Amber St.John

I chose to research about dreams because they have always fascinated me and I wanted to expand my knowledge on the topic. It amazes me the power that our brain has and the things it can do, not only while we are awake but when we are asleep as well. The main question I had about this was what causes us to dream? Generally speaking but also what causes us to dream the things we do.

 Some of the dreams that we have are living dioramas of what's going on inside our bodies. This is important to know because we as humans spend up to 6 years of our lives dreaming. Time goes by fairly fast while we sleep because we are doing an activity that we enjoy.  Altogether we have about 2 hours of dreams the whole night.  Dogs sleep/dream for hours a night.  Drug withdrawal of any substance can cause more vivid dreams or even night mares.  Children generally have night terrors more often than adults.

 Rapid eye movement is when your eyes move rapidly underneath your eyelids while you sleep. This occurs every hour and a half and each phase lasts about minutes. REM typically takes up 20-25% of our total sleep time. If you are woken during a REM phase you will be able to remember your dream much better. 20 out of 27 times they will be more vivid than normal. How REM happens

 REM behavioral disorder is when people act out their dreams while asleep. (Talking or moving excessively) They also have repetitive night terrors, or sleep walk. Studies have shown that people who suffer from RBD are said to be much more aggressive sleepers. Ex: hitting, punching, kicking in sleep.

 Treatment for REM behavioral disorder includes medication. To be prescribed medicine for this disorder you must be studied in a sleep institute. 90% of the time the medication eliminates this disorder. Tolerance to the medication is usually developed.

 Lucid dreaming is consciously recognizing that you are dreaming, and controlling your dreams. The level of awareness in these dreams varies. It is completely natural and healthy. Occasionally it happens on its own but for the most part it’s all in you.

Lucid dreaming requires good dream recall, which not everybody has. Therefore, Not everybody is able to lucid dream. If you are not able to do this you can also influence your dreams through scents, music, lights, heat, cold, wind etc.

 While you are dreaming it is a lot easier to think of the possibilities and things you can do rather than while you are awake because we as humans tend to limit ourselves because of our own personal self doubts, beliefs and behaviors.  Reoccurring dreams are important for us to remember, and or follow because its our subconscious trying to communicate something to us.

 It is good and healthy for us to keep a dream journal. It helps us better remember our dreams and put together the puzzle pieces.  We, ourselves can do self- interpretation of our dreams but to fully understand a doctor would have to study your dreams. There is a lot more meaning and information behind them than you think!  Dreams are not just for our entertainment. Dreaming helps you learn not only about yourself, but things around you as well.

My reasoning behind doing my project on this was to expand my knowledge and help me understand a topic that really interested me. I learned a lot and I have passed this information to others as well. I have a much better understanding and idea about dreams, although I still intend on expanding this knowledge in the future.