10 Dream Facts: Nightmares Aren’t Always A Bad Thing

Researchers claim that feeling fear in dreams can actually help you better cope with real-life fears.
10 Dream Facts: Nightmares Aren’t Always A Bad Thing

Bad dreams protect us in real life Most of us have had bad dreams at some point in our lives, although they seem scary, there are actually good sides to bad dreams. Researchers claim that feeling fear in dreams can actually help you better cope with real-life fears. Bad dreams enhance the brain’s ability to react to real-life dangers and frightening experiences. However, in terrifying and traumatic dreams, those benefits are lost and they can actually cause ill effects that continue after awakening. Illustration. Most muscles are paralyzed during REM sleep During deep REM sleep, the stage in which we sleep where most dreams occur, our eyes continue to move but the muscles are paralyzed. According to a study, a set of specialized cells in the brain called motor neurons prevent muscles from moving when we sleep to prevent potential injury. Illustration. Dreams enhance creativity and problem solving Many people have had incredible breakthroughs in their dreams. Whether it is a scientific idea, art, music, novel or film, reality shows that dreams can create real gems and there is a perfectly valid reason backed by science. household. When we dream, our brain is in a different neurophysiological state, allowing it to become more adept at solving problems and finding solutions to things that baffle our minds. . In this state, we experience higher brain activity, which makes the brain more capable of coming up with creative solutions and problem solving. People forget 95% of their dreams We all know how difficult it can be to recall dreams after waking up, not to mention recalling older dreams from weeks, months, or years ago. In fact, we forget up to 95% of our dreams. This is because the changes in the brain that occur when we sleep do not support the information processing needed to store and form memories. Brain scans of sleeping people show that the region that plays a key role in memory formation found in the frontal lobes is inactive during REM sleep. Illustration. Not all dreams have color Although it may sound surprising, not everyone is able to see colors in their dreams. The phenomenon dates back to the 1940s when many people reported having dreamed of black and white. Today, studies suggest that this has to do with the fact that at the time people were exposed to black and white media because color TV had not been invented. To support this theory, a study was conducted on 2 different age groups with different media exposure experiences. People with more exposure to black and white media had more gray dreams than those with more experience with color media. Illustration. Blind people can also have visual dreams People who are born blind can have visual experiences in dreams because they have the same electrical activity in their brains as people with normal vision. However, even though they have visual sensations in their dreams, they cannot describe the experience and conceptualize the feeling as if they had never experienced the sight in their life. Dreams are motivated by memory, so people who lose their vision later in life can experience visual dreams thanks to brain circuits that were formed before they went blind. Illustration. You can’t read in your dreams When we are reading, this is when the right part of our brain is most activated and this is exactly the part of the brain that cannot be reached while dreaming. In fact, when we dream, the entire brain region responsible for language, reading, writing and speaking becomes less active. However, there is an exception to this rule and some people can read it in their dreams. However, this only applies to a small number of people – usually those who think about language and write the most like writers and poets. We only dream of faces we have seen in real life Whether you really miss them or not, you can only dream of faces you’ve seen in the past. Our dreams are drawn from real experiences, so the faces you see in your dreams are the result of your interpretation of actual experiences. Illustration. Dreaming is a real phenomenon We all catch ourselves drifting away with our minds and not being fully in the present moment, almost everyone has experienced this. However, daydreaming, in the real world sense, can happen to some people who are capable of daydreaming so vividly that they almost experience their presence in a different environment. Illustration. Being able to control your dreams By experiencing lucid dreams, you can become aware that you are literally dreaming and thus take control of your dreams. This type of dream is related to a higher awareness of your mental state, and people who have experienced lucid dreams claim that they already knew they were dreaming when they woke up.