Young Writers Society

The time you spend sleeping is supposed to be one of restful relaxation: a chance to reboot the mind and unwind. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. Every night, every one of us dreams, even if we don't remember it in the morning. We will have had several dreams in a single night of sleep! -

As there are different stages of sleep, dreams occur during the REM stage; where your body becomes essentially paralysed. Your brain controls your muscle movement and shuts them down temporarily and this is time where the mind has full control to release neurotransmitters and dream. -

Since we spend about a third of our life sleeping and about six years of it dreaming, dreams become an intrinsic part of our nocturnal habits. In fact, scientific research suggests that a lack of dream activity could indicate a protein deficiency, or even a personality disorder! -

The term 'dream' comes from a historic Middle English word: 'dreme', meaning music or joy. Ironically, our dreams can be far from joyous, as negative emotions are more predominantly expressed. Fear, anxiety, anger and sadness are twice as likely to be present in our dreams as feelings of happiness. It's no wonder that nightmares develop. -

It is through interpretation of dreams that we come to understand their meaning. Whilst unexamined, they may seem rather insubstantial, sometimes just childish folly from the imagination. However, as humans we have recognised and recorded the importance of dreams since 3000-4000 BC; where primal societies documented the dream world on clay tablets. As their understanding developed, the Greeks and Romans suggested that dreams were a direct method of communication between us and God. (Like a telephone.) On the flip side, the people of the Middle Ages thought dreams were a product of the devil! Whilst their real meaning is unclear, there are many variations on interpretations of dreams. -

So how would one go about analysing their night-time-exploits? Firstly, dreams can be separated into different categories. By content: chases, cheating, death, falling etc. Or by form eg. lucid, recurring, nightmare etc. Depending upon the form and content of the dream you are experiencing, will alter your interpretation of the events therein. -

Below is an examination of the three most common forms of dream and their possible meanings: -

1) False Awakening Dreams: going about your daily routine, thinking you are awake, when in fact, upon actually waking, you realise none of this has yet occurred. -

Meaning: The most common cause of this type of dream is excessive worry/anxiety about the next day. Your mind makes a dream out of it, showing you the possible variations on how the situation could pan out. In short, it's a coping mechanism. -

2) Recurring Dreams: you dream about a particular subject repeatedly, and it is usually something relatable to your personal experiences. -

Meaning: This is the brain's way of communicating something to you it doesn't want you to forget. By repeating or making a motif of the theme of the dream, it tries to indicate that you need to pay attention to these dreams to cope and fix a problem you may be experiencing in your everyday life. -

3) Nightmares: The history of the nightmare is in-depth and complex. Nightmares are most common in children, around the ages of 7-8. They averagely commence around the age of 3. Stereotypically, scary and frightening dreams, they could potentially expose a phobia, a previous experience or a threat of something. They can be influenced by things you have seen (such as on television) and this is why it is not a good idea for some people to watch horror movies before you go to sleep. -

Meaning: similar to the recurring dream, this could be a publicity stunt from your brain to draw your attention to an issue. A phobia it may be trying to force you to deal with for example. The meaning behind each individual dream varies and therefore it is almost impossible to generalise. The origin of the word ‘nightmare’ comes from the name of a female spirit who bedevilled people whilst they were asleep, giving the sense of the purpose of a nightmare itself. -

The depth of detail involved in understanding dreams has led to many great minds philosophising over the science behind them: including Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. -

Jungian Dream Interpretation -

Jung believed that dreams were linked directly to the personality through the unconscious. He saw dreams a method of stimulating personal growth and development. Through discussion of dreams, Jung thought you could unlock their inner meaning and understand their significance. Therefore, his interpretative method relies heavily on the dreamer, or the subject. As with most philosophical concepts, there is no right or wrong answer. The most relevant interpretation in your opinion is the most likely to be correct. The meaning of dreams relies purely on personal judgement and the opinion the individual dreamer for Jung. -

Freudian Dream Interpretation -

Founding father of psychoanalysis and author of ‘The Interpretation of Dreams'; Sigmund Freud believed that nothing occurs by chance. You are motivated by your unconscious for everything on some level. According to him, dreams are the disguise for suppressed urges that would not be acceptable to express within a civilised society. The parts of your brain responsible for these impulses (the id) are suppressed by the superego, but in dreams, the reverse is true. It provides you with a glimpse into your unconscious with the opportunity to express your hidden desires. Due to this removal of censorship, some of these impulses appear disturbing and thus nightmares occur. This censorship can be in part, restored, hence why you would sometimes have a cryptic dream you cannot comprehend. -

Sexuality was predominant in Freud’s theories and the idea is clearly present in his theories on dreams. Freud’s belief that sex was the root cause of your dreams; and the objects in your dreams act as sexual symbols: elongated/slender objects representing the penis; and cavities and receptacles denote the vagina. -

When it comes to the infamous ‘wet’ dream, it’s scientifically proven that men dream more about other men. Homoerotic dreaming tendencies are more common in men than heterosexual ones. Conversely, women dream equally about men and women. It is normal for males to experience an erection in certain levels of sleep, even when they are not having dreams of a sexual nature; whilst women experience an increased vaginal blood flow, regardless of whether or not the dream is of an erotic nature. The physical phenomena of nocturnal penile tumescence (night time erection) can lead to a man experiencing up to 20 erections per dream. -

The suggested interpretation of dreams about sex refers to the merge of aspects about yourself and your psychological acceptance of what your partner would be like. It is basically your libido’s method of saying you have been too long ‘sexless.’ Repressed desire, sleeping with a previous partner or someone of the same sex, all indicate different tendencies towards preference of sexual experience, as well as providing informative details about the level at which you regard yourself and your body. In brief, it is a question of confidence. -

It is possible to dream that you yourself are ‘wet’ and this could indicate sexual arousal, as well as a symptom of the physical side effects of finding your dream stimulating. This works the same way as it does in full consciousness: your brain finds something it likes and your body provides the appropriate response. -

What can be quite disappointing is the fact that five minutes after a dream terminates, 50% of the content is immediately forgotten. After ten minutes, 90% of it evaporates also. For writers, dreams can be very important. You can sometimes see some insightful ideas you would otherwise never have thought of. However, if you don’t write them down quickly, all could be lost. Sleeping with a pen and paper next to your bed could be the best option if you have a vivid dream you with to record for creative purposes. Scientific study suggests that creative people are more likely to have dreams and nightmares as they empathise with concepts around them that could be present in their dreams. -

Imaginative dreams also prove useful for invention, as some of the greatest cultural and academic achievements have been made through ideas in dreams. Famously, Paul McCartney explained that the tune for The Beatles’ hit ‘Yesterday’ came to him in a dream. Whilst Albert Einstein dreamt up the thread of relativity by seeing himself sledding at the speed of light! And one of the most useful household items: the sewing machine was invented by Elias Howe after he dreamt of being stabbed with a spear. -

Whether the next Harry Potter novel idea comes to us in our sleep or we manage to invent a time machine through our dreams, the power of the mind is proven to work best when your body is at rest. (The brain becomes more active at night when the rest of the body shuts down.) Dreams are an essential part of unscrambling the mind and making sense of what we have seen throughout our busy day-to-day lives. Interestingly, any faces of ‘unknown’ characters in your dreams will ALWAYS be faces you have previously seen in real life. -

As Freud once said: ‘Dreams are often most profound when they seem most crazy.’ Who knows what variegated ideas will unfurl in heads tonight; and more importantly, how much of it we will actually remember.