an inevitable consequence of most dreams. We rarely remember the intricate details of our dreams upon waking. Even if we do recall fragments, they often fade quickly, leaving behind a hazy impression of the dream experience. This forgetfulness highlights the ephemeral nature of dreams.
So, what exactly is a dream?
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One dominant theory posits that dreams are a byproduct of the brain's attempt to process and consolidate information. Throughout the day, our brains are constantly bombarded with sensory input. To make sense of this influx of information, the brain, particularly the hippocampus, actively processes and organizes these experiences during sleep. This process is supported by research on memory consolidation during sleep (Stickgold & Hobson, 2001). Dreams, in this context, can be seen as a byproduct of this processing, a chaotic narrative constructed from fragments of memories, emotions, and sensory inputs.
For example, if you encounter a rabbit, a bird, and an octopus during the day, these images might be incorporated into your dream in unexpected ways. You might dream of a talking bear, a flying rabbit, and an octopus living in a cave. While seemingly nonsensical, this dream reflects the brain's attempt to connect and integrate these disparate experiences.
The Role of REM Sleep
While dreams can occur during various stages of sleep, they are most vivid and frequent during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. During REM sleep, your eyes move rapidly beneath your eyelids, suggesting that your brain is actively processing visual information. This observation supports the link between REM sleep and the visual nature of many dreams (Aserinsky & Kleitman, 1953).
In Conclusion
Dreams, with their hallucinatory landscapes, delusional logic, and fleeting nature, remain a fascinating and enigmatic aspect of the human experience. While we still have much to learn about the exact mechanisms of dreaming, these theories offer valuable insights into this mysterious and captivating phenomenon.
“Dreams are the ramblings of an unsupervised mind”
References:
Aserinsky, E., & Kleitman, N. (1953). Regularly occurring periods of eye motility, and concomitant phenomena, during sleep.1 Science, 118(3062), 273-274.2
Stickgold, R., & Hobson, J. A. (2001). Memory consolidation and the role of sleep: from psychoanalysis to and beyond. Sleep Science, 4(2), 19-29.
Walker, M. P. (2017). Why we sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams. Scribner.
