The Meaning of Dreaming

Dreams are made of “memory fragments, sensory impressions, creative images, and bodily and emotional feelings, all arranged roughly into the form of a story lived in real time,” explains Nielsen. When and how they occur depends on sleep stages, explains De Koninck: “We know that more vivid dreams happen in REM sleep, and these cycles recur every 90 minutes.”

During REM, our brain is in a state of recovery. Even though our dreams may seem wildly creative, we are not as cognitively sophisticated as when we are awake. Because of this, points out De Koninck, “We seldom dream of reading, counting, or writing. These take concentration.”

When we sleep, the frontal lobe of our brain (the part of our brain in charge of higher functions such as discernment) in particular, is resting. That’s why, he says, “Our dreams tend to be both more emotional and out of contact with reality.”

• Log dreams to remember details, refer back to, and recognize patterns over time.
• Reflect on their contents several times on the following day and possibly beyond.
• Pay attention to feelings in your dreams associated with people, places, actions, and objects.
• Look for possible sources of the contents of your dreams, not only looking to the previous day but even more so the week prior.
• If you have friends who are good listeners, tell them your dreams and your associations, or even start a dream-sharing group.
• Create something based on your dream—a drawing, a poem, a story, or a physical object.

“Dreams paint a more negative picture of what we have experienced,” explains De Koninck. “This is because the regions of the brain involved in REM are the very ones associated with emotions, particularly with fear, namely the amygdala. Flight, being chased, even violence, these are the lower parts of the brain taking over.”

“Nightmares,” explains Nielsen, can come with “intense negative feelings, even to the point of waking up, and may induce significant distress in the daytime.” They often occur after adversity, as in the case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), says De Koninck. “In all dream formation, the regions associated with negative emotions are mobilized,” he says. “In nightmares, this system is heightened.”

This kind of dreaming occurs when people learn to realize that they are dreaming. “Instead of waking up, they can exercise control,” says De Koninck. He describes it as a complex, emerging area. He feels that understanding lucid dreaming could in time be particularly helpful for people who suffer from ongoing bad dreams.

From Freud and Jung to present-day thinkers, many ponder whether dreams mean anything. De Koninck states, “While there is no actual need for dreams, when we do remember them, they can be very useful.”

Emotional processing and regulation

Dreams can help us “learn about ourselves,” De Koninck says, “through the concerns being expressed and the things we haven’t paid attention to.” Nielsen affirms “there is mounting evidence” that dreaming functions to “consolidate new memories and regulate emotional activity.” In dreams, we can also process and defuse intense emotions separate from their waking life triggers.

Recognizing our reactions

Along with what we dream about, how we interpret dreams can help us make sense of our frustrations, needs, stressors, and preoccupations. According to a recent study, our own tendencies to view dream themes as negative or positive can provide us with insight— how we perceive the emotional tone of our dreams.

We can indeed offer ourselves pre-sleep suggestions. De Koninck explains that it can be as simple as saying, “‘I’d like to dream about this or that.’ And it does work. It might take a few nights for some or a while longer for others.” Requesting and rehearsing your hoped-for dreams is effective.

To improve our dreaming life, Nielsen recommends

• sleeping more
• keeping a dream log
• inviting, before bed, more dreams to come
• setting intentions about dream content prior to sleep
• lying calmly in the morning specifically aiming to remember your dream
• noticing the impact of changes in your sleeping environment, such as a tent or hotel room, on your dreams
• exploring writings on sleep psychology and on lucid dreaming

As for whether there is any correlation between dreams and wellness, De Koninck explains that our dreams are “in continuity with waking experience and tend to reflect our concerns.” Quite simply, he says, what we dream is “in line with our waking tension.”

What’s more, because our dreams “are always transformed and never just a replay of our day-to-day, images come with new associations. This is what makes our dreams so interesting!”

• A daily 20-minute nap works wonders. While a cup of coffee can fuel a 30-minute energy boost, a short nap can give us four hours!
• Napping recharges cognition, memory, and creativity. Napping provides all parts of the brain and body, from problem-solving to digestion, with a well-deserved break.
• After learning something new, nap— you’ll remember it better.