They can be pleasing and peaceful or even dreadful nightmares, they come and go, they can be strange and irrelevant, we remember some dreams and we forget the others. There is no single relevant theory behind the cause of dreams, many psychologists, oneirologists and experts hold different hypothesis based on their respective studies. They can be some ideas which have creeped their way out from the subconscious or emotions or even images. They say in our life we spend a total of 6 years dreaming.
It is clearly yet not known in which area of the brain do our dreams really originate, many theories and speculations are their more or less similar but yet to be confirmed true. Our mind is like a maze and one of god’s most extravagant creation.
These are some of the theories which have been curated based on the hypothesis done by researchers.
Based on different religions–
All the diverse cultures be it Hinduism, Buddhism or Christianity have their own theories behind the purpose of dreams.eg- According to Hinduism dreams are one of the three states along with sleeping and walking state while Judaism states that dreams are part of this world where we gain new experiences and hence dreams can be interpreted.
Jung and Freud–
On the other hand we had two great experts from the field of psychology that is Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung who had contrasting views on the reason behind dreaming, Freud stated that they sprout out from the unconscious and he states that dreams are the royal road to the unconscious. Dreams show your unconscious desires as well. While Jung states that dreams have messages and can solve many problems, they hold the key to many emotional and personal problems.
Other Theories–
There is no real underlying reason based on our dreams according to many experts, they have no connection to our past memories, thinking process or our thoughts and neither connected with any past incident which moved us, They are just a part of our sleeping cycles.
But many scientist state the complete opposite that is our anxieties, desires, wishes and fears are reflected in our dreams.
ASH(Activation -synthesis Hypothesis)–
One of the other theories is activation-synthesis hypothesis which states that there is no real message or purpose behind the dreams which we experience rather they pull out irrational or random thoughts, emotions and memories which are formed into electrical brain impulses and hence we get dreams.
REM–
REM(rapid eye movement) sleep is said to consist of the most intriguing dreams and these are the kind of the dreams you experience which generally wake you up or which you can easily recall. Even animals dream and most of the mammals also experience REM sleep which is used to compare with the sleep patter and dream pattern of humans.Neurological Theories-
Neurological Theories
Continual Activation Theory-
The continual activation theory has been given by Jie Zhang and it states that due to brain activation and synthesis one gets dreams. According to Zhang during the process of sleeping the memory is transferred from temporary memory to long term memory. This theory is a combination of Hobson’s activation synthesis hypothesis and Solm’s theory.
- ASH(Activation -synthesis Hypothesis)-
One of the other theories is activation-synthesis hypothesis which states that there is no real message or purpose behind the dreams which we experience rather they pull out irrational or random thoughts, emotions and memories which are formed into electrical brain impulses and hence we get dreams.
I would like to quote “You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream”.
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