Comments on: Why We Dream: Biological Theory Roundup

By: Marcia

Marcia — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:44:27 +0000

Is there any data, which shows that dreams have less olfactory and auditory content than in our waking lives? I imagine the only way to get this would be to wake up people in a sleep lab while they were dreaming and immediately ask them what they smelled or heard. Has this been done?

I have a feeling that people mostly report visually imagery in dreams because we are primarily visually-focused, so that is what we remember/deem important. The dreams of congenitally blind people are focused on auditory, rather than visual content, which makes sense these people are auditorially-focused when they are awake.

In addition, regarding auditory content, we most certainly remember conversations we have/things people say to us in our dreams since we communicate via spoken language. I would say that in many cases, the words spoken in a dream are more important to the dreamer than the scenery.

By: marc

marc — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:25:45 +0000

can anyone explain why some people can’t dream at all and/or forget their dreams when they wake?

By: Mitchell Allen

Mitchell Allen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:27:25 +0000

I have no idea why we dream, but I take advantage of them to fill my blog with mumbo-jumbo :)

Actually, I have a theory: dreams are to the brain as oxygen is to the lungs.
Just as air is the transport mechanism for oxygen, our experiences are the transport mechanism for the stuff of dreams (whatever “stuff” may be). Once inside our brains, this dream stuff provides the mental energy to do all the things suggested in the other comments.

Cheers,

Mitch

By: unwanted vision

unwanted vision — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:25:24 +0000

what about nightmares? i get them frequently seeing scary things like the end of the world ect. and i have only found one cure and that’s falling asleep to my greatest friend talking about anything and everything. its as if he makes them go away but how can i get rid of them without him?

By: PeteRepeat42

PeteRepeat42 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:08:46 +0000

I think dreams work much in the same way extrasensory deprivation chambers work in causing hallucinations.The brain, not being able to make sense of nothingness, will essentially “make up” something to try to make sense of its surroundings. That’s why if, say your thirsty at night, you’ll dream of drinking water because the brain is grasping onto the strongest sensation and making the other senses follow suit with that one.

By: Nerak

Nerak — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:27:11 +0000

I’ve had some dreams involving sleep paralysis. (Think it happens when you’re really over-tired.) They are horrible.
I can remember being aware of the time, my surroundings, and all my senses – but unable to move or yell and “something” is coming to get me.
I’ve also had dreams where I kept tossing and turning in bed and looking at the clock – only to wake up and feel that I hadn’t slept at all.

By: Shasta

Shasta — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:54:51 +0000

Yams, if you also feel a paralyzing sensation while you see these “snippets,” you might be experiencing sleep paralysis. This occurs when your brain knocks out your body before you are technically “asleep.” When this has happened to me, I have seen those snippets, too. Just quick flashes of images. I think proper dreams are your brain’s way of making sense of these images and possibly connecting them to each other. Met a sleep researcher at a party who said that’s the theory right now. Sleep paralysis could also explain some of those weird “alien abduction” stories.

By: Yams

Yams — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:50:18 +0000

I read another theory, which makes the most sense to me. In its stages of repair and recovery there’s a lot of random firing of neurons happening, and this causes the brain to experience little ’snippets’ of scenarios. To make sense of them, your brain fabricates a story around them, and in certain stages of sleep the same story or theme can continue on. I like this theory because I notice sometimes, just as I’m truly falling asleep, such ’snippets’ start popping up in my head. They’re incredibly brief – like one person saying one word or phrase, but I’m conscious of them as I start to fall asleep.

By: TXCherokee

TXCherokee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:32:29 +0000

I’ve always felt, with absolutely no facts to back this up, that dreaming was the minds way of ‘taking out the trash’. The ‘trash’ could be a logical problem, an anxiety, a desire. I guess that makes my theory a combination of them all and not a ‘real’ insight at all.

Riggs – As far as your dream goes, I would think that you want to get ‘a little p*$$y’ from the Court nominee and you absolutely, positively, need to have it overnight.

By: KaeleaMajere

KaeleaMajere — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:30:30 +0000

That stuff about dreams lacking ‘auditory’ and ‘olfactory’ content isn’t something I agree with. I’ve had plenty of dreams where all of my senses functioned. I could taste, smell, feel pain, and even think cognitively. I use to have a lot of trouble with them as a child because I wasn’t old enough to understand that even though they felt real, they weren’t.

I’ve also read about most dreams being in black and white. I’ve never had a black and white dream. They’ve always been in color and very vivid.

Or maybe I just have some odd sleep disorder (shrugs).