Dreams are one of the most important human phenomena that man has paid attention to since the early ages of his presence on earth. The Holy Qur’an talked about the famous dream of the dear Egyptian, which was interpreted by the Prophet of Allah, Joseph, peace is upon him.
Some of the ancient kings appointed an interpreter of dreams in their palace, and some even had more than one interpreter. It is said that one of the kings of Babylon had twenty-five interpreters and that he had a strange dream one night, and although each of them gave a different interpretation of this dream, all of these interpretations have already been fulfilled. This means that one dream may have more than one meaning and correct interpretation.
Here are some facts about dreams:
We all dream during sleep, but some of us remember our dreams and some do not remember them, but we dream more than once in the same night, we dream for twenty minutes every hour and a half. It doesn’t mean that you don’t remember your dreams that you don’t dream, and it doesn’t mean that you woke up from your sleep remembering one of your dreams that this is the only dream for this night, but you may dream dozens of times in several minutes.
Man is not the only creature on earth that dreams while he sleeps, but many other creatures dream, as research has shown that warm-blooded creatures such as humans and other mammals dream, while cold-blooded creatures such as fish do not dream.
facts about dreams
It is also important to know that the human brain is in a state of tremendous activity during the dreaming process and not in a state of deep slumber or total lethargy as we think. Most of this activity is concentrated in the right cerebral hemisphere, which is responsible for the functions of creativity, inspiration, aesthetic taste, and others. Not only that. Our brain uses an amount of glucose as a source of energy in the body during dreaming at least as much as the amount of glucose it uses during normal daily activity. Research has found that we sometimes lose weight during dreams due to our consumption of very much of this energy.
You also know that the baby inside the womb begins to dream from the seventh month or less in some research, at a time when his mother dreams during pregnancy twice as many as her natural dreams outside pregnancy. The dreaming process in babies is linked to the neurodevelopment of many brain cells and networks.
It seems then that dreams are a very important phenomenon, and have some important vital functions. The question now:
What is the function of dreams? Or in other words: Why do we dream?
The first function of dreams
is that they are the space where our daily experiences shift from short-term memory to long-term memory, meaning that somehow we don’t know much about them. Currently, during the dream period, the brain makes new and stable neural connections, in which some of our memories are stored in a way that allows us to retrieve them later; no matter how long it takes. One of the most important aspects of this function is that it helps us learn from those daily experiences and experiences and recall them when needed. This is an important explanation for the observation that beings who do not dream do not learn or gain new experiences and always fall into the same trap. And that some psychiatric patients who do not dream of the effect of certain drugs have severe difficulties in learning and cognitive functions.
The second function
is that some dreams motivate their owners to live, as a person sometimes dreams of love, sex, and mating. And the cat dreams of chasing and catching its prey and eating it. And the mouse dreams of escaping and hitting and fleeing to preserve its life. There is a known scientific method by which the content of some dreams of these creatures can be deduced.
The third function
is that dreams are sometimes considered self-treatment. Many dreams resolve some of the underlying psychological conflicts, absorb some daily shocks, and re-deal with them in a way that may solve them and mitigate their impact. Modern science took advantage of this function by creating a special type of trauma treatment, based on imitating eye movement and speed during dreams.
The fourth function
is that during our dreams, our genetic programs are completely updated daily, adding, deleting, or modifying any of our DNA components. This is done based on all that we gain, live, know, and feel daily.
The fifth function
is that in the period of our dreams, the brain does something like the nocturnal periodic maintenance of our neurons. It repairs what is damaged, renews some of its damage, and gets rid of others, to wake up from your sleep with an active nap, to start a new day full of events, feelings, and thoughts, which will be stored and transferred to the archive of your memory during the dreams of the same night.
Finally
there remains a very important function, which is that your dreams do not only put your daily human experiences into the archive of your memory, but they add that to the entire human memory. Do not be surprised. Only through genes and genetic factors, but also through what has been transmitted to your mind from the vast archives of humanity that contain all the history and experiences of humans throughout history.
