Facts about dreaming during the night

How often don’t you hear someone say: I never dream! Or: I dream literally every night! It leaves people wondering if all people actually dream or not. Well, that and way more facts will be discussed in today’s post! So, without further ado: let’s get into it before anyone falls asleep 😉

1. We dream every night

Yes, it’s true. We all dream every night. Why? Because our brains are active throughout the night. Though, as soon as we wake up, we often don’t remember much about our dreams. Some do, with many details. Others, nothing.

2. We mostly dream during REM

REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. It’s a stage of sleep that occurs in short episodes across each night, about 90 minutes apart. It’s where our vivid, structured thoughts or dreams come from. Our longer dreams however, are in the morning hours.

3. We don’t act out our dreams

During REM sleep, many of our muscles relax completely, which prevents us acting out our dreams. If this ‘system’ doesn’t work properly, we may try to act out our dreams. Moreover those that involve strong emotions.

4. Why dreams are bizarre

When we’re awake, the front part of our brain controls how we make sense of the world. This part shuts down during dreaming. Because of this, the dreaming brain puts together ideas that normally don’t go together.

5. Related to recent awake experiences

Dreams are often linked to real life events from the past. Usually, there are events or thoughts from one to two days before the dream.

6. We dream in pictures

About two thirds of our dreams are mainly visual. But, with fewer that involve sounds, movements, tastes or smells. Colour is only in about a third of all dreams. When we’re awake, we think in ideas, but when we sleep, we think in pictures.

7. We can control our dreams

Many people have bad dreams or nightmares. These can happen over and over again, while we don’t want them to reoccur. People can however change the events in these dreams to be less frightening. First, write down the memories of the scary dream. And after that, think about how it might end differently.

8. Scientists disagree about what dreams mean

Some say our dreams mean nothing, say we only have them because parts of our brain are stimulated when we sleep. Others say our dreams do have value, say it’s a kind of therapy for when we’re feeling down. Having and remembering vivid dreams about stressful things in our lives may help deal with the stress. Many think that dreams contain messages, but there’s no real evidence for that.

Love, Deem/Skye Lewis ❤

You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Twitch

Image source: Pexels