The meaning of dreams throughout history

The analysis of the function and meaning of dreams has varied throughout history. Therefore, theories have evolved, giving the dream functions linked to learning, survival, rest and mystical beliefs.

In each culture, the interpretation of dreams has been loaded with magical content., directly influencing daily life. With the evolution of human beings and technology, the interpretation and study of dreams has also evolved.

We then move from the analysis of magical and independent content to the dreamer, to forms of analysis based on scientific theories focused on the brain functioning of each individual.

What are dreams?

Sleep is an active biological process with a universal function of the brain.. Dream productions usually appear during REM sleep (rapid eye movement). This sleep period is defined by the following characteristics:

Behavioral: partial motor deactivation.Physiological: variation in brain electrical activity (similar to wakefulness).

REM sleep

It is a phase in which the brain is very active and the motor neurons are blocked from the brain stem., preventing the person’s movements. At this stage, the most lucid dreams appear with a common thread, although incoherent in appearance. The eyes move and brain activity is similar to that of wakefulness. It also increases heart rate and blood pressure.

The first explanations

In Mesopotamian civilizations such as the Babylonian or Sumerian, dreams meant expressions of the beyond. They saw dreams as divine expressions and had gods assigned to them. In Egypt, dreams functioned as omens, messages from destiny that had to be deciphered.

The most famous story is that of the biblical text of Genesis. When the pharaoh dreamed of 7 skinny cows walking along the Nile, the interpretation augured years of imminent drought. Based on this, political and administrative actions were taken.

Dreams in ancient Greece

The Greeks considered dreams to be messages from the soul., interpreted as revelations. When a person had recurring nightmares, he entrusted himself to Morpheus, god of sleep.

For what purpose do we sleep and dream?

Polysomnographic studies allow us to establish that Living beings have a biological rhythm of approximately 24 hours. This process underlies the circadian clock, a system based in the hypothalamus. This clock regulates the biological rhythm influenced by external agents, such as light and temperature. It is responsible for sending us to sleep and keeping us awake.

Are we dreaming all the time we sleep?

The answer is no. All people have periods of NREM (Non Rapid Eye Movement) sleep characterized by slow waves and on the other hand REM sleep. These periods are interspersed throughout the night. Each person experiences approximately 5 intervals of REM sleep.which occur to a greater extent during the second part of the night.

Preservation mechanism

Various authors propose dreams as a preservation mechanism acquired evolutionarily by mammals.. The high brain activity of REM sleep would function as a periodic warning system for possible predator attacks. Thus, great activity of the amygdala and limbic system has been detected in dreams.

Sleep functions

Rest: allows neurotransmitters to be recharged while sensorimotor neurons become disinhibited.Genetics: Dreams have an adaptive characteristic, since they allow the implementation of behavioral pattern testing programs.Informative: REM sleep has been linked to memory consolidation. In this phase, the weakest connections from the previous day are discarded, and the strongest ones are consolidated.Creativity: can be seen as a representation of the inner world. The imagination and the brain’s ability to recreate various situations is put to the test.Cognitive development: the development of visuospatial skills in children has been related to the quality of dream expressions.

The emotional interpretation of the dream

Sigmund Freud was one of the first authors to systematically interpret dreams. For the first time, it relates the meaning of dreams to emotional experiences, where the unconscious manifests itself through symbolic language.. Then Carl Gustav Jung, already separated from the theories of his teacher, proposes under the energetic paradigm, a theory where dreams reveal shared archetypes.

A door to the inner world

It is not difficult to realize that our fears are expressed in our nightmares and our desires are expressed in our happy dreams. In times of confusion or stress, our true desires can be expressed in dreams without the constraints of everyday life..

How to interpret dreams?

From the psychoanalytic branch, attempts have been made to classify the meaning of dreams in various dictionaries. This task is very difficult and imprecise given the cultural variations of the language. Likewise, Finding connections between dream material and daily life is a way to give meaning.

Share the dreams

There are people who find dreams disturbing and prefer not to tell them. But there are other people who are curious about it and try to analyze them, Here we leave you some tips if you are from the second group:

Annotations. If a dream catches our attention we should write it down in the first minutes of waking up. The more time passes, the fewer details can be recovered.Objectivity. It is necessary to see dreams objectively and analyze them for what they are, internal dialogues of our mind. It has been shown that they are often directly influenced by external agents. A clear example, dreaming about ice can have an explanation as simple as sleeping in a very cold room.Consult. Whenever a dream catches our attention or is repeated too much, we can consult a specialist. This will give us a global and critical vision in this regard.

What about nightmares?

Generally, they are disturbing dreams that show moments of stress and worry. To prevent the feeling of anxiety from haunting us throughout the day, two strategies can be applied:

distracting task. It has been proven that the more we repeat the dream when we wake up, the more it will become embedded in our memory. To avoid this we can do tasks as simple as small mathematical operations in the first minutes of wakefulness.Psychological distancing. It is important to understand that what happened in the dream does not have to be repeated during the day and that they are only manifestations of our fears.

Finally, it is important to emphasize that the meaning of dreams will always have a large subjective component. Therefore, both the physiological and symbolic aspects of it are susceptible to interpretation.

In any case, We are the ones who ultimately have to decide what to do with what we remember from our dreams..

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