Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» What, if any, is the purpose of dreams? Is it how we do "housecleaning" in our brains to clear out clean out junk?
What, if any, is the purpose of dreams? Is it how we do "housecleaning" in our brains to clear out clean out junk?
What we happen if we did not dream? Some dreams we remember very vividly. Other times we think we didn't dream at all. But do we all dream and just not remember them?
Dreams are thought to an effect of the brain organising our memories.
If we did not dream we would not know that, because it would be normal that we go to sleep and next thing we know is when we wake up. The brain would still have been busy doing its housekeeping without us bothering it!
We do though seem to dream a lot more then we think because they are fleeting things and often not only the dream but even the act of dreaming, is forgotten before we awake fully. As it is, if we wake up remembering a dream, we often forget it not long after unless we make an effort to memorise it. It does look as if dreams are not really meant to last.
It's been a long time since I've had a nightmare. As a kid I had a lot of them. I remember it got so bad I was afraid to go to sleep. But I outgrew it apparently. Now I sometimes have dreams that causs anxiety but not fear. Maybe it's the way we get rid of it. Anxiety builds up every day from the lives we live due to things beyond our control. I think. If we did not dream would we go crazy? Or alternatively do those who are insane not dream? There must be a function/purpose and you are saying perhaps it's a way to organize memories? Hmm. Well I could buy that m'dear but most of my dreams make no sense. They are erratic and weird and odd. I "meet" or engage with people I don't know. Sometimes I think whatever movie I watched is in my brain and somehow triggers images. I know there are places you can access that will tell you the meaning of dreams but how do you know that's true? Thank you for your reply Durdle and Happy Saturday to you! :)
I don't know if dreams have a purpose or are a side-effect of a process; but I don't suppose many dreams do make sense! You could be right that some of yours are inspired by films you have watched, just as some of mine are inspired by remembering work - though there the resemblance with real work ends.
I have heard a good many descriptions of work on brain functions and sleep, but don't recall any ever talking about dreams having "meanings", though occasionally dreams do relate to identifiable people, places or things. This is what makes me wary of writers purporting to explain dreams in sweeping generalisations, as if we are all entries in a drop-down menu in some database.
The researchers speaking said they think dreams are part of the memory process, I simply repeated their basic point but I don't pretend to understand in what way.
I would not know if someone who is "insane" does not dream, but how do you define "insane"? It's not been a medical term for many decades but anyway was a blanket term for serious mental illnesses not understood and not treatable at the time. I dare say some mental disorders, and physical illnesses like Alzheimer's, produce disturbed sleep patterns and those might affect dreaming in some way; but I am not a doctor.
A friend who died back in March had had Alzheimer's, and his wife said it often made him get up in the night and wander around, but she didn't say anything about him dreaming or not.
If none of us dreamt, at all, I think that would be taken as normal. In fact we would not know what a dream is. In any case our dreams occupy only a fraction of our time asleep; and sleep is not a smooth, steady continuum but has its own phases.
Durdle 