Why We Dream

[jayfurr]

Here's a link to an article from Psychology Today that may explain why we dream. If the researcher is right, our brain needs dream time to go over all the survival mechanisms we rely on to get through life and not get eaten by sabertooth tigers and stuff. There's more to it than that -- but that's a big chunk of it. Take a look.

Comments

[zakmckracken.livejournal.com]

Interesting article! In my teens, I spent much of my waking (and sleeping) life studying my own dreams, and often used lucid dreaming as a way to solve problems in everyday life. I don't have my journals with me at the moment, but I recall at least a few instances.. I worked out a complicated puzzle in a video game while in the lucid state, and easily solved it when I woke up.. I worked through a particularly tough emotional issue in the lucid state (by talking with myself).. and I often posed questions in my lucid states about how a single decision would change my life, and lived a large chunk of my life in the dream after making that decision. In many cases, this alleviated stress and eased the decision making process in waking life. I know that lucid dreams only come on during REM sleep, so there may be some correlation there. I'm no scientist. :) But I did identify with much of what the article said. Thanks for sharing.

[mr-mediocre.livejournal.com]

It seemed to me that the researcher was over-reaching with the scope of his explanation. Biology is messy. If some dreams do provide this threat-reaction rehearsal, does it mean that all other dreams are useless? Or that dreaming in general performs no other function? I guess I'm willing to accept that he's found evidence of a function that some dreams perform. It remains to be seen if there are broader or more fundamental reasons for dreaming.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

For some years it confused scientists why the Echidna had such a large brain. It didn't seem to do much, just eat ants, wander around etc. The prefrontal cortex is enormous! Then they realised, it didn't dream. The poor anteater was wandering around without in mental filing system...

[caroleotter.livejournal.com]

Neat! I've always wished I could master lucid dreaming. Sounds like you've gotten a lot out of it.

[jayfurr.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I hadn't heard that about echidnas -- we don't get either species of echidna here in North America and the schools sadly gloss over the monotremes as "well, you know, the PLATYPUS" as though there aren't any others.

I had read that echidnas were known for dancing and having happy feet. Strange to read that they don't dream.

[zakmckracken.livejournal.com]

I used to be pretty good at it, but once I stopped keeping dream journals and focusing a lot of time on lucid dreaming (in my waking life), their frequency dropped significantly, and it's been harder for me to take full control. I kind of miss them, but (again) you do have to put forth a lot of time and think about/analyze them constantly to be a strong lucid dreamer.

I tried everything.. the NovaDreamer, various mind machines, shamanic techniques from around the world.. but Stephen LaBerge's book, Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, is what actually lead me to successful lucid dreaming. I also got a lot out of Patricia Garfield's Creative Dreaming, but that's less of a how-to.. more of an exploration of dreaming in different cultures. In my case, I wasted a bunch of time on technology that I thought would enhance my lucid dreaming abilities, but the simple, cheap resources were the way to go. :)

Anyway, I'd say go for it if you have the time and patience. Everyone can learn to lucid dream, and you'll certainly get a lot out of it. It's a different experience for each person, but I think it's a beneficial journey. I learned a ton about myself.. some of which I may never have discovered, otherwise. The more you put into it, the more you'll get out. You might be surprised how much your brain remembers from an average day (and stores permanently), how simple it is to access that information in the lucid state, and what you can do with it once you've accessed it (think Matrix or Dead Zone or something). ;)

In fact, if you enjoy movies, that's a great way to get yourself really thinking about lucid dreaming.. and this is often enough to initiate lucid dreaming in your life. Here's a short list of movies that are, at the core, about the lucid state (alphabetical): Dark City, Dreamscape, eXistenZ, MirrorMask, the Nightmare on Elm Street series, Thirteenth Floor, Waking Life, and (though not directly related) probably just about anything by David Lynch. I wouldn't actually recommend some of these as average entertainment, but they're great for lucid dreamers or people attempting to have lucid dreams.

Sorry for the ramble. :) I haven't talked about this stuff for ages.