Have you ever woken up from a dream so strange, so vivid, that you couldn’t shake it all day? Or maybe you know you had a dream, but the details disappeared the moment you opened your eyes? Dreams can be bizarre, funny, or downright terrifying, but what’s the point of them? And why should we even bother remembering them?
Scientists don’t have a definite answer, but some agree that dreams serve an important role in processing emotions, memories, and even problem-solving, according to Scientific Reports, a peer reviewed scientific journal. While you sleep, your brain is still working, sorting through the day’s events, making connections, and sometimes tossing out wild, unexpected ideas. The most active stage in your sleep cycle for dreaming is called the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage. This is the stage where your brain is the most active, and your eyes have rapid movement occurring. During REM sleep, your brain activity looks very similar to brain activity while you’re awake. REM sleep makes up about 25 percent of your total time asleep, according to Cleveland Clinic, a non profit medical center.
Dreams might help you understand your feelings, work through stress, or even come up with creative solutions to problems.
“Dreams are a way for me to understand my emotions on a deeper level and integrate experiences. I believe dreams help create emotional resilience and self-awareness,” Tam senior Ruby Kosek said.
Dreams can function as secret messages from your subconscious. They reflect your worries, hopes, and thoughts in ways that your waking mind doesn’t always recognize. If you constantly dream about failing a test or getting lost, it could be a sign of underlying stress or anxiety.
“Blocking out certain disturbing dreams may certainly be the psyche’s way of protecting itself, similar to dissociating during waking moments protects us from things that are too difficult to process at the time,” Licensed Psychologist Elizabeth Wake said.
On the flip side, dreams can spark creativity: many writers, artists, and inventors have turned dream-inspired ideas into masterpieces.
“My dreams are a mirror of my life. My fears, joys, and hopes are all explored through my subconscious’s way of symbolizing my emotions,” Tam senior Ruby Kosek said.
So perhaps dreams are random bits of pruned memories that the conscious mind can use to imagine different ways that things could be.
Plus, improving dream recall strengthens your memory and awareness, helping you stay more mindful throughout the day. According to Elizabeth Wake, “Although there’s less empirical research on dreams, most theories suggest that dreams are a way for the psyche to ‘work things out’ from the day. While the connection between emotional states and dreams is murky, the quality of sleep definitely impacts dreaming.”
If your dreams vanish the second you wake up, don’t worry, you can train your brain to remember them. Here’s how:
- Keep a Dream Journal – As soon as you wake up, write down anything you remember, even if it’s just a feeling or a single image. You can also talk to a person in the morning, giving them a rundown of your dream to better remember it next time.
- Set an Intention Before Bed – Tell yourself, “I want to remember my dreams tonight.” It sounds simple, but it works. Additionally, you can set a tone for the dream and potentially start to control your dream’s mood and setting, with lots of practice, of course.
- Wake Up Slowly – Try not to jump out of bed or check your phone immediately. Stay still and let your mind recall any dream fragments.
- Improve Your Sleep Habits – Better sleep means better dreams. Stick to a sleep schedule, avoid screens before bed, and most importantly, get plenty of rest.
“You must wake up directly after a dream to recall it…A dream occurs every 90 minutes, so people have many dreams per night,” Marin Catholic High School psychology teacher Joan Caraluggio said.
Dreams might seem random, but they have meaning, if you take the time to remember them. Who knows? Your next great idea or big realization might come from something your brain figured out while you were asleep.
