Theories About The Meaning of Dreams

Dreams are mysterious things that happen to everyone. Dreams have been around for centuries and many theorists have tried to figure out exactly what dreams mean. From ancient times to now people still wonder what goes on inside their mind that makes them produce these amazing things called dreams. Dreams have been interpreted into various meanings throughout the years and almost everyone has a different outlook on what they mean and on why people dream. Different kinds of sleep have effects on certain types of dreams. There are many different experiments people can do to find out why they dream and what they dream about. Most of these experiments are fairly easy to do and do not cost much.

Dreams take place while people are sleeping, but most people do not realize that it is slightly more complicated than that. In 1952 a psychologist named Eugene Aserinsky figured out that there are two different types of sleep called REM and NREM sleep. REM stands for rapid eye movement, while NREM stands for non-rapid eye movement. Most dreams happen during REM sleep. Margaret Hyde even states that, “You can observe REM if you watch the eyelids of a sleeping person carefully, for the motion can be seen when the eyes are closed” (Hyde 9). People react differently when being awakened during REM sleep than they do during NREM sleep. Many experiments have been conducted by waking people up in both types of sleep. When people were awakened during REM sleep they remembered many vivid dreams with a great

amount of detail. When they were awakened in NREM sleep they could not remember much of their dreams a...

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...e likely to respond to hearing their name while they are awake. They are seen as the alpha in certain types of brain activity. Even though, most of these “non-dreamers” that swear they have never dreamed before, most likely just do not remember any of their dreams.

Overall, there are various interpretations of dreams and no one, yet, has figured out the exact meaning of them. From ancient times to now, psychologists have been conducting many studies and experiments on the way minds work and why people produce dreams. From analyzing types of sleep to looking back at ancient times, many theories have been brought up. Some of these famous theories are accepted, but a lot of people have their own interpretation on what the meanings of dreams are. Dreams might have lost some value throughout the years, but that does not mean researches will stop making new theories.