By Yasmin Scrabeck
What is your first reaction when you hear “dream?” Is it a brief reminder of what you hope to accomplish? Perhaps it is instead a strange sense of nostalgia and desire to finish the interactive movie that played on your brain last night. For me, whenever I hear the word “dream,” I think of the amazing superpowers I received in my own dream the other night. Moving things with your mind is awesome! Whatever dreams may mean to you, they do have a large influence on society. They have the power to fuel and motivate humans or terrorize and make a person full of doubt. It makes you stop and ask: why do we dream?
There are many different theories as to why a human dreams. One of these theories was presented by Sigmund Freud himself. Freud spent his life studying the unconscious mind of human beings. One of his core beliefs was that the unconscious mind sought out to protect itself by suppressing painful or disturbing thoughts and memories. Due to this suppression, once the conscious brain is asleep, we are left with the internal stimuli that are emotions and fears that wish to be heard.
Other people believe in a harder scientific reason for dreams. J. Allan Hobson was certain that dreams were the brain’s attempt to make sense of random firings of neurons. While Freud stated that dreams were mysterious, unconscious forces to be interpreted, Hobson suggested a more simple solution. If a person is running from something in a dream, isn’t it fair to say she or he is running from something in waking life? It’s an interesting thought.
There really is no solid answer as to why we dream. Many theories overlap each other, and some seem to bark up an entirely different tree. It could be a way to organize information in the brain, solve waking problems, cope with trauma, or even just be attributed to random impulses. In history, there are even those who took dream interpretation to predict the future or illness in the body. Despite these conflicting theories, scientists do agree on one thing: dreaming is a form of thinking during sleep.
Isn’t that a crazy thought? Even when humans aren’t actively thinking, we’re still going through many thought processes. Our brains are so powerful that they can recharge themselves while also offering entertainment. It’s amazing! Think about that the next time you wake up from a crazy dream with unicorns battling earthworms. While some people spend months writing a movie plot, you just got a free demo version. You’re one lucky ducky.
Perhaps there is no real physiological or physical reason for dreaming. Maybe we just need a little entertainment that reality can’t offer us. I know I enjoy my superhero time. Dream worlds allow one to do extraordinary things if we know how to manipulate the situation. There may not be a known reason, but dreams are a part of life. Now is a great time to start learning more about dreams. After all, we spend about a third of our life sleeping.
Good night, everyone, and keep dreaming.
Turner, Rebecca. “Why do We Dream: Modern Theories of Dreaming.” World of Lucid Dreaming. http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/why-do-we-dream.html
Yasmin Scrabeck is a student at Mabel-Canton High School. She is one of eight area students participating in the Journal Writing Project, now in its eighteenth year.