The scientific interpretation of dreams 

By, Alejandra Marie Guevara Campo

The dreams are always uncertain. The Scientifics always want to give a response to all the things that happen in the world, and the dreams are not the exception.  The dreams have a lot of explanations but anyone could be sure of what is true. To have an idea of how mysterious are the dreams, in a lot of studies of psychology describe the time that the humans spend approximately sleeping. This data in some books refer that the human spend 175,000 hours sleeping throughout life, this is equal to 7,292 days, (260 weeks). That’s a lot of time sleeping and of course dreaming. But how we can remember that dreams or maybe why some people don’t remember their dreams or think that they don’t dream, well we cannot be sure of that and that’s why the Scientifics try to understand this.

Dream is defined in Webster's Dictionary as a "sequence of sensations, images, thoughts, etc., passing through a sleeping person's mind". Dreams have been a topic of study dating as far back as 4000 B.C.  Dreams have been around for as long as the first civilization came to be and have been a normal part of human existence. In our dreams, we can go anywhere, we can be anybody, and we can do anything.  When we dream, we are like passengers on a moving train, unable to control our actions and choose our surroundings.  Sometimes, dreams can be understood in the context of repressed thoughts. Dreaming serves as an outlet for those thoughts and impulses we repress during the day. When we go to sleep at night and slip into our dream state, we feel liberated and behave in a manner that we do not allow ourselves to in our waking life.

For as long as we have been able to talk about our dreams, we have been fascinated with them and have strived to understand them. In some primal societies, members were unable to distinguish between the dream world and the waking world, or they could simply choose not to make the distinction. They saw that the dream world was not only an extension of reality, but that it was a more powerful world.  In the Greek and Roman eras, dreams were seen in a religious context. They were believed to be direct messages from the gods or from the dead. Another thing is that the people of that time look to their dreams as solutions on what to do or what course of action to take. They believed dreams forewarned and predicted the future. Special shrines were even built where people can go there to sleep and they hope that a message could be passed to them through their dreams. Their belief in the power of a dream was so strong that it even dictated the actions of political and military leaders. In fact, dream interpreters even accompanied military leaders into battle to help with war strategy.  Greek philosopher, Aristotle believed that dreams were a result of physiological functions. Dreams were able to diagnose illness and predict onset of diseases. By the other hand, in the present, the popular definition about the dreams depends on culture and believes of the people. People in at least three countries, including the United States, believe dreams contain important hidden truths. For centuries, the human beings tried to figure out just why our brains play these nightly shows for us. Early civilizations thought dream worlds where real. Researchers continue to toss around many theories about dreaming. Those theories essentially fall into two categories: The idea that dreams are only physiological stimulations and the idea that dreams are psychologically necessary.

Another point is that there are a lot of explanations about why we dream. Dreams can occur in any of the four stages of sleep, but the most real and memorable dreams occur in the last stage of sleep referred to as REM sleep. The sleep cycle repeats itself about an average of four to five times per night, but may repeat as many as seven times. However, most people only remember dreams that occur closer toward the morning when they are about to wake up. But just because you can't remember those dreams do not mean that they never happened. Some people believe that they simply do not dream, when in reality, they just don't remember their dreams. The stages in the sleep cycle are organized by the changes in specific brain activity. Stage 1: You are entering into light sleep. This stage is characterized by Non-rapid eye movements (NREM), muscle relaxation, lowered body temperature and slowed heart rate. The body is preparing to enter into deep sleep. Stage 2: Also characterized by NREM, this stage is characterized by a further drop in body temperature and relaxation of the muscles. The body's immune system goes to work on repairing the day's damage. The endocrine glands secrete growth hormones, while blood is sent to the muscles to be reconditioned. In this stage, you are completely asleep. The stage 3: Still in the NREM stage, this is an even deeper sleep. Your metabolic levels are extremely slow. And finally the stage 4: In this stage of sleep, your eyes move back and forth erratically as if watching something from underneath your eyelids, also known as the REM stage. This stage is the most restful part of sleep. Your mind is being revitalized and emotions are being fine-tuned. The majority of the dreaming or nightmares occur in this stage.  But taking on count that are a lot of types of dreams and some ones take place during the day

At the end the science always tries to explain everything. All along this essay we discuss about the history background of the dreams, the definition and interpretation that people gives to the dreams, definition and interpretation of it by the Scientifics, explanations that the science have to explain the dreams, function of the brain when the people is sleeping, also how the brain create images when we are sleeping. One thing is sure that the dreams are produced in the REM phase. But the dreams are unpredictable, misunderstood and it all depends on the culture of the people interpreting these dreams. The scientists are making progress in the field of dreams but will remain a mystery for a long time.