Dream Interpretation Books Billings MT

Dreams - What Do They Mean?

Summary

Dreams are images, thoughts and feeling experienced while asleep, particularly strongly associated with rapid eye movement sleep. The contents and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, though they have been a topic of speculation and interest throughout recorded history.

Stages of Sleep

When the body decides that it is time to sleep, neurons near the eyes start to send signals throughout the body. According to experts, these neurons are located in such close proximity to neurons that control eyelid muscles that the eyelids begin to grow heavy. Glands begin to secrete a hormone that helps induce sleep and neurons send signals to the spinal cord, which makes the body relax.

Emotions

The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety. Negative emotions are more common than positive feelings. The U.S. ranks the highest amongst industrialized nations for aggression in dreams with 50% of U.S. males reporting aggression in dreams, compared to 32% for Dutch men.

Sexual Content

Various studies show that sexual dreams occur no more than 10% of the time and are more prevalent in the early to mid teens. Another study showed that 8% of men's and women's dreams have sexual content. In some cases, sexual dreams may result in orgasm or nocturnal emission. These are commonly known as wet dreams.  

Recurring Dreams

While the content of most dreams is dr eamt only once, many people experience recurring dreams - that is, the same dream narrative is experienced over different occasions of sleep. Up to 70% of females and 65% of males report recurrent dreams.

Common Themes

Content-analysis studies have identified common reported themes in dreams. These include: situations relating to school, being chased, running slowly in place, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too late, a person now alive being dead, teeth falling out, flying, embarrassing moments, failing an examination, or a car accident. 12% of people only dream in black and white.   

Disease Associated Differences

There is evidence that certain diseases (normally only neurological diseases) can impact dreams. For instance, people with synesthesia have never reported black and white dreaming, and often have a difficult time imagining the idea of dreaming in black and white only.

Recalling Dreams

The recall of dreams is extremely unreliable, though it is a skill that can be trained. Dreams that are difficult to recall may be characterized by relatively little effect, and factors such as salience, arousal, and interference play a role in dream recall. A dream journal can be used to assist dream recall, for psychotherapy or entertainment purposes.

Deja Vu

The theory of deja vu dealing with dreams indicates that the feeling of having previously seen or experienced something could be attributed to having dreamt about a...