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Jenna Messinger

ENG 1102

Professor Wright

Mar. 24, 2022

What Do Dreams Mean?

“If you can dream it you can do it” famous quote by Walt Disney. This quote makes the

idea of dreaming seem to be an exciting, positive experience. Are dreams always a positive

experience? There are many questions surrounding the idea of dreaming. Why do we dream,

what do the dreams we experience mean, and how does dreaming affect our sleep? Sometimes

we leap out of bed and remember every detail of a dream from the night before ready to tell the

story of our dream. Then, other times we can only remember vague details about the dream and

no details. The act of dreaming can be a way for your brain to process events and emotions

happening in your life. There are many theories to help understand the meaning of dreams.

Quality sleep is important for everyone’s health. Sleep is also important for your brain..

The act of dreaming can be a way for your brain to process events and emotions that have

happened in your life throughout the day while you sleep. The definition of sleep as defined in

Webster's dictionary: a natural temporary state of rest during which an individual becomes

physically inactive and unaware of the surrounding environment and many bodily functions

(Merriam-Webster 2022). Sleep is important for people of all ages. Babies normally sleep

anywhere from 14-15 hours a day. Studies suggest children in the age range from 5-12 years old

need 10-12 hours of quality sleep each night. Teens need 9-9 ½ hours of quality sleep every

night. Research says it is important for adults to get between 7-8 hours of sleep each

night(Suni).
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Everybody requires sleep to stay healthy. If people fail to get enough sleep, their bodies

can not recharge for the next day. Scientists have studied the effects of not getting enough sleep

on your body. It has been proven that when the body doesn’t get enough sleep, people can get

sick. Heart disease, and diabetes are just two examples of illnesses that can develop with people

who don’t get the right amount of sleep for an extended amount of time (Macdowell). Not

getting enough sleep can also make it hard to think straight. When you are tired, it could be

harder to make good decisions. It is important to stay energized, healthy, and feeling your best,

so making sure you get the right amount of sleep every night is important for your health. To

feel rested, and revitalized you need to get a good night's sleep. When you are ready for bed and

your body begins to slow down you may begin to feel tired. When people work hard at work

and school their brains become tired, and sleep helps recharge the brain to be ready for the next

day. At the end of a long day, you usually get sleepy, and feel tired. Feeling tired can be your

body telling you it’s ready to rest so that it recharges, it's time for bed. Sometimes if people

don’t get enough sleep, they can feel tired during the day, or have a short temper. When tired,

you might find it difficult to get along with others, especially at work, or school. You might also

have a hard time staying focused at school and processing things you learn. Not getting enough

sleep can cause a bad day from start to finish. Besides keeping you healthy there are many other

benefits from sleep. Your body benefits from sleep by keeping you mentally sharp, sleep helps

lower your stress level, and improves your creativity. A good night’s sleep helps with a better

mood, sharper memory, and improved immune system(Reed). Sleep is so important it is

sometimes referred to as food for your brain.

Sleeping position can also have a big effect on the quality of sleep you get at night

affecting your dreams. “More than half of the 2,000 Americans surveyed reported that they sleep
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on their side. Seventeen percent of Americans sleep on their back and 11% on their

stomach”(Suni). Young, healthy people do not need to worry as much about sleeping position

as older adults do. Many people find sleeping on their back is good to help with back pain. For

people who snore, or experience sleep apnea it's best to position yourself on your side or

stomach(Suni). This can help airways stay open. Some people like to sleep with sleep aids such

as fans, background noise such as TV’s, night lights, and weighted blankets. These can provide

comfort to anyone who may need assistance falling asleep. All of these factors can play a big

role in the quality of sleep you get. Research shows that 50 to 70 million Americans of all ages

report having sleep problems(Suni).

The process of falling asleep is complicated. Once you have decided it is time for bed,

change into pajamas, wash your face, and snuggle in, many things begin to happen. When you

start to fall asleep your brain begins to slow down. There are five different cycles your body goes

through during the sleep process. The first step is light sleep where there is slow eye movement,

and your muscle activity slows down. Next, your eye movement completely stops and your

brain waves begin to slow(Reed). Occasionally, your body gets jolts that bring rapid waves

called sleep spindles. For the third step in falling asleep, very slow brain waves called delta

waves begin. Delta waves are the slowest waves in people's brains. In stage four there is

absolutely no eye movement or muscle activity(Reed). Stage five, the last stage is called REM

sleep REM is an acronym for rapid eye movement. In this stage a person's breathing becomes

faster, abnormal, and shallow. Your eyes begin to rapidly move in different directions during

stage of sleep. Your arms and legs as well as your muscles become temporarily paralized by the

part of your brain called ponds. During stage five of sleep your heart rate increases and your

blood pressure rises (Reed). Most dreams occur during the REM, or fifth stage of sleep because
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this time is when the brian’s activity is the highest. Dreams can occur during the four other

stages of sleeping, but dreams during the other stages are less likely to be remembered(Reed).

Many people may not remember dreaming, but sleep experts believe everyone does

dream somewhere between 3-6 times a night. Sometimes we can wake and remember vivid

details about our dreams, other times we may not even remember dreaming at all. In most cases

dreams tend to tell how a person truly feels about a specific situation. Around 95% of the dreams

people experience are not remembered by the time they get out of bed (Malinowski). Dreams can

be explained as a psychological series of emotions, ideas, and images that happen involuntarily

in a person's mind during the stages of sleep(Reed). When you have structure, and routine sleep

habits, your body can correctly cycle through all stages of sleep making dreams a natural

process for some.

There are five main types of dreams people often experience.

Nightmares are the number one type of dream that people have. Nightmares

are a stressful dream that causes the person to feel negative and includes the

feelings of fear and anxiety. Nightmares can occur in both children and adults.

This type of dream seems to have the most emotional impact on a person's

mental state(Elmer). Nightmares are common for many people, but are also

most people's least favorite type of dream. The scary thing about nightmares is

how realistic they seem. Nightmares are normally centered around a person's

fears and can be something that is currently bothering you, or can be a negative past event in

your life. In children nightmares are often called night terrors.

Some people experience a type of dream called lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is when

a person becomes aware that they are dreaming, and can have some control over the dream they
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are having. These lucid dreams are sometimes referred to as the best types of dreams. These

types of dreams often occur during REM sleep so spending more time in REM sleep may

increase your chances of experiencing lucid dreams. You can extend REM sleep by sleeping

longer periods of time. The benefits of experiencing lucid dreaming include: relieving anxiety,

increasing fine motor skills, and improving your mental creativity (Elmer).

Recurring dreams, another type of dreams occur frequently and can be triggered by

specific life situations. Typically, a life change or continued problem brings these types of

dreams on. Recurring dreams can occur as often as daily, or weekly. Recurring dreams can be a

weakness or inability to deal with feelings in your past or present life. Repetitive patterns in

your dreams can show some of the most sensitive information about a person’s life. These types

of dreams sometimes have a common theme where the person dreaming is falling, being chased,

or being frozen with fear (Elmer).

A fourth type of dream is the vivid dream. Sometimes people think of any dream that we

experience in REM sleep as vivid, with vivid dreaming, it’s used to describe a more extreme

dream that may feel very real (Elmer). Some peolpe may remember vivid dreams easier than

any other type of dream(Elmer). With this type of dream you may wake up feeling like you are

still experiencing the dream. You may need to check around for things or people who were in the

dream. Sometimes vivid dreams are hard to shake off once awake.

The fifth type of dream is also a common dream called the neutral dream. Neutral

dreams are just your every night type of dream. Typically, you don't remember these dreams.

They are short and not very important or intense enough to wake you, or be able to remember.

Neutral dreams typically have no meaning. These dreams have no effect on your brain. The
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National Sleep Foundation, reports that people typically dream about four to six times per night.

Neutral dreams are the most common type of dream(Elmer).

Some people remember exactly what they dream, and can tell about it. Other people can

only remember parts of a dream sometimes, not making sense. There are also those who have

no memory of dreaming at all. Dreams are an interesting experience which show how powerful

our brains can be. Understanding dreams and connecting their meaning to real life can be

fascinating to learn about. There are many theories to explain why we dream, and how to

interpret dreams. Josie Malinowski explains in her article, “Was Freud Right At All?” Many

experts believe dreams have no real purpose, but do contain deep meaning. Sigmund Freud,

Austrian neuropsychologist, wrote an important book called The Interpretation of Dreams

published in 1900 providing a new way to help understand dreams. Freud talks about the

importance of dreaming for the brain in his book

A dream can be influenced by what we’re thinking about before falling asleep, or what

we’ve experienced during our regular day. Freud's theory suggested that dreams help protect

people from waking up early when light or sound try to disrupt their sleep, but he also believed

dreams point to actions we want in life.

On the other hand, Carl Jung, a swiss psychiatrist, believed dreams had a very specific

meaning. Jung, focused on specific types or patterns that appear symbolically in dreams,

theorizing that dreams could help explain daily events and balance out aspects of yourself you

aren’t aware of. According to Jung, dreams give us honest portrayals of who we really are. If we

think too highly of ourselves, the compensatory nature of the psyche will bring forth dreams that

bring us back down into our depth. Jung thought dreams were more of a symbol of the

unconscious mind whereas Freud thought that the meaning was in the hands of the individual
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dreamers. Dreaming, as Freud believed, can help people reduce emotional activity, this is

because the emotional content of dreams happens when there is a decrease in brain activity.

Jung’s options focused more on symbols and imagery and Freud's studies focused more on

meaning in the hands of the interpreter, meaning dream interpretation was different from person

to person. Jung believed dreams acted as a bridge between the unconscious and conscious mind.

Jung agreed that dreams could be reflective of events from childhood and could also be signs of

what may occur in the future. Jung was more to believe: “ Not all dreams are a sign of the

unconscious mind. Some are a form of creative play and are free from any unfulfilled

wants(Tantry).” Sigmaond Freud and Carl Jung both contributed to understanding the science

of dream interpretation and the mind.

An important piece of dreaming, according to Freud, is to help us take the hard parts out

of our difficult emotional experiences while we are asleep, so that we can learn from them and

move on with our daily life. Important emotional and memory sections of the brain are

revitalized during REM sleep as we dream(Reed). This means that emotional memory

reactivation is occurring in the brain. This reactivation allows our brain to re-process upsetting

memories in a safer, and quiet environment(Reed). Freud believed that the unconscious brain

expresses itself while dreaming as a way of helping get rid of negative or unwanted emotions,

experiences, and bad impulses a person may be carrying(Tantry). “The dream is the liberation of

the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a detachment of the soul from the fetters of

matter” (Freud).

One of Freud’s most popular theories, wish fulfillment, is the idea where wishes can not

be fulfilled in our waking lives, so they are carried out in our dreams(Tantry). Freud’s main

idea, that our dreams satisfy our unfulfilled desires, can be an interesting way to understand
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dreams(Tantry). Things we don’t get, or receive in the real world can come true in our

dreams(Tantry). Freud’s dream theory can provide a different way of thinking about our

subconscious mind. Freud suggests that our dreams express our subconscious, and by studying

dreams, we might be able to better understand ourselves(Tantry). Most dreams are usually

visual, meaning that images are at the front of our dreams, rather than other other senses like

smell or touch. Dreams can be very weird which is normal. Your mood, events in the news,

experiences at work, interest, and religion may all affect who you come in contact with when

dreaming. Figuring out the meaning of dreams takes some time, but also brings a better

understanding of oneself. Finding the meaning of a dream can be important and satisfying when

you begin to analyze and figure out what your dreams may mean. In analyzing your dreams you

may help to solve problems or conflicts you might be facing in your day to day life(Tantry).

Another theory developed by Freud is that of the perspective of self-organization in

dreaming. The self-organization theory of dreaming says your brain combines neurological

signals in the brain into a continuous narrative while sleeping. In this theory it means the brain

is working to reflect on the dreamer's activity, and to regulate emotions, and memory(Zhang,

Guo). This study suggests that dreams may not always have a meaning, but are just random

thoughts and activities in the brain.

In the television series documentary, The Mind Explained, a brain specialist looks at

what happens in the brain and body after we fall asleep. They look closely at what dreams can

teach us about ourselves. Neuroscientists recorded the process of brain patterns of people while

awake as they viewed images on a screen of random pictures. The dream specialist then

recorded the brain activity of the same group while they slept. After both results were recorded

scientists tried to reverse the brain pattern from when the patients were asleep trying to turn their
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brain patterns into images. Once the people in the study woke up the brain waves showed they

had been dreaming about the images they had seen.

Dreams can be interpreted in many ways and not everyone believes they mean the same

thing. A few of the most common events happening in dreams are being chased, flying, falling,

death, being naked, and experiencing water situations. Understanding the symbols in dreams as

a vivid message to the mind opens the world of dreams and what it seeks to communicate to

each person individually.

Being chased is the number one most common theme among dreams. Being chased is

also the most remembered action in a dream. When being chased in your dreams it could mean

you're getting close to getting something in your life, but aren't quite there yet. According to

most dream psychologists, the scary thing chasing you could be a part of yourself that you’re

trying to hide(Aizenstat). This could be a goal you are chasing at work or in your personal life.

Often dreams are connected to how you feel about a difficult part of your life that you are not

paying enough attention to: perhaps an unrecognized trauma that you haven't dealt with, or a

stressful event, or something you fear(Aizenstat).

The second most common theme in dreams is the dream of flying. These dreams are

often about independence and freedom you may be hoping to get from something happening in

your life(Aizensts). Dreams about death, it does not necessarily mean literal death. More often

this dream is a feeling of moving along with a new chapter in your life, or something new

coming into your life(Aizensts).

A few additional common themes in dreams are the plunge, the dream of falling, and

the fear of being naked. When you dream of the terrifying jump off the edge of a cliff, this type

of dream often means you have experienced a loss of control. Maybe you may not be in control
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of some part of your life. The dream of falling could also mean a loss of support from others

(Aizensts). In this type of dream people tend to wake up during the fall of the dream feeling

scared and afraid. We may have all experienced the dream where we appear to be naked. This

dream typically means you are feeling vulnerable, or you are afraid of what others see about the

real you. You may be hiding something or pretending to be different in front of people(Aizensts).

The idea of making your dreams come true can be scary when at times people have

freighting dreams about being chased by zombies, or falling from an airplane. There seems to be

many interesting parts to the subject about dreams, the why, how, and what they mean all have

their own explanations. Dreams can sometimes be very positive experiences. On the other hand,

one could dream about being stuck in the middle of the ocean and not being able to make it

ashore. While dreaming you find yourself quickly losing control and going underwater. You

begin drowning and wake up screaming. Shaken, and awake, falling back asleep is almost

impossible.

Understanding the meaning behind dreams is a science. What does it mean when you

dream that you can't find your shoes? From nonstop falling, to an alien abduction, or that

common naked-in-a-crowd nightmare, almost all of your dreams can tell you something about

yourself that you may not have none to be true. Dreaming may help the brain get rid of any

unused information, or memories while keeping in the memory what’s most important. Some

people feel more rejuvenated after having quality sleep and even having had a dream. Even if

they do not remember dreaming. Dreaming is a normal and healthy way our brain repairs itself

for a new day's work. Understanding your dreams may help better understand yourself, and

your emotions. Understanding why we dream, and what the dreams we experience mean, can

positively affect our sleep habits. Quality sleep is important for your health and your brain.
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Many theories help to understand the meaning of dreams and why we have them. As Freud

believes, "The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious

activities of the mind"(Malinowski).

Works Cited

Aizenstat, Stephen. “11 Common Dreams and What They Mean.” Dream Tending, 4
Nov. 2021, https://dreamtending.com/blog/common-dreams-and-what-they-mean/.

Center, The Greater Good Science. “Why Your Brain Needs to Dream.” HuffPost,
HuffPost, 26 Oct. 2017, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-your-brain-needs-to-
dream_b_59f26dc5e4b06acda25f48ce#:~:text=Why%20Your%20Brain%20Needs%20to
%20Dream.%20Large%20population,everyone%20including%20infants%2C
%20students%2C%20athletes%2C%20pilots%2C%20and%20doctors.

[email protected]. “America's Most Common Recurring Dreams.” Amerisleep, 15

D, Dr. Karen Reed Ph., et al. “The Step by Step Guide to Falling Asleep (That Actually
Works).” Positive Health Wellness, 16 Sept. 2020,
https://www.positivehealthwellness.com/pain-relief/the-step-by-step-guide-to-falling-
asleep-that-actually-works/.

Elmer, Jamie. “10 Types of Dreams and What They May Indicate.” Healthline,
Healthline Media, 20 May 2020, https://www.healthline.com/health/types-of-dreams

Llewellyn, Sue. What Do Dreams Do? Oxford University Press, 2020

Macdowell, Rose. “A Kid's Guide to Understanding Sleep.” Sleepopolis, 3 June 2021,

Malinowski, Josie. “‘Was Freud Right about Dreams after All? Here's the Research That
Helps Explain It.’” The Conversation, 2016, https://theconversation.com/was-freud-right-
about-dreams-after-all-heres-the-research-that-helps-explain-it-60884.

Ruby, Perrine M. “Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and

Suni, Eric. “How Sleep Works: Understanding the Science of Sleeper.” Sleep
Foundation, 23 Oct. 2020, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works.
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Suni, Eric. “What Are the Best Positions for Sleeping? Eri.” Sleep Foundation, 18 Mar.
2022, https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleeping-positions.

Tantry, Tanya. “Freud's Dream Theory: Why You Dream What You Dream.” Flo.health -
#1 Mobile Product for Women's Health, 2020,
https://flo.health/menstrual-cycle/lifestyle/sleep/freuds-dream-theory.

“Watch the Mind, Explained: Netflix Official Site.” Watch The Mind, Explained | Netflix
Official Site, 12 Sept. 2019, https://www.netflix.com/watch/81062189?
trackId=13752289.