Dreams
By: Alexandra Raipe
Tags: Dreams, Side Effects, Brainwaves

We dream for one third of our lives. The mystery always remain: where does our dreams come from? Does our dreams have meaning? Some of us have random dreams that makes absolutely no sense, where others have dreams that are in a series of stories.

Sometimes we have lucid dreams, which people get the common misconception how that’s the same thing as controlling your dreams. Lucid dreams are when you are aware of your dreams. You can control your dreams without being aware. I know because I’ve had those dreams.

I kept a dream journal since 2012. I forgot if it was because I was inspired by Sharkboy and Lavagirl, (though that was one of my favorite movies as a kid), but I’d thought it’d be cool to record all (most of) my dreams. I had scenarios where I were in cults, I was the hero, and where I’ll be appearing in this same camp. I had dreams where I was lucid and I had one out of body experience, but that’s another story.

One theory on why we dream is it helps store memory. The Gamma frequency, though we don’t know much about it, the main idea is that it’s associated when we get the lightbulb moment. The reason I bring this up is because it could connect as to why we store memory when we get new ideas.

Rosalind Cartwright and psychiatrist Carl Jung, have their own theories on dreams. Rosalind believed that dreams connects with real life when Carl believes dreams taps into the subconscious. Our subconscious rules us when we think it’s the conscious that rules us.

There are brain wavelengths associated with sleep: Alpha: this is the stage when we’re awake. Theta: You’re about to go to sleep. Delta: You’re in deep sleep. Last but not least: REM.

REM: stands for rapid eye movement which is what happens to the eyes when we dream. While we sleep, we’re in the sleep paralysis state to keep us from acting out our dreams. Sometimes some of us get’s stuck in that state, and unfortunately, it’s hard to get out of. I’m lucky to had only one of those and luckily, I wasn’t hallucinating and didn’t see any demons.

Remember above on the reason why we have sleep paralysis? Sometimes we could sleep talk and sleepwalk, but this isn’t the case for everybody. This is because sometimes it’s hereditary or sometimes we have sleep fatigue. Sleep fatigue is the lack of sleep. I’ve been told I slept talk before. One friend told me I had asked her in my sleep if she could get my dad and right when she’s about to, I tell her never mind, but then asked her to do it again for a couple times. Other times it was nonsense, but it’d be cool if I can record myself sleep talking one day.

Many cultures have gods associated with dreams and sleep. One example is Morpheus, the Greek God of dreams. He had the ability to appear in humans’ dreams. Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep, Morpheus’s father, among many other gods which deserves a post on their own.

Dreams are still a mystery, but a fun mystery. It’d be cool if one day we can lucid dream every night and create our own worlds, but for now, goodnight, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite.

References:

https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/stay-asleep#:~:text=Most%20people%20wake%20up%20once,keep%20you%20refreshed%20and%20healthy.