What really happens when you dream?

By Amal HEWAVISSENTI

A dream is by far one of the most private but catching experiences one can have- a unique experience which can reshape or devastate the course of one’s life. Dreams can sharpen the hidden potential in a person, stimulate innovative thinking, bring fantasy to grief stricken minds and foretell something ominous or favourable. What actually happens in sleep is that the conscious mind keeps absolutely at rest while the subconscious part of mind is at work producing dreams. Sleep has different phases- from deep sleep to light sleep.

The most significant time for a dream is the long periods of light sleep which come at the early hours of morning. During the period of dream , person makes body and eye movements and if he rises up while dreaming, he better remembers the dream. Even scientists cannot form logical reasoning as to why we dream but dream is a vital part of our sleep. Many dream experts assertively express the view that a person dreams four times during the sleep and those who emphasise that they do not dream actually do not remember that they have dreamed!

Most dreams bear relevance to actual happenings during the day as well as nightmarish experiences with hidden phobias that we’ve developed from childhood. Some psychologists claim that dreams have healing effects on our minds as our unfulfilled wishes are temporally fulfilled in our dreams. The pattern of brain waves too change during the dream and scientists record these waves for analysis and conclusions - a process known as “ electroencephalogram”.

Some of us see most of our problems resolved in dreams and we like to label them as pleasant dreams. Interestingly, sometimes we have shocking experiences and see scarry scenes in what we call night mares.

In spite of all this no scientist has ever been able to offer a logical explication to this complicated phenomenon. Repressed emotions, feelings, fears and desires emerge in the shape of dreams.