Dreams

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Before dreams start, a person goes through a sleep cycle. Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman from the University of Chicago discovered the sleep cycle in 1953. (HowS) This discovery was made by using electrodes. The electrodes were connected to test subjects in seven locations. Three electrodes recorded brain activity and brain waves, another two recorded eye movement. An electrode was placed over the neck to record vocal tone coming from the neck, or any other sounds coming from the subjects. A last electrode was placed on the chest to record heart rate. The results of this study was that humans have five stages of sleep. (Book) Different amounts of time are spent in each one, but the night is not split up evenly between the five stages. The first stage of sleep is a very light sleep that is easy to wake up from. Normally only four to five percent of the night is spent in this stage. Stage two is when the body temperature drops and the heart rate slows down, and one starts going into a deeper sleep. 45 to 55 percent of the night is spent in stage two. Four to six percent of the night is spent in the transition into deep sleep known as stage three. Deep sleep occurs during stage four and about twelve to fifteen percent is spent in deep sleep. Sleepwalking and bedwetting usually happen in this stage because it is when the muscles start to relax. The final stage of sleep is referred to as the Rapid Eye Movement stage, or REM sleep. Dreams mostly occur during REM sleep and 20 to 25 percent on the night is typically spent in this stage. Throughout the night humans do not go through the five stages only once. According to sleep studies, a typical sleep cycle goes from stage one to stage four, back to stage two and three, move to s...

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...by showing the emotions one suppresses throughout the day in their dreams. If someone is thinking about a certain person or problem a lot throughout the day it is possible for it to show up in their dreams that night. Also spending a lot lot time with a person can cause them to be in more dreams. Recurring dreams can be caused by anxiety about a certain situations in real life that are not being confronted or have not been resolved yet. Traumatic experiences and memories often show up in dream and can affect the content of them. Trauma can also be a factor of recurring dreams. If a crucial issue needs to be acknowledged and confronted the subconscious might work extra hard to make sure this happens. The subconscious creates a dream within a dream to prevent you from waking up. It create a safe place to express emotions and work through problems without interuption.

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