You could easily fill a library with books (from almost every era and culture) covering the idea of dreams and dreaming. Unfortunately, something which binds all of us together…from the ancient Egyptians to someone living at the cusp of a 21st century culture is that we really don’t know what dreaming is all about. Scientists are effectively as much help as any psychic, follower of new age mysticism, or even that ancient Egyptian…
This is something which we all do…to varying degrees, it is something which has (at times) real importance in our lives, and we know far more about habitable planets outside of our solar system. Isn’t that curious?
Inside The Dream Mind
http://brainworldmagazine.com/2011/03/inside-the-dream-mind
What goes on inside your brain when you’re dreaming? Well, as it happens, no one seems to know exactly. Not the mystics with the crystal balls, not the dream interpreters, and not even, as you might suspect, scientists. While several theories are floating about in both the scientific and non-scientific worlds about what dreams are, what causes them, and how the brain comes up with them, there’s no conclusive evidence about any of it.
What Is Dreaming?
http://www.essortment.com/dreaming-42579.html
Some dreams are dull and lifeless. These are the first to be forgotten. Many dreams include the full spectrum of human existence. We see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and feel strong emotion. A person may remember the feel of the wind in their hair, the smell of a flower, or the warmth of an embrace. Dreams can be powerfully emotional. This sometimes leaves the dreamer confused when they awaken.
Dream interpretation has been around for centuries. There are endless books and other recourses that have long lists of symbols from dreams with possible meanings. The biggest problem with this is that dreams are highly personal and all about the dreamer. No two people have the same emotional meaning to the same object. Take these suggestions with a grain of salt. If you dream about an eagle, this may represent the trip you took to the zoo last week. To an American soldier, an eagle may represent his country and his service. To a child, this may symbolize the story they heard before bedtime. For a teenager, an eagle may symbolize a wish to fly away and be free. There is no right answer because meanings vary with each person.
What is Your Brain Doing While You Are Sleeping?
http://advancedlifeskills.com/blog/what-is-your-brain-doing-while-you-are-sleeping
When we get tired, we sleep so we can shut down to rest and rebuild. It seems logical that the brain would follow a similar pattern. After all, don’t we get tired of thinking and want to turn the process off after a while? Sleeping sounds like the perfect way for our whole system, including our brain, to check out and take a break.
Not so much!
During sleep our brain is, in fact, extraordinarily active. As it turns out, much of that activity helps the brain to learn and remember.
Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm
We typically spend more than 2 hours each night dreaming. Scientists do not know much about how or why we dream. Sigmund Freud, who greatly influenced the field of psychology, believed dreaming was a "safety valve" for unconscious desires. Only after 1953, when researchers first described REM in sleeping infants, did scientists begin to carefully study sleep and dreaming. They soon realized that the strange, illogical experiences we call dreams almost always occur during REM sleep. While most mammals and birds show signs of REM sleep, reptiles and other cold-blooded animals do not.
