Sleep Stages and Dream Interpretation
77A dream serves a special function for minds and our bodies. Everyone has dreams during the REM cycle of sleep and this is essential for good mental health. Some dreams are pleasant and happy, while others are nightmares.There are five stages of sleep and we enter the REM cycle 3 to 5 times each night.
In ancient times, people believed that dreams originated
outside their bodies as messages from the gods or omens of things to happen in
the future. Dr. Sigmund Freud, about 1895, attempted to scientifically interpret
dreams but was fairly unsuccessful. Many have studied dreams but there is still
much to learn. Dream experts of today focus on what causes dreams rather than
the interpretation. Understanding what causes dreams is important to doctors to educate the public about prioritizing their sleep.
Baby Sleeping
Freud, Dreams & Therapy
Five Stages of Sleep
The stages of sleep were first described by Alfred Lee Loomis in 1937, and his coworkers who separated the different sleep stages using an EEG (electroencephalography) which revealed five levels of sleep. Typically everyone passes through five stages of sleep each night
- Stage I is a light sleep or you drift in and out and can be easily aroused. Often during this stage people will experience sudden muscle contractions preceded by a sensation of falling.
- Stage II is a little deeper sleep where eye movement stops and brain ways become slower with only an occasional burst of rapid brain waves.
- Stage III is where the brain waves are extremely slow and they are called Delta waves, but they are interspersed with smaller, faster waves.
- Stage IV is where the brain produces Delta waves almost exclusively. Stage III and IV are both referred to as deep sleep or Delta sleep. It is very difficult to wake someone during deep sleep. There is no eye movement or muscle activity in deep sleep.
- REM sleep: Dreams occur during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and the rest of your body is a temporarily paralyzed at this time. During dreaming your eyes are moving rapidly; your heart beats faster; you breath accelerates; blood pressure rises, and areas of your brain that you use for learning are stimulated. Brain waves during this stage are actually increased to the levels experienced when a person is awake. Most people experience 3 to 5 intervals of REM sleep each night. Infants spend almost 50% of their time in REM sleep, while adults spend nearly half of their sleep time in stage II and about 20% in REM sleep.
EEG printout - Source Benbest
source puppies den
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Process of Dreaming
So, dreaming is a thinking process but on a much deeper level. Your conscious mind has slipped but away and you are very focused, plus you're totally honest with yourself as you figure out your issues. What is actually happening is you are moving information from your short-term memory to your long-term memory, so it helps us solve problems, solve information and also to organize our thoughts. Research has shown that if we constantly interrupt dreams in an individual that they will become psychotic and start seeing hallucinations, even if they get the rest of their sleep. Dreaming is essential to good mental health.
If we were not paralyzed during dreaming we would be physically acting out the dream. For some people this mechanism doesn't work correctly and oddities like sleepwalking occur, but sleepwalking is more common in deep sleep. Some studies say you can't dream while snoring, but others have not found that to be true.
Dreaming is a natural function of every mammal and bird on earth. If you own a dog you have probably seen them when you're dreaming. Interestingly enough, dogs show the same physiological cycle as humans, having REM sleep, so it is assumed they are having the same type of dreams.
Benefits of Dreaming - Summary
There are several benefits to dreaming. Dreaming will give balance to the events that happened to you during the day and the more we sleep, the more we will be able to integrate things that we learned during the day. Our bodies repair themselves while dreaming, which improves the quality of our life. Mental, spiritual and emotional coping mechanisms to help us develop creative solutions and new ways of thinking about our challenges, questions and problems in life are another benefit of dreaming.
It is usually easy to tell if you haven't slept enough as the symptoms are irritability, mood swings, and falling asleep as you're driving home from work or maybe at your desk. It is your body's way of telling you to turn off the lights and go to sleep.
Ella Fitzgerald - Louis Armstrong "Dream a Little Dream of Me
The copyright to this article is owned by Pamela Oglesby. Permission to republish this article in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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Freud believed that dreams were "the royal road to the unconscious." And represented wish fulfillment. Many Freudian psychologists today still attach importance to the interpretation of a patient's dreams as a means of understanding a client's unconscious desires.
Thanks for this very interesting article about Sleep Stages and Dream Interpretation, Pamela. I’ve learnt that one’s feelings and new and old knowledge obtained integrate in dreams – it is a process of digesting. One’s intuition might project a premonition. I’ve voted this one up in all ways.
Thanks Pamela
Rated hub up and useful; you helped me understand Democrats; they are walking around in Stage 3 sleep; their brain waves are extremely slow!
Angie, I'm glad you enjoyed the informational and I appreciate your comments.
drbj, That it's true and I've written a second article on interpretation of the most common dreams which bears that out. Thanks so much for your comments.
Martie, I'm glad you enjoyed the hub and I think you're certainly on the right track. Thanks so much for your comments.
Patriot, That is really very funny and probably true. Thanks for your comments.
Hi pamela,
A very interesting read!!
Useful/up for this one.
take care
Eiddwen
What part of the brain do the delta waves measure as they are so much more active?
Thanks for the hub?
Great information about the different stages of sleep. Thanks for sharing.
Eiddwen, I'm glad you enjoyed the hub. Thank you so much for your comments.
electricsky, I don't think I can answer your question with any accuracy. There are five main wave patterns Gamma,Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta. In my research but I kept reading about was the amplitude and rhythm of the waves with the Delta having the highest frequency range up to 4 Hz but the slowest waves. I know different parts of the brain are stimulated during sleep but I couldn't find information that talk about what part of the brain stimulated any particular wave. Thanks for your comments.
Becky, I'm glad you enjoy the information on sleep stages and I appreciate your comments.
One more thing you might already know but I read in Wiki. that those with parietal brain damage never dream. Are they normal as far as their day thinking? Also, what do insomniacs do? Don't they ever have problems functioning in the daytime?
Hi Pamela, Thanks for the info concerning the sleep stages and dream interpretation. Was glad to read that people usually experienced 3 out of the 5 stages, because I believe that is what is usual for me. Just love those silly dreams you wake up from, hhhmmm, one day I'm going to seek an interpreter. :)
ectricsky, From everything I've read anyone who never dreams is not normal and in fact they are psychotic. I may write an article about insomnia and some other aspects of sleep but if you do not get enough rest you don't do well physically or mentally.
Money Glitch, I know when I wake up from having some silly dream I always wonder know what it really means and I guess you have to really work at it to interpret your dreams which I wrote about in my second article many of mine really don't make much sense. Thank you so much for your comments.
Yes, sleep is definitely important. American's are becoming more sleep-deprived. Did you know that a quarter of a million American fall asleep at the wheel each day? http://hubpages.com/t/221951
Blissfulwriter, I didn't know it was that many I that that fell asleep at the wheel I know insomnia is a big problem in America. Thanks so much for your comments and I'll check out your hub.
Thanks for sharing the 5 stages of sleep, what a very informative hub you have published here. Nothing like a good night sleep Our bodies know whats needed for optimal health, I think this is great, and love my dreams. Sweet Dreams- Rob
Ingteresting. I never knew anything or thought about it.
rpalulis, I agree that our bodies do know what is needed for optimal health. Thanks so much for your comments and sweet dreams to you Rob.
Hello, Thank you so much for your comments.
great information thanks
daffodil, Thank you so much for your comment.
pamela wow very good, I liked this. There is also Bible verses on dreams. I will have to find it and get to you. Sweet dreams sister. Love you.
christ4ever left a comment on my dream hub. 'Dreams are a great way for the Lord to get messages across to us. Not always easy to translate, but as long as YOU get what He's saying, that's what counts. Dreams are where I get much of my own inspiration. The things that jumped in my head just now were (Luke 10:17-20) and (1Samuel 17:47), we are so blessed to know the Lord and have confidence that it's His battle to fight for us, not necessarily ours.
christ4ever pointed me to the scriptures I thought, awesome! So fyi I thought you might be intersted. Christ also tells us that in the latter days there will be an outpouing of the Holy Spirit also given in dreams and visions. I know my dreams came from the Lord. He had a message I was to write. It is not that I am good but because He is GOOD and wonderful and awesome and He causes the rivers to flow and the seas to rage. He is King of Kings. All Glory to God.
Thank you again for your hub!! Great info. Hugs Galore.
skye, I have had some dreams that I believe were from the Lord but I don't always understand them. They are distinctly different from my normal dreams. Thanks so much for the scriptures and the comments.
Thanks for shearing this 5 stages of sleep, is wonderful
crystolite, I'm so glad you enjoyed the hub. I appreciate your comments.
It's great to learn about dream interpretations. Thanks.
SusanJK, I'm glad you enjoyed the hub. Thanks for your comment.
very interesting hub!
I have often heard it mentioned that you must awake from an REM sleep cycle in order to remember a dream you were experiencing...otherwise you will have no memory of a dream...is that the case? Good article...I learned a lot! WB
Wayne, From my research I would say that is the case almost all the time. The only exception would be if you have a dream right before waking up in the morning you may remember bits of it. I'm glad you enjoyed the article and I appreciate your comments.
newnewyinsur, Thanks for your comment.
sonia, I'm glad you enjoyed the hub and I appreciate your comment.
I love this hub. I find topics on sleep very interesting. I voted UP!
Christine, Thank you so much for your comment.
Thank you for an interesting and informative hub. I find the study of dreams and dreaming fascinating, in humans and in animals. All my dogs have shown rapid eye movement periods as they sleep. Dreaming is a very interesting phenomenon!
AlicuaC, I agree, as I think studying dreams is very interesting. Thank you so much for your comments.
Voted up and rated useful. I love reading about dreams! I also like researching sleep because with 3 kids I rarely get any. :)
puppyluv, Good luck with getting some rest as I know how it is with three kids as my 3 are now grown. I appreciate your comments.
Excellent hub and filled with great information. Proper sleep is integral to good health. We can all relate to feeling better after getting enough sleep. This is a well done hub, and I thank you fro all the info and the video. Rated up and useful.
toknowinfo, I certainly appreciate your very kind comments and I'm glad you enjoyed the hub.
I love this hub very much and I always learn from you every time I visit your hub. Well done, Pamela. You always in my heart. Sorry for late give this comment. Rated up. God bless you.
Prasetio,
prasetio, I'm glad you enjoy this hub and you know I think you're very special. I appreciate your comments. God bless you.
Pamela, I was fascinated by your article. The information was well written and well thought out. It held my interest from the first word. I always wondered why I couldn't remember my dreams, now I know.
KKGals, I always wondered why I couldn't remember my dreams either but I learned a lot doing the research. I'm glad you enjoyed the hub. I appreciate your comments.
Very nice hub. I heard somewhere that if you repeat your dreams outloud upon waking up your dreams will stick and you'll remember them and it surely works. Thanks for sharing the 5 stages of sleep.
emilybee, I think it would help to repeat the dream if you can remember it, then write it down. thanks for your comment.
I've always and still enjoy studying about dreams. It's a very interesting subject. Enjoyed reading your hub with very good information.
creativelycc, I'm glad you enjoyed the hub. Dreams are really interesting. Thanks for your comments.
Your have explained this so well. I have often wondered the things you have shared with us in connection with our daily life. Most of the time I do not remember my dreams. What is that a sign of??? I know that we dream every night and some people remember their dreams as if they were real.
Thanks for sharing.
Linda
ICTodd, The only time I remember dreams if I wake up in the middle of one or maybe if it occurs just before waking. Even then unless it was truly unique I soon forget. I read somewhere that taking Vit. B6 before bed helps you remember dreams but I haven't tried it. Thanks for your comments.
Dreams are an interesting part of life. Since I began writing lyrics I have dreamed of songs and those dreams are so vivid it's almost hard to tell I'm dreaming until I'm awake. The worst part is I dream the best work I think I'm capable of, but as you said in your last comment, if it doesn't occur just before I awake, that work gets lost in the dream world. I do wonder though what makes one dream more memorable than others? Sometimes I find I can fully recall a dream. Never tested the B6 theory though.
thecoffeewrite, I'm not sure why some dreams are more memorable except the ones you dream just before waking. It seems like I have times where I remember my dreams frequently and other times where it seems like I'm not dreaming of all. I wish I had the answers but maybe you could try the B6 as it's an expensive and you have nothing to lose.
Pamela ~ Very good information on dreams, the dream states and benefits of sleep. I jumped over here from my poem because this hub was listed as "related." Glad I visited, Nitey nite! Hugs, Debby
Debby Bruck, Thank you so much for your comments. Hugs to you also.
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anglnwu Level 7 Commenter 14 months ago
Interesting read. Glad to know that dreams are healthy and help our brain process information and organize thoughts--never saw it that way. Rated useful.