Dreams and Sleep Quality
With the advancement of modern psychology, the study of dreams has become increasingly in-depth, gradually lifting the mysterious veil that has shrouded dreams for centuries. One of the recent research conclusions is that "dreaming during sleep contributes to brain health."
Dreaming is a normal and essential physiological and psychological phenomenon of the human body. After falling asleep, a small portion of brain cells remain active, which forms the basis of dreams. Research shows that human sleep alternates between two forms: REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and non-REM sleep. Among those awakened during non-REM sleep, 80% are dreaming, while only 7% of those awakened during REM sleep are dreaming. A person's dreams can last intermittently for about 1.5 hours each night. Because dreams accompany the cyclical nature of sleep, individuals awakened during non-REM sleep often feel they have had many dreams, while those awakened during REM sleep feel they have had fewer. Additionally, people tend to remember dreams better when they are close to waking up, while dreams that occur just after falling asleep often fade away completely, which is another reason for the perception of having many or few dreams.
Why do people dream, and what happens if they do not dream? Scientists have conducted experiments to block dreaming. In these experiments, participants were awakened immediately upon the appearance of dream-related brain waves, preventing the continuation of their dreams. The results showed that deprivation of dreams led to a series of physiological abnormalities, such as increased blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, and skin electrical response capabilities. The functioning of the autonomic nervous system weakened, and a range of negative psychological reactions emerged, including anxiety, tension, irritability, perceptual hallucinations, memory impairments, and disorientation. It is evident that normal dream activity is one of the important factors in ensuring the body's vitality. Since dreaming predominantly involves the right hemisphere of the brain, while waking is dominated by the left hemisphere, the alternating presence of wakefulness and dreams throughout the 24-hour cycle helps achieve a dynamic balance in neural regulation and mental activity. Therefore, dreaming serves as a means to coordinate the balance of the psychological world, particularly influencing attention, emotions, and cognitive activities.
Psychologists believe that human intelligence has great potential, with only about one-fourth typically utilized, while the remaining three-fourths lie dormant in the unconscious. Dreaming is a typical unconscious activity that allows for the reorganization of existing knowledge, integrating new knowledge with old in a coherent manner, ultimately storing it in memory, transforming knowledge into personal wisdom and talent. Dreams can facilitate creative thinking, and many renowned scientists and writers have credited their significant achievements to insights gained from dreams.
A survey conducted among accomplished scholars at the University of Cambridge found that 70% of them believed their achievements were inspired by dreams. A similar study at the University of Geneva involving 60 mathematicians revealed that 51 acknowledged that many difficult problems had been solved in their dreams. If a person does not dream, it may lead to disturbances in the mind and personality, potentially affecting the flow of creative thoughts.
Dreamless sleep not only indicates poor quality but also serves as a sign of brain damage or illness. Clinicians have found that some patients suffering from headaches and dizziness often report a lack of dreams or very few dreams during sleep. Diagnostic examinations confirmed that these patients had minor brain hemorrhages or tumors. Medical observations indicate that children with dementia experience significantly fewer dreams compared to their healthy peers, and elderly individuals with chronic brain syndromes have noticeably less dreaming sleep than their age-matched counterparts.
Recent research findings also support the view that dreams are the result of the brain's regulatory center balancing various bodily functions, and that dreaming is necessary for the healthy development of the brain and the maintenance of normal thinking. If the brain's regulatory center is damaged, it may not produce dreams or may only generate fragmented dream experiences. Long-term dreamless sleep should raise concerns. Of course, persistent nightmares can also be a sign of physical weakness or certain illnesses.