tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/dreams-3863/articlesDreams – The Conversation2024-02-15T12:14:29Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235182024-02-15T12:14:29Z2024-02-15T12:14:29ZAs we dream, we can listen in on the waking world – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575451/original/file-20240213-16-qozdpv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=178%2C41%2C6811%2C3950&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New research has opened windows of connections between the waking world and dreamers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/imagination-surreal-art-man-cloud-head-1774713266">Jorm Sangsorn via Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans spend about one third of our lives asleep and while most of us dream regularly, some people remember their dreams more than others. But scientists still know surprisingly little about why or how we experience dreams. </p>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast, we find out about new research from a sleep lab in France that has unlocked a way to find out more by communicating with people as they dream. </p>
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<p>It’s hard to study people when they’re dreaming. While researchers can tell quite accurately when somebody is asleep using electrodes to sense their brain activity, there are no neural markers for dreams. That means you just have to ask someone about their dreams when they wake up. It’s impossible to know when they actually had the dream, or really what was going on, as they may have forgotten the details. </p>
<p>Dream researchers realised back in the 1980s that one special group of people could help open a window into the dream world: lucid dreamers. These people have the ability to realise that they’re dreaming and still remain asleep, and they can sometimes control what happens in their dreams. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pms.1981.52.3.727">Experiments with lucid dreamers showed that</a>, during REM sleep, they could move their eyes from side to side to indicate to researchers that they were having a dream. </p>
<p>Researcher Başak Türker and her colleagues at the Paris Brain Institute wanted to see if lucid dreamers could go one step further: to receive information and respond to it while they were dreaming. </p>
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<p>We thought maybe they would be also conscious of the environment in which they’re sleeping and maybe they would be able to receive information at the same time. </p>
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<p>They recruited a lucid dreamer from the institute’s sleep lab to do some experiments, and <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdfExtended/S0960-9822(21)00059-2">their theory worked</a>. He was able to communicate with them: he smiled when they asked if he liked chocolate, and frowned when they asked if he liked football. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-study-of-dreams-scientists-uncover-new-communication-channels-with-dreamers-220492">The study of dreams: Scientists uncover new communication channels with dreamers</a>
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<p>Then they went on to do further experiments with non-lucid dreamers to see if anybody can communicate with the waking world while they’re dreaming. And it turns out <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01449-7">that they can</a>. </p>
<p>To find out more about dream communication listen to an interview with Başak Türker, and Lionel Cavicchioli, health and medicine editor at The Conversation in France, on <a href="https://pod.link/1550643487">The Conversation Weekly</a> podcast. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/3073/Dream_Communication_Transcript.docx.pdf?1709027765">transcript of this episode</a> is now available.</p>
<p><em>This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Katie Flood, with assistance from Mend Mariwany. Gemma Ware is the show’s executive producer. Sound design was by Eloise Stevens, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Stephen Khan is our global executive editor, Alice Mason runs our social media and Soraya Nandy does our transcripts.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Başak Türker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dream researcher Başak Türker explains how she was able to communicate with people while they were dreaming. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.Gemma Ware, Editor and Co-Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2163282023-12-20T19:19:54Z2023-12-20T19:19:54ZDreaming may have evolved as a strategy for co-operative survival<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566059/original/file-20231215-21-wi7j11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C83%2C7000%2C3908&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A comparison of dreams shows they play out much differently across various socio-cultural environments.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/dreaming-may-have-evolved-as-a-strategy-for-co-operative-survival" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Have you ever woken from a dream, emotionally laden with anxiety, fear or a sense of unpreparedness? Typically, <a href="https://vividmaps.com/googled-dreams/">these kinds of dreams</a> are associated with content like losing one’s voice, teeth falling out or being chased by a threatening being. </p>
<p>But one question I’ve always been interested in is whether or not these kinds of dreams are experienced globally across many cultures. And if some features of dreaming are universal, could they have enhanced the likelihood of our ancestors surviving the evolutionary game of life? </p>
<p>My research focuses on <a href="https://davidrsamson.com/">the distinctive characteristics that make humans the most successful species on Earth</a>. I’ve explored the question of human uniqueness by comparing <em>Homo sapiens</em> with various animals, including chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, lemurs, wolves and dogs. Recently, I’ve been part of a team of collaborators that has focused our energies on working with small-scale societies known as hunter-gatherers.</p>
<p>We wanted to explore how the content and emotional function of dreams might vary across different cultural contexts. By comparing dreams from forager communities in Africa to those from western societies, we wanted to understand how cultural and environmental factors shape the way people dream.</p>
<h2>Comparative dream research</h2>
<p>As part of this research, published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43319-z"><em>Nature Scientific Reports</em></a>, my colleagues and I worked closely for several months with the BaYaka in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Hadza in Tanzania to record their dreams. For western dreamers, we recorded dream journals and detailed dream accounts, collected between 2014 and 2022, from people living in Switzerland, Belgium and Canada. </p>
<p>The Hadza of Tanzania and the BaYaka of Congo fill a crucial, underexplored gap for dream research due to their distinct lifestyle. Their egalitarian culture, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12284">emphasizing equality and co-operation</a>, is vital for survival, social cohesion and well-being. These forager communities rely heavily on supportive relationships and communal sharing of resources.</p>
<p>Higher mortality rates due to disease, intergroup conflict, and challenging physical environments in these communities (without the kind of social safety nets common to post-industrial societies in the West) means they rely on face-to-face relationships for survival in a way that is a distinct feature of forager life.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566061/original/file-20231215-19-5h9arg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a black and white photo of a group of men sitting" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566061/original/file-20231215-19-5h9arg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566061/original/file-20231215-19-5h9arg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566061/original/file-20231215-19-5h9arg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566061/original/file-20231215-19-5h9arg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566061/original/file-20231215-19-5h9arg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566061/original/file-20231215-19-5h9arg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566061/original/file-20231215-19-5h9arg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Hadza are an Indigenous community in Tanzania, and one of the last hunter-gatherer societies remaining.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Dreaming across cultures</h2>
<p>While studying these dreams, we began to notice a common theme. We’ve discovered that dreams play out much differently across different socio-cultural environments. We used a new software tool to map dream content that connects important psychosocial constructs and theories with words, phrases, and other linguistic constructions. That gave us an understanding about the kinds of dreams people were having. And we could model these statistically, to test scientific hypotheses as to the nature of dreams. </p>
<p>The dreams of the BaYaka and Hadza were rich in community-oriented content, reflecting the strong social bonds inherent in their societies. This was in stark contrast to the themes prevalent in dreams from western societies, where negative emotions and anxiety were more common. </p>
<p>Interestingly, while dreams from these forager communities often began with threats reflecting the real dangers they face daily, they frequently concluded with resolutions involving social support. This pattern suggests that dreams might play a crucial role in emotional regulation, transforming threats into manageable situations and reducing anxiety.</p>
<p>Here is an example of a Hadza dream laden with emotionally threatening content:</p>
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<p>“I dreamt I fell into a well that is near the Hukumako area by the Dtoga people. I was with two others and one of my friends helped me get out of the well.”</p>
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<p>Notice that the resolution to the dream challenges incorporated a social solution as an answer to the problem. Now contrast this to the nightmare disorder-diagnosed dreamers from Europe. They had scarier, open-ended narratives with less positive dream resolutions. Specifically, we found they had higher levels of dream content with negative emotions compared to the “normal” controls. Conversely, the Hadza exhibited significantly fewer negative emotions in their dreams. These are the kind of nightmares reported:</p>
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<p>“My mom would call me on my phone and ask me to put it on speakerphone so my sister and cousin could hear. Crying she announced to us that my little brother was dead. I was screaming in sadness and crying in pain.”</p>
<p>“I was with my boyfriend, our relationship was perfect and I felt completely fulfilled. Then he decided to abandon me, which awoke in me a deep feeling of despair and anguish.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566062/original/file-20231215-31-9eh6xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a man sleeping with his mouth open" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566062/original/file-20231215-31-9eh6xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566062/original/file-20231215-31-9eh6xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566062/original/file-20231215-31-9eh6xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566062/original/file-20231215-31-9eh6xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566062/original/file-20231215-31-9eh6xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566062/original/file-20231215-31-9eh6xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566062/original/file-20231215-31-9eh6xs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The dreams of people living in the West tended to reflect more anxiety.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>The functional role of dreams</h2>
<p>Dreams are wonderfully varied. But what if one of the keys to humanity’s success as a species rests in our dreams? What if something was happening in our dreams that improved the survival and reproductive efforts of our Paleolithic ancestors? </p>
<p>A curious note from my comparative work, of all the primates alive, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23427">humans sleep the least, but we have the most REM</a>. Why was REM — the state most often associated with dreams — so protected while evolution was whittling away our sleep? Perhaps something embedded in dreaming itself was prophylactic for our species?</p>
<p>Our research supports previous notions that dreams are not just random firings of a sleeping brain but <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/27784372">may play a functional role in our emotional well-being and social cognition</a>. They reflect the challenges and values of our waking life, offering insights into how we process emotions and threats. In forager societies, dreams often conclude with resolutions involving social support, suggesting that dreams might serve as a psychological mechanism for reinforcing social bonds and community values. </p>
<h2>Why dream?</h2>
<p>The ultimate purpose of dreaming is still a subject of ongoing research and debate. Yet these themes seem to harbour within them universals that hint at some crucial survival function. </p>
<p>Some theories suggest that dreaming <a href="http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-79">acts like a kind of virtual reality</a> that serves to simulate threatening or social situations, helping individuals prepare for real-life challenges. </p>
<p>If this is indeed the case, then it’s possible that the dreams of our ancestors, who roamed the world in the distant Paleolithic era, played a crucial role in enhancing the co-operation that contributed to their survival.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216328/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Samson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dreaming differs across cultures, and these differences may hold the clue to how and why dreaming evolved for humans and other species.David Samson, Associate Professor, Anthropology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074062023-09-26T02:03:09Z2023-09-26T02:03:09ZWhat do people think about when they go to sleep?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547143/original/file-20230908-27-efu6e7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C6%2C4585%2C3052&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’re lying in bed, trying to fall asleep but the racing thoughts won’t stop. Instead, your brain is busy making detailed plans for the next day, replaying embarrassing <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanhdlombard/video/7052464974324583681?q=sleep%20thoughts&t=1693536926124">moments</a> (“why did I say that?”), or producing seemingly random thoughts (“where is my birth certificate?”). </p>
<p>Many social media users have shared <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@komasawn/video/7267320333613419818">videos</a> on how to fall asleep faster by <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@lilslvrtt/video/7225272823562997000">conjuring</a> up “<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ekai.is.okay/video/7169530076143439131?q=fake%20scenario%20fall%20asleep&t=1693537172625">fake scenarios</a>”, such as a romance storyline where you’re the main character.</p>
<p>But what does the research say? Does what we think about before bed influence how we sleep?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-i-stop-my-mind-racing-and-get-some-sleep-207904">How do I stop my mind racing and get some sleep?</a>
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<h2>How you think in bed affects how you sleep</h2>
<p>It turns out people who sleep well and those who sleep poorly have different kinds of thoughts before bed.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1087079219302217">Good sleepers report</a> experiencing mostly visual sensory images as they drift to sleep – seeing people and objects, and having dream-like experiences.</p>
<p>They may have less ordered thoughts and more hallucinatory experiences, such as imagining you’re participating in events in the real world.</p>
<p>For people with insomnia, pre-sleep thoughts tend to be less visual and more focused on planning and problem-solving. These thoughts are also generally more unpleasant and less random than those of good sleepers.</p>
<p>People with insomnia are also more likely to stress about sleep as they’re <em>trying</em> to sleep, leading to a vicious cycle; putting effort into sleep actually wakes you up more.</p>
<p>People with insomnia often <a href="https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1348/014466500163284">report</a> worrying, planning, or thinking about important things at bedtime, or focusing on problems or noises in the environment and having a general preoccupation with not sleeping. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, all this pre-sleep mental activity can prevent you drifting off.</p>
<p>One <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/27/1/69/2707948">study</a> found even people who are normally good sleepers can have sleep problems if they’re stressed about something at bedtime (such as the prospect of having to give a speech when they wake up). Even <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17884278/">moderate levels of stress at bedtime</a> could affect sleep that night. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/full/10.5664/jcsm.6704">study</a> of 400 young adults looked at how binge viewing might affect sleep. The researchers found higher levels of binge viewing were associated with poorer sleep quality, more fatigue, and increased insomnia symptoms. “Cognitive arousal”, or mental activation, caused by an interesting narrative and identifying with characters, could play a role.</p>
<p>The good news is there are techniques you can use to change the style and content of your pre-sleep thoughts. They could help reduce nighttime cognitive arousal or to replace unwanted thoughts with more pleasant ones. These techniques are called “cognitive refocusing”.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547144/original/file-20230908-21-efu6e7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman lies in bed trying to sleep." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547144/original/file-20230908-21-efu6e7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547144/original/file-20230908-21-efu6e7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547144/original/file-20230908-21-efu6e7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547144/original/file-20230908-21-efu6e7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547144/original/file-20230908-21-efu6e7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547144/original/file-20230908-21-efu6e7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547144/original/file-20230908-21-efu6e7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">For people with insomnia, pre-sleep thoughts tend to be less visual and more focused on planning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>What is cognitive refocusing?</h2>
<p>Cognitive refocusing, developed by US psychology researcher <a href="https://artsandsciences.syracuse.edu/people/faculty/gellis-phd-les-a/">Les Gellis</a>, involves distracting yourself with pleasant thoughts before bed. It’s like the “fake scenarios” social media users post about – but the trick is to think of a scenario that’s not <em>too</em> interesting.</p>
<p>Decide <em>before</em> you go to bed what you’ll focus on as you lie there waiting for sleep to come.</p>
<p>Pick an engaging cognitive task with enough scope and breadth to maintain your interest and attention – without causing emotional or physical arousal. So, nothing too scary, thrilling or stressful.</p>
<p>For example, if you like interior decorating, you might imagine redesigning a room in your house.</p>
<p>If you’re a football fan, you might mentally replay a passage of play or imagine a game plan. </p>
<p>A music fan might mentally recite lyrics from their favourite album. A knitter might imagine knitting a blanket.</p>
<p>Whatever you choose, make sure it’s suited to you and your interests. The task needs to feel pleasant, without being overstimulating.</p>
<p>Cognitive refocusing is not a silver bullet, but it can help.</p>
<p>One <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2022.2109031">study</a> of people with insomnia found those who tried cognitive refocusing had significant improvements in insomnia symptoms compared to a control group.</p>
<h2>How ancient wisdom can help us sleep</h2>
<p>Another age-old technique is mindfulness meditation. </p>
<p>Meditation practice can increase our self-awareness and make us more aware of our thoughts. This can be useful for helping with rumination; often when we try to block or stop thoughts, it can make matters worse.</p>
<p>Mindfulness training can help us recognise when we’re getting into a rumination spiral and allow us to sit back, almost like a passive observer.</p>
<p>Try just watching the thoughts, without judgement. You might even like to say “hello” to your thoughts and just let them come and go. Allow them to be there and see them for what they are: just thoughts, nothing more.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01714-5">Research from our group</a> has shown mindfulness-based therapies can help people with insomnia. It may also help people with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-022-01370-z">psychiatric conditions</a> such as bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia get more sleep.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547147/original/file-20230908-29-jalfwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman lies in bed with an eye mask on." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547147/original/file-20230908-29-jalfwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547147/original/file-20230908-29-jalfwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547147/original/file-20230908-29-jalfwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547147/original/file-20230908-29-jalfwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547147/original/file-20230908-29-jalfwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547147/original/file-20230908-29-jalfwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547147/original/file-20230908-29-jalfwt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Try just watching your thoughts, without judgement, as you lie in bed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What can help ease your pre-sleep thoughts?</h2>
<p>Good sleep starts the moment you wake up. To give yourself your best shot at a good night’s sleep, start by getting up at the same time each day and getting some morning light exposure (regardless of how much sleep you had the night before).</p>
<p>Have a consistent bedtime, reduce technology use in the evening, and do regular exercise during the day.</p>
<p>If your mind is busy at bedtime, try cognitive refocusing. Pick a “fake scenario” that will hold your attention but not be too scary or exciting. Rehearse this scenario in your mind at bedtime and enjoy the experience.</p>
<p>You might also like to try: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>keeping a consistent bedtime routine, so your brain can wind down</p></li>
<li><p>writing down worries earlier in the day (so you don’t think about them at bedtime)</p></li>
<li><p>adopting a more self-compassionate mindset (don’t beat yourself up at bedtime over your imagined shortcomings!).</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-wake-around-3am-and-dwell-on-our-fears-and-shortcomings-169635">Why do we wake around 3am and dwell on our fears and shortcomings?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207406/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melinda Jackson receives funding from NHMRC, Brain Foundation and Dementia Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hailey Meaklim is the founder of My Better Sleep. </span></em></p>It turns out people who sleep well and those who sleep poorly have different kinds of thoughts before bed.Melinda Jackson, Associate Professor at Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash UniversityHailey Meaklim, Sleep Psychologist and Researcher, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109012023-09-08T01:11:58Z2023-09-08T01:11:58ZThe science of dreams and nightmares – what is going on in our brains while we’re sleeping?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545455/original/file-20230830-27-ozyppi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C5946%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-a-woman-sleeping-near-fluffy-clouds-8264248/">Pexel/Ron Lach</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last night you probably slept for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352721816301292">seven to eight hours</a>. About one or two of these was likely in deep sleep, especially if you’re young or physically active. That’s because <a href="http://apsychoserver.psych.arizona.edu/jjbareprints/psyc501a/readings/Carskadon%20Dement%202011.pdf">sleep changes with age</a> and <a href="https://www.hindawi.com/journals/apm/2017/1364387/">exercise</a> affects brain activity. About three or four hours will have been spent in light sleep. </p>
<p>For the remaining time, you were likely in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. While this is not the only time your brain is potentially dreaming – we also dream during other sleep stages – it is the time your brain activity is most likely to be recalled and reported when you’re awake. </p>
<p>That’s usually because either really weird thoughts or feelings wake you up or because the last hour of sleep is nearly all <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Elizaveta-Solomonova/publication/320356182_Dream_Recall_and_Content_in_Different_Stages_of_Sleep_and_Time-of-Night_Effect/links/5a707bdb0f7e9ba2e1cade56/Dream-Recall-and-Content-in-Different-Stages-of-Sleep-and-Time-of-Night-Effect.pdf">REM sleep</a>. When dreams or your alarm wake you, you’re likely coming out of dream sleep and your dream often lingers into the first few minutes of being awake. In this case you remember it.</p>
<p>If they’re strange or interesting dreams, you might tell someone else about them, which may further <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00426-022-01722-7">encode</a> the dream memory.</p>
<p>Dreams and nightmares are mysterious and we’re still learning about them. They keep our brains ticking over. They wash the thoughts from the day’s events at a molecular level. They might even help us imagine what’s possible during our waking hours. </p>
<h2>What do scientists know about REM sleep and dreaming?</h2>
<p>It’s really hard to study dreaming because people are asleep and we can’t observe what’s going on. Brain imaging has indicated certain <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1087079216300673#sec3">patterns of brain activity</a> are associated with dreaming (and with certain sleep stages where dreams are more likely to occur). But such studies ultimately rely on self-reports of the dream experience. </p>
<p>Anything we spend so much time doing probably serves multiple ends. </p>
<p>At the basic physiological level (indicated by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810021001409">brain activity, sleep behaviour and studies of conciousness</a>), all mammals dream – even the platypus and echidna probably experience something similar to dreaming (provided they are at the <a href="https://www.wired.com/2014/07/the-creature-feature-10-fun-facts-about-the-echidna/#:%7E:text=It%20was%20long%20thought%20that,re%20at%20the%20right%20temperature.">right temperature</a>). Their brain activity and sleep stages align to some degree with human <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810021001409#b0630">REM sleep</a>. </p>
<p>Less evolved species do not. Some <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468867319301993#sec0030">jellyfish</a> – who do not have a brain – do experience what could physiologically be characterised as sleep (shown by their posture, quietness, lack of responsiveness and rapid “waking” when prompted). But they do not experience the same physiological and behavioural elements that resemble REM dream sleep. </p>
<p>In humans, REM sleep is thought to occur cyclically every 90 to 120 minutes across the night. It prevents us from sleeping too deeply and being <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4972941/">vulnerable to attack</a>. Some scientists think we dream in order to stop our brains and bodies from getting too cold. Our core body temperature is typically <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(22)00210-1/fulltext">higher while dreaming</a>. It is typically easier to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2147/NSS.S188911">wake from dreaming</a> if we need to respond to external cues or dangers. </p>
<p>The brain activity in REM sleep kicks our brain into gear for a bit. It’s like a periscope into a more conscious state, observing what’s going on at the surface, then going back down if all is well. </p>
<p>Some evidence suggests “fever dreams” are far less common than we might expect. We actually experience <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00053/full">far less REM sleep</a> when we have a fever – though the dreams we do have tend to be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3830719/">darker in tone and more unusual</a>. </p>
<p>Spending less time in REM sleep when we’re feverish might happen because we are far less capable of regulating our body temperature in this stage of sleep. To protect us, our brain tries to regulate our temperature by “skipping” this sleep stage. We tend to have fewer dreams when the weather is hot <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23744731.2020.1756664">for the same reason</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545459/original/file-20230830-17-n6ash3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="bed in pink landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545459/original/file-20230830-17-n6ash3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545459/original/file-20230830-17-n6ash3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545459/original/file-20230830-17-n6ash3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545459/original/file-20230830-17-n6ash3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545459/original/file-20230830-17-n6ash3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545459/original/file-20230830-17-n6ash3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545459/original/file-20230830-17-n6ash3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dreams are when our brain washes itself clean.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/bed-on-colorful-flowers-on-cape-10079452/">Pexels/Mo Eid</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A deep-cleaning system for the brain</h2>
<p>REM sleep is important for ensuring our brain is working as it should, as indicated by studies using <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(17)31329-5.pdf">electoencephalography</a>, which measures brain activity. </p>
<p>In the same way deep sleep helps the body restore its physical capacity, dream sleep “<a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(17)31329-5.pdf">back-flushes</a>” our neural circuits. At the molecular level, the chemicals that underpin our thinking are bent out of shape by the day’s cognitive activity. Deep sleep is when those chemicals are returned to their unused shape. The brain is “<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1241224">washed</a>” with cerebrospinal fluid, controlled by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-your-back-side-face-down-mice-show-how-we-sleep-may-trigger-or-protect-our-brain-from-diseases-like-als-181954">glymphatic system</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/on-your-back-side-face-down-mice-show-how-we-sleep-may-trigger-or-protect-our-brain-from-diseases-like-als-181954">On your back? Side? Face-down? Mice show how we sleep may trigger or protect our brain from diseases like ALS</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>At the next level, dream sleep “tidies up” our recent memories and feelings. During <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC534695/">REM sleep</a>, our brains consolidate procedural memories (of how to do tasks) and emotions. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC534695/">Non-REM sleep</a>, where we typically expect fewer dreams, is important for the consolidation of episodic memories (events from your life). </p>
<p>As our night’s sleep progresses, we produce more cortisol - the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-01907-021">stress hormone</a>. It is thought the amount of cortisol present can impact the type of memories we are consolidating and potentially the types of dreams we have. This means the dreams we have later in the night may be <a href="https://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/11/6/671.full.pdf">more fragmented or bizarre</a>. </p>
<p>Both kinds of sleep help <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jb-Eichenlaub/publication/313545620_Daily_Life_Experiences_in_Dreams_and_Sleep-Dependent_Memory_Consolidation/links/5c532b0ba6fdccd6b5d76270/Daily-Life-Experiences-in-Dreams-and-Sleep-Dependent-Memory-Consolidation.pdf?ref=nepopularna.org">consolidate</a> the useful brain activity of the day. The brain also discards less important information. </p>
<h2>Random thoughts, rearranged feelings</h2>
<p>This filing and discarding of the day’s activities is going on while we are sleeping. That’s why we often dream about things that happen <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0264574">during the day</a>. </p>
<p>Sometimes when we’re rearranging the thoughts and feelings to go in the “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3921176/">bin</a>” during sleep, our level of consciousness allows us to experience awareness. Random thoughts and feelings end up all jumbled together in weird and wonderful ways. Our awareness of this process may explain the bizarre nature of some of our dreams. Our daytime experiences can also fuel nightmares or anxiety-filled dreams after a <a href="https://www.sleepfoundation.org/dreams/how-trauma-can-affect-dreams">traumatic event</a>.</p>
<p>Some dreams appear to <a href="https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2010.01668.x">foretell the future or carry potent symbolism</a>. In many societies dreams are believed to be a window into an <a href="https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=ijts-transpersonalstudies">alternate reality</a> where we can envisage what is possible.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545460/original/file-20230830-29-3jrotm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545460/original/file-20230830-29-3jrotm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545460/original/file-20230830-29-3jrotm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545460/original/file-20230830-29-3jrotm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545460/original/file-20230830-29-3jrotm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545460/original/file-20230830-29-3jrotm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545460/original/file-20230830-29-3jrotm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545460/original/file-20230830-29-3jrotm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Memories can be cemented by and fuel dreams and nightmares.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/assorted-photos-on-table-1989747/">Pexels/Suzy Hazelwood</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sleeping-on-it-helps-you-better-manage-your-emotions-and-mental-health-heres-why-179156">‘Sleeping on it’ helps you better manage your emotions and mental health – here’s why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does it all mean?</h2>
<p>Our scientific understanding of the thermoregulatory, molecular and basic neural aspects of dreaming sleep is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn2716">good</a>. But the psychological and spiritual aspects of dreaming remain largely hidden. </p>
<p>Perhaps our brains are wired to try and make sense of things. Human societies have always interpreted the random – birds wheeling, tea leaves and the planets – and looked for <a href="https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789047407966/B9789047407966-s003.xml">meaning</a>. Nearly every human society has regarded dreams as more than just random neural firing. </p>
<p>And the history of science tells us some things once thought to be magic can later be understood and harnessed – for better or worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dreams keep our brains ticking over. They wash the thoughts from the day’s events at a molecular level. They might even help us imagine what’s possible during our waking hours.Drew Dawson, Director, Appleton Institute, CQUniversity AustraliaMadeline Sprajcer, Lecturer in Psychology, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1902822023-05-31T09:48:29Z2023-05-31T09:48:29ZTechnology is radically changing sleep as we know it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527283/original/file-20230519-25-h1921w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C66%2C8844%2C4707&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ai-artificial-intelligence-concept-deep-learning-1734250598">metamorworks/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From sleep trackers to <a href="https://go.drugbank.com/categories/DBCAT001105">wakefulness drugs</a>, the 21st century has seen an influx of new technology that could radically alter the way we sleep. </p>
<p>Many of these new technologies chase the dream of optimised slumber. They promise to help tailor our sleep schedules to fit around our social lives, help us sleep for longer or even skip a night’s sleep altogether. </p>
<p>Here’s how technology is permeating our sleep, and what the future holds. </p>
<h2>Time to wake up</h2>
<p>Sleeping pills have recently been joined by a wave of wakefulness drugs, purportedly safer and more powerful alternatives to caffeine. It seems that they work best on people who are already sleep deprived and don’t have a huge effect on those who are already well rested. </p>
<p>Modafinil is touted for its <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2015-08-20-review-%E2%80%98smart-drug%E2%80%99-shows-modafinil-does-enhance-cognition">cognition enhancing effects</a> (especially in sleep-deprived people) and can supposedly keep people awake and alert for several days at a time. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2010.04.002">Some scientific studies</a> are showing that this may indeed be the case, although results are mixed, with other research showing the effects are similar to caffeine. </p>
<p>The drug was developed to help people with narcolepsy but some have started using it for its focus-enhancing effects. It is a controlled drug (prescription only) in most countries. People who use it for cognitive enhancement or wakefulness are buying it on the black market or getting it from friends who have a prescription.</p>
<p>Modafinil is popular with students – in 2020, Loughborough University researchers found that, of 506 students surveyed at 54 UK universities, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341139217_Working_smart_the_use_of_%27cognitive_enhancers%27_by_UK_university_students">19% had taken cognitive enhancement substances</a>. </p>
<p>But people who take them for non-medical purposes are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2019.1618025">risking their health</a>. Studies of the safety of these drugs do not consider this type of use. We don’t know what using these drugs to stay awake for long periods of time does to people’s bodies. But we do know that disrupting your sleep pattern (for example, shift work) is <a href="https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/shift-work">linked to health problems</a> such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.</p>
<p>Recent studies suggest some people are combining sleep and wakefulness pills to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2018.1555231">manage their body rhythms</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2019.1585760">optimise their sleep</a> or unwind after a day of hard work. The effects of taking wakefulness pills with other drugs is largely unknown. </p>
<p>In the UK sale or supply of a prescription-only or unlicensed medicine is a criminal offence. Whereas in the US, even possession of stimulants without a prescription is a crime.</p>
<h2>Smart sleep</h2>
<p>Many people already use smart watches, smart jewellery and fitness bands to track their sleep – for example, alarms that wake people up at the optimal point in their sleep cycle and motion sensor apps <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsr.12270">that analyse sleep patterns</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Adult reaches for smart phone with lit screen on bedside table" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527284/original/file-20230519-17-wnyj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527284/original/file-20230519-17-wnyj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527284/original/file-20230519-17-wnyj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527284/original/file-20230519-17-wnyj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527284/original/file-20230519-17-wnyj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527284/original/file-20230519-17-wnyj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527284/original/file-20230519-17-wnyj1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Technology is disrupting our sleep.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-sleeping-her-bed-receiving-phone-2116032359">Stokkete/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>New ways of tracking sleep could soon include donning a <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2198157-smart-pyjamas-could-detect-why-youre-not-sleeping-well/">pair of pyjamas</a> embedded with sensors to track changes in posture, respiratory and heart rate, or hugging a robot pillow, whose algorithm creates a breathing pattern to mimic and help you fall asleep.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, care robots have already been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101318">trialled</a> in Japan to test whether they could help older people sleep better. Designed to watch over residents at night in care homes, they give staff information on how well the residents are sleeping and let them know if anyone goes for a nocturnal wander.</p>
<h2>In your dreams</h2>
<p>Dream management technologies are in much earlier stages of development. <a href="https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/dream-engineering-simulating-worlds-through-sensory-stimulation/">Scientists believe</a> that sensory stimulation technologies and devices, such as virtual reality visors, could be used for sleep engineering. This <a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/explore/research-units/neuroscience-and-psychology-of-sleep-lab-naps">new science </a> involves exposing the sleeper to sensory stimuli, such as clicking sounds and vibrations, at specific times in the sleep cycle. The aim would be to improve sleep quality, enhance memory and even treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). </p>
<p>As for the prospects of “reading” our dreams, progress is being made on this front too. Scientists have taken the first steps towards <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1234330">dream interpretation</a> by measuring brain activity during sleep and using AI to decode visual imagery. Participants in a 2013 study were asked to report the imagery from the dreams after sleeping inside an MRI scanner. Researchers compared scans from people viewing the same types of images while awake and the results showed matching patterns of brain activity. </p>
<h2>Nightmare technology</h2>
<p>But there is a dystopian side to this story. The technology we already have – electric light, smart phones, streaming services – can be disastrous for our sleep. </p>
<p>For example, a recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1499655">study</a> in the US found that college students often sleep with their mobile phone in bed with them, which means a call, software update or app notification can disturb them. Watching TV or playing video games in bed and staring at our tablets and mobile phone screens into the night <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.037">has become the norm for many</a>. It can lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2013.09.007">poor sleep</a> and knock our sleep cycles off kilter.</p>
<p>Growing numbers of people are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5263088/">seeking treatments</a> for new sleep conditions such as <a href="https://www.sleepfoundation.org/orthosomnia#:%7E:text=Orthosomnia%20is%20the%20proposed%20term,disorders%20from%20sleep%20tracker%20data.">orthosomnia</a> – the obsessive quest for perfect sleep, similar to an unhealthy preoccupation with nutrition. Some people become so concerned about improving their sleep metrics that it is actually <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9875581/">giving them insomnia</a>. </p>
<p>There’s still so much we don’t know about sleep, and new technology is changing our sleep faster than scientists can keep up with. One thing seems almost for sure: sleep and technology in western society are becoming entangled like never before.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190282/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Wakefulness drugs like Modafinil point to a new frontier of technosleep driven by personal goals rather than medical need.Catherine Coveney, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Loughborough UniversityEric L Hsu, Lecturer in Sociology, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2015272023-05-26T12:26:57Z2023-05-26T12:26:57ZA little-understood sleep disorder affects millions and has clear links to dementia – 4 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527576/original/file-20230522-6205-s3h5qy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5103%2C3410&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Past age 50, men are much more likely to have REM sleep behavior disorder than women.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/caucasian-man-sleeping-royalty-free-image/92305206?phrase=50+year+old+sleeping&adppopup=true">Jose Luis Pelaez/Stone via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A little-known and poorly understood sleep disorder that occurs during the rapid eye movement, or REM, <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/rem-sleep">stage of sleep</a> <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/acting-out-dreams-predicts-parkinsons-and-other-brain-diseases/">has been garnering attention</a> for its role in foreshadowing neurodegenerative brain diseases such as <a href="https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/parkinsons-disease#">Parkinson’s disease</a> and <a href="https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia/dementia-with-lewy-bodies">dementia with Lewy bodies</a>. The disorder, known as <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24465-rem-sleep-behavior-disorder-rbd#">REM sleep behavior disorder</a>, or RBD in the medical field, affects around 1% of the general population worldwide and <a href="https://www.uptodate.com/contents/rapid-eye-movement-sleep-behavior-disorder/print">about 2% of adults over 65</a>.</em> </p>
<p><em>The Conversation talked with <a href="https://uvahealth.com/findadoctor/Anelyssa-D%27Abreu-1891243507">Anelyssa D'Abreu</a>, a neurologist who specializes in geriatric neurology, to explain what researchers know about the condition’s links to dementia.</em></p>
<h2>1. What is REM sleep behavior disorder?</h2>
<p>Every night, you go through four to five sleep cycles. Each cycle, lasting about 90 to 110 minutes, has four stages. That fourth stage is REM sleep. </p>
<p>REM sleep only comprises <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526132/#">20% to 25% of total sleep</a>, but its proportion increases throughout the night. During REM sleep, your brain rhythms are similar to when you are awake, your muscles lose tone so you are unable to move, and your eyes, while closed, move quickly. This stage is often accompanied by muscle twitches and fluctuations in your respiratory rate and blood pressure.</p>
<p>But someone with REM sleep behavior disorder will act out their dreams. For reasons that are poorly understood, the dream content is usually violent – patients report being chased, or defending themselves, and as they sleep they shout, moan, scream, kick, punch and thrash about. </p>
<p>Injuries often result from these incidents; patients may fall from bed or accidentally harm a partner. Some 60% of patients and 20% of bed partners of people with this disorder <a href="https://www.uptodate.com/contents/rapid-eye-movement-sleep-behavior-disorder/print">sustain an injury</a> during sleep. </p>
<p>Appropriate testing, including <a href="https://sleepeducation.org/patients/sleep-study/">a sleep study</a>, are needed to determine if a patient has REM sleep behavior disorder, as opposed to another disorder, such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459252/#">obstructive sleep apnea</a>. This is a disorder in which breathing is interrupted during sleep. </p>
<p>REM sleep behavior disorder can occur at any age, but symptoms usually start with people in their 40s and 50s. For those younger than 40, antidepressants are the most common cause of REM sleep behavior disorder; in these younger patients, it affects biological males and females about equally, but past age 50, it’s more common in biological males.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2nc8jUOQA1c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">If you suspect you have REM sleep behavior disorder, see a sleep specialist or neurologist.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. What causes REM sleep behavior disorder?</h2>
<p>The disease mechanism is not well understood. In some cases of REM sleep behavior disorder, a clear cause cannot be identified. In other cases, the disorder may be caused by something specific, such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459252/#">obstructive sleep apnea</a>, <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcolepsy/symptoms-causes/syc-20375497#">narcolepsy</a>, psychiatric disorders, use of antidepressants, autoimmune disorders and brain lesions, which are areas of damaged brain tissue.</p>
<p>In both situations, REM sleep behavior disorder <a href="https://molecularneurodegeneration.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13024-021-00501-z#">may be associated with synucleinopathies</a>, a group of neurodegenerative disorders in which aggregates of the protein α-synuclein accumulate in brain cells. The most common of these neurodegenerative disorders is Parkinson’s disease. Others are <a href="https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia/dementia-with-lewy-bodies">dementia with Lewy bodies</a>, <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/disorders/multiple-system-atrophy">multiple system atrophy</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.mayocp.2019.03.009">pure autonomic failure</a>. REM sleep behavior disorder may precede these diseases or occur at any time during the disease process. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kqaxHBx9Zsk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">People with REM sleep behavior disorder can injure themselves – and their bed partners.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. What are the links between the sleep disorder and dementia?</h2>
<p>REM sleep behavior disorder may be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2020.104996">the first symptom of Parkinson’s disease or dementia with Lewy bodies</a>. It is observed in 25% to 58% of patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s, 70% to 80% of patients with dementia with Lewy bodies and 90% to 100% of those with <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/multiple-system-atrophy/#">multiple system atrophy</a>.</p>
<p>In a long-term study of 1,280 patients with REM sleep behavior disorder who didn’t have <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22815-parkinsonism#">parkinsonism</a> – an umbrella term that refers to brain conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, that cause slowed movements, stiffness and tremors – or dementia, researchers followed participants to find out how many would develop these disorders. After 12 years, 73.5% of those with REM sleep behavior disorder had developed a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awz030">related neurodegenerative disorder</a>.</p>
<p>Some of the factors that independently increased the risk of developing a neurodegenerative disorder were the presence of irregular motor symptoms, abnormal dopamine levels, loss of sense of smell, cognitive impairment, abnormal color vision, erectile dysfunction, constipation and older age.</p>
<p>REM sleep behavior disorder may also be observed in other neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease, but at much lower rates. The association is also not as strong as that observed in the synucleinopathies.</p>
<h2>4. Does an early diagnosis help?</h2>
<p>For most neurodegenerative disorders, there is a phase that may last for decades in which brain changes are taking place but the patient either remains asymptomatic or develops symptoms without the full expression of the disease. RBD, in that scenario, is an early sign of those disorders. This provides an opportunity to study how the disease progresses in the brain and to develop therapies that could either slow this process or prevent it from happening. </p>
<p>At this time, there are no approved therapies to prevent the onset of these neurodegenerative diseases in those with REM sleep behavior disorder. There are, however, medications such as melatonin and clonazepam that may improve the symptoms. We also recommend measures to avoid injury, such as removing breakable objects from the room, protecting windows and padding floors. </p>
<p>Patients who are affected by REM sleep behavior disorder may choose to participate in research. Proper treatment of the disease can help prevent injury and improve quality of life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201527/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anelyssa D'Abreu receives funding from ARDRAF </span></em></p>REM sleep behavior disorder is characterized by acting out dreams, which may include shouting, kicking and punching during sleep.Anelyssa D'Abreu, Associate Professor of Neurology, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908702023-02-23T13:15:04Z2023-02-23T13:15:04ZImagination makes us human – this unique ability to envision what doesn’t exist has a long evolutionary history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510729/original/file-20230216-24-yo82dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=102%2C53%2C3346%2C2522&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Your brain can imagine things that haven't happened or that don't even exist.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/constellation-of-you-royalty-free-image/487364203">agsandrew/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You can easily picture yourself riding a bicycle across the sky even though that’s not something that can actually happen. You can envision yourself doing something you’ve never done before – like water skiing – and maybe even imagine a better way to do it than anyone else.</p>
<p>Imagination involves creating a mental image of something that is not present for your senses to detect, or even something that isn’t out there in reality somewhere. Imagination is one of the key abilities that make us human. But where did it come from?</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Ury0hsMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I’m a neuroscientist</a> who studies how children acquire imagination. I’m especially interested in the neurological mechanisms of imagination. Once we identify what brain structures and connections are necessary to mentally construct new objects and scenes, scientists like me can look back over the course of evolution to see when these brain areas emerged – and potentially gave birth to the first kinds of imagination.</p>
<h2>From bacteria to mammals</h2>
<p>After <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1436-4">life emerged on Earth</a> around 3.4 billion years ago, organisms gradually became more complex. Around 700 million years ago, neurons organized into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.110692">simple neural nets</a> that then <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.874803">evolved into the brain and spinal cord</a> around 525 million years ago.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510737/original/file-20230216-20-wy383x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Velociraptor chasing a furry critter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510737/original/file-20230216-20-wy383x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510737/original/file-20230216-20-wy383x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510737/original/file-20230216-20-wy383x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510737/original/file-20230216-20-wy383x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510737/original/file-20230216-20-wy383x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510737/original/file-20230216-20-wy383x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510737/original/file-20230216-20-wy383x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It was to mammals’ advantage to hide out while cold-blooded dinosaurs hunted during the day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/velociraptor-chasing-a-rat-sized-mammal-royalty-free-illustration/168839736">Daniel Eskridge/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00094.x">Eventually dinosaurs evolved around 240 million</a> years ago, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04963-z">mammals emerging a few million years later</a>. While they shared the landscape, dinosaurs were very good at catching and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2022.2144337">eating small, furry mammals</a>. Dinosaurs were cold-blooded, though, and, like modern cold-blooded reptiles, could only move and hunt effectively <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1253143">during the daytime when it was warm</a>. To avoid predation by dinosaurs, mammals stumbled upon a solution: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2014.05.016">hide underground during the daytime</a>.</p>
<p>Not much food, though, grows underground. To eat, mammals had to travel above the ground – but the safest time to forage was at night, when dinosaurs were less of a threat. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04963-z">Evolving to be warm-blooded</a> meant mammals could move at night. That solution came with a trade-off, though: Mammals had to eat a lot more food than dinosaurs per unit of weight <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12280">in order to maintain their high metabolism</a> and to support their constant inner body temperature around 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius).</p>
<p>Our mammalian ancestors had to find <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1061967">10 times more food</a> during their short waking time, and they had to find it in the dark of night. How did they accomplish this task?</p>
<p>To optimize their foraging, mammals developed a new system to efficiently memorize places where they’d found food: linking the part of the brain that records sensory aspects of the landscape – how a place looks or smells – to the part of the brain that controls navigation. They encoded features of the landscape in the neocortex, the outermost layer of the brain. They encoded navigation in the entorhinal cortex. And the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0189-y">whole system was interconnected</a> by the brain structure called the hippocampus. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.20205">Humans still use this memory system</a> for remembering objects and past events, such as your car and where you parked it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510740/original/file-20230216-14-qjt96p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two bits of human brain are highlighted, one on each side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510740/original/file-20230216-14-qjt96p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510740/original/file-20230216-14-qjt96p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510740/original/file-20230216-14-qjt96p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510740/original/file-20230216-14-qjt96p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510740/original/file-20230216-14-qjt96p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510740/original/file-20230216-14-qjt96p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510740/original/file-20230216-14-qjt96p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An interior brain structure called the hippocampus helps synthesize different kinds of information to create memories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/hippocampus-of-the-brain-illustration-royalty-free-illustration/1220616079">Sebastian Kaulitzki/Science Photo Library via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2020.03.014">Groups of neurons</a> in the neocortex encode these memories of objects and past events. Remembering a thing or an episode <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017937">reactivates the same neurons</a> that initially encoded it. All mammals likely can recall and re-experience previously encoded objects and events by reactivating these groups of neurons. This neocortex-hippocampus-based memory system that evolved 200 million years ago became the first key step toward imagination. </p>
<p>The next building block is the capability to construct a “memory” that hasn’t really happened.</p>
<h2>Involuntary made-up ‘memories’</h2>
<p>The simplest form of imagining new objects and scenes happens in dreams. These vivid, bizarre involuntary fantasies are associated in people with the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep.</p>
<p>Scientists hypothesize that species whose rest includes periods of REM sleep <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2716">also experience dreams</a>. Marsupial and placental mammals do have REM sleep, but the egg-laying mammal the echidna does not, suggesting that this stage of the sleep cycle <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/317118257">evolved after these evolutionary lines diverged</a> 140 million years ago. In fact, recording from specialized neurons in the brain called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.31.061307.090723">place cells</a> demonstrated that animals can “dream” of going <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06063">places they’ve never visited before</a>.</p>
<p>In humans, solutions found during dreaming can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02223">help solve problems</a>. There are numerous examples of scientific and engineering solutions spontaneously visualized during sleep.</p>
<p>The neuroscientist Otto Loewi dreamed of an experiment that proved nerve impulses are <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1936/loewi/facts/">transmitted chemically</a>. He immediately went to his lab to perform the experiment – later receiving the Nobel Prize for this discovery.</p>
<p>Elias Howe, the inventor of the first sewing machine, claimed that the main innovation, placing the thread hole near the tip of the needle, <a href="https://dreamsocial.co/famous-dreams-sewing-machine/">came to him in a dream</a>. </p>
<p>Dmitri Mendeleev described seeing in a dream “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35046170">a table where all the elements fell into place as required</a>. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper.” And that was the periodic table.</p>
<p>These discoveries were enabled by the same mechanism of involuntary imagination first acquired by mammals 140 million years ago.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510741/original/file-20230216-14-qmauaf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="young professionals looking at glass wall with post-it notes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510741/original/file-20230216-14-qmauaf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510741/original/file-20230216-14-qmauaf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510741/original/file-20230216-14-qmauaf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510741/original/file-20230216-14-qmauaf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510741/original/file-20230216-14-qmauaf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510741/original/file-20230216-14-qmauaf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510741/original/file-20230216-14-qmauaf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Intentionally brainstorming ideas depends on being able to control your imagination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/diverse-businesspeople-smiling-while-having-a-royalty-free-image/1453986826">Goodboy Picture Company/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Imagining on purpose</h2>
<p>The difference between voluntary imagination and involuntary imagination is analogous to the difference between voluntary muscle control and muscle spasm. Voluntary muscle control allows people to deliberately combine muscle movements. Spasm occurs spontaneously and cannot be controlled.</p>
<p>Similarly, voluntary imagination allows people to deliberately combine thoughts. When asked to mentally combine two identical right triangles along their long edges, or hypotenuses, you envision a square. When asked to mentally cut a round pizza by two perpendicular lines, you visualize four identical slices.</p>
<p>This deliberate, responsive and reliable capacity to combine and recombine mental objects is called prefrontal synthesis. It relies on the ability of the prefrontal cortex located at the very front of the brain to control the rest of the neocortex.</p>
<p>When did our species acquire the ability of prefrontal synthesis? Every artifact dated before 70,000 years ago could have been made by a creator who lacked this ability. On the other hand, starting about that time there are various archeological artifacts unambiguously indicating its presence: composite figurative objects, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/425007a">lion-man</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2007.11.006">bone needles with an eye</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.04.001">bows and arrows</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.03.003">musical instruments</a>; <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/gea.20163">constructed dwellings</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0392192107077649">adorned burials suggesting the beliefs in afterlife</a>, and many more. </p>
<p>Multiple types of archaeological artifacts unambiguously associated with prefrontal synthesis appear simultaneously around 65,000 years ago in multiple geographical locations. This abrupt change in imagination has been characterized by historian Yuval Harari as the “<a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/437186/sapiens-by-yuval-noah-harari/9781784873646">cognitive revolution</a>.” Notably, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2009.05.001">it approximately coincides with</a> the largest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/375120"><em>Homo sapiens</em>‘ migration out of Africa</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.1473">Genetic analyses suggest</a> that a few individuals acquired this prefrontal synthesis ability and then spread their genes far and wide by eliminating other contemporaneous males with the use of an imagination-enabeled strategy and newly developed weapons.</p>
<p>So it’s been a journey of many millions of years of evolution for our species to become equipped with imagination. Most nonhuman mammals have potential for imagining what doesn’t exist or hasn’t happened involuntarily during REM sleep; only humans can voluntarily conjure new objects and events in our minds using prefrontal synthesis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrey Vyshedskiy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By learning what parts of the brain are crucial for imagination to work, neuroscientists can look back over hundreds of millions of years of evolution to figure out when it first emerged.Andrey Vyshedskiy, Professor of Neuroscience, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1890232022-08-25T18:00:51Z2022-08-25T18:00:51ZRapid eye movements in sleeping mice match where they are looking in their dreams, new research finds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480907/original/file-20220824-14-42pff1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C67%2C1732%2C1560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do your eyes play a role in where you look in your dreams?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/you-are-being-watched-royalty-free-image/1256110077">PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Does rapid eye movement during sleep reveal where you’re looking at in the scenery of dreams, or are they simply the result of random jerks of our eye muscles? Since the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.118.3062.273">discovery of REM sleep in the early 1950s</a>, the significance of these rapid eye movements has intrigued and fascinated scores of scientists, psychologists and philosophers. <a href="https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/patient-caregiver-education/brain-basics-understanding-sleep#2">REM sleep</a>, as the name implies, is a period of sleep when your eyes move under your closed eyelids. It’s also the period when you experience vivid dreams.</p>
<p>We are researchers who study how the brain <a href="https://www.hhmi.org/scientists/massimo-scanziani">processes sensory information</a> during <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xLflzyAAAAAJ&hl=en">wakefulness and sleep</a>. In our <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8852">recently published study</a>, we found that the eye movements you make while you sleep may reflect where you’re looking in your dreams.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Dreams occur during the REM stage of sleep.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Measuring dreams</h2>
<p>Past <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0048189">studies</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1962.01720040001001">have</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/224613a0">attempted</a> to address this question by monitoring the eye movements of people as they slept and waking them up to ask what they were dreaming. The goal was to find a possible connection between the content of a dream just before waking up (say, a car coming in from the left) and the direction the eyes moved at that moment.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, these studies have led to contradictory results. It could be that some participants inaccurately reported dreams, and it’s technically difficult to match a given eye movement to a specific moment in a self-reported dream. </p>
<p>We decided to bypass the problem of dream self-reporting. Instead, we used a more objective way to measure dreams: the electrical activity of a sleeping mouse brain.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2021.08.004">Mice, like humans and many other animals</a>, also experience REM sleep. Additionally, they have a sort of internal compass in their brains that gives them a sense of <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Head_direction_cells">head direction</a>. When the mouse is awake and running around, the electrical activity of this internal compass precisely reports its head direction, or “heading,” as it moves in its environment. </p>
<p>Interestingly, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3968">previous study</a> showed that this internal compass is active during REM sleep. But instead of reporting the actual, fixed head direction of the motionless sleeping mouse, the internal compass kept moving as if the mouse were awake, running around in the virtual environment of its dreams.</p>
<p>Eye movements and head movements are <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.57458">tightly coupled</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.042">during wakefulness</a>. This means that when people and mice shift their gaze, their heads and eyes turn in the same direction. We reasoned that if eye movements during REM sleep reveal gaze shifts in the world of dreams, those eye movements should occur at the same time and in the same direction as changes in heading in the sleeping mouse’s brain. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480664/original/file-20220823-8395-tz6whm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C25%2C1780%2C1073&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of person's closed eyes looking to the left and to the right under their eyelids" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480664/original/file-20220823-8395-tz6whm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C25%2C1780%2C1073&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480664/original/file-20220823-8395-tz6whm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480664/original/file-20220823-8395-tz6whm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480664/original/file-20220823-8395-tz6whm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480664/original/file-20220823-8395-tz6whm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480664/original/file-20220823-8395-tz6whm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480664/original/file-20220823-8395-tz6whm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Your eyes may be watching something in your dreams when they move during sleep.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Massimo Scanziani</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>To test this hypothesis, we measured rapid eye movements, or <a href="https://eyewiki.aao.org/Saccade">saccades</a>, when mice were awake and mapped this to the electrical activity of their brain’s internal compass. We then monitored the eye movements of sleeping mice during REM sleep with miniature cameras placed in front of both eyes. Because mice often do not completely close their eyelids while asleep, this allowed us to precisely measure the direction of their eye movements. As when the mice were awake, we recorded the electrical activity of their brain’s internal compass to decode changes in heading during REM sleep.</p>
<p>Strikingly, we discovered that eye movement direction in sleeping mice precisely matched changes in heading direction, very much like gaze shifts in mice that are awake. This meant that eye movements during REM sleep may disclose gaze shifts in the virtual world of dreams, providing a window into the cognitive processes occurring in the dreaming brain.</p>
<h2>The dreaming brain</h2>
<p>Our study shows that, during REM sleep, the part of the brain that controls the sense of head direction coordinates with the part that controls eye movements. This finding may just be the tip of the iceberg on how distinct parts of the brain function together as a whole during sleep. </p>
<p>If other brain areas also work together during REM sleep, like those responsible for sensory perception, emotion or sense of place, this overall coordination between parts may well be the basis for vivid and realistic dream experiences.</p>
<p>When you are awake, your <a href="http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Head_direction_cells">sense of head direction</a> relies on information gathered from several areas of the brain involved with your sense of balance and sight, among others, which are active when you move around. Our study brings up an important question: What does your sense of head direction rely on during REM sleep, when you aren’t moving? </p>
<p>Our next steps are to figure out what moves the brain’s internal compass during REM sleep, how it moves with the eyes and how different senses work together to generate the realistic experience of dreams.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yuta Senzai has received funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Massimo Scanziani receives funding from the National Institute of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute</span></em></p>Why your eyes move during the REM stage of sleep has puzzled scientists for years. Researchers measured mice brains to look for a possible explanation.Yuta Senzai, Postdoctoral Scholar in Physiology, University of California, San FranciscoMassimo Scanziani, Professor of Physiology, University of California, San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1884982022-08-12T15:21:57Z2022-08-12T15:21:57ZThe Sandman: how representations of dreams and nightmares have changed over time<p>As Netflix’s new series, The Sandman, notes, we spend a third of our lives in sleep and dream. In popular culture, The Sandman is a folkloric being who helps us drift off to the land of nod where he controls whether we have nightmares or dreams. He is also the centre of Neil Gaiman’s popular comic book series (1989-96), which the new series is based on. </p>
<p>The embodiment of dream as a mythological or literary character has variously been presented as benevolent or sinister, and these contradictory representations reflect our uneasy relationship with the nature and meaning of dreams and nightmares. </p>
<p>These conflicting personifications of dream (and nightmare) reflect our ambiguous cultural ideas of dreaming. Dreaming has been associated with supernatural messages, divinatory arts and psychotherapeutic insights. While seemingly at odds with modernity’s emphasis on rationalism, dreams and works of dreamlike fantasy such as The Sandman continue to provide a much-needed sense of enchantment in our modern age. </p>
<p>Personifications of dream go back far in history. As befits an entity who rules the shifting realm of dreams, he too is unfixed, referred to as Morpheus, Onieros, Dream King, and the Sandman, among others. </p>
<p>Ancient Greek and Roman civilisations understood dreams to be both the messengers and messages. In Homer’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1371.The_Iliad">The Iliad</a>, Zeus sends an onieros, a personified dream, to the Greek camp at Troy to encourage Agamemnon to fight. In Hesiod’s <a href="https://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_hesiod_theogony.html">The Theogony</a> the oneiroi are the dream children of Nyx or Night. In Roman mythology, Morpheus served Somnus, the god of sleep. </p>
<p>Although a relatively minor figure, Morpheus appealed to classical poets. In Ovid’s <a href="https://www.ancient-literature.com/rome_ovid_metamorphoses.html">Metamorphosis</a> he is one of Somnus’s thousand children, a shapeshifting dream and “master mimic” who moved “on noiseless wings”. Morpheus reveals the psychological sophistication of classical mythology, a rich body of stories that not only accounted for the operation of the natural world but also the interior workings of the human mind. </p>
<p>By the 19th and 20th centuries, Morpheus, or The Sandman, had become a more benevolent character. No longer a servant of the gods, he was frequently evoked as someone who could reunite lost lovers in dreams. Such sentiments are found in Alexander Pushkin’s poem, <a href="https://www.poetryverse.com/alexander-pushkin-poems/morpheus">Morpheus</a>, and in Roy Orbison’s song In Dreams, where the Sandman becomes “a candy-coloured clown” who sprinkles stardust. The Chordettes 1954 hit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX45pYvxDiA&ab_channel=RiulDoamnei">Mr Sandman</a> asked him to send them a dream lover before they got too old.</p>
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<p>Yet the Sandman has also taken on menacing aspects. In E.T.A. Hoffman’s disturbing story, <a href="https://www.ux1.eiu.edu/%7Erlbeebe/sandman.pdf">The Sandman</a> (1816), the titular bogeyman is said to throw sand in the eyes of children who won’t go to sleep, causing them to bleed. He then puts them in a bag and takes them to his owl-beaked children who peck out their eyes as food. This more malevolent embodiment of nightmare was updated in the character of Freddy Krueger, star of the Nightmare on Elm Street horror film franchise. </p>
<h2>Modern dreams</h2>
<p>Gaiman’s Sandman combines both caring and threatening aspects. A figure committed to protecting dreamers and The Dreaming, the place where we go in dreams, he also holds grudges and punishes dream creations who challenge his benignly authoritarian rule.</p>
<p>These personifications of dream and nightmare encourage the unsettling sense that such things come from outside us. Many ancient civilisations credited oneiromancy, the interpretation of dreams in order to foretell the future as a form of supernatural power. Such ideas are put to dramatic use in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Oneiromancy persisted and was updated for an increasingly urban and literate population in the 19th- and 20th-century development of dream books. These popular publications, intended as a form of entertainment, provided an A-Z of dream images that helped dreamers interpret their dreams and foretell their future.</p>
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<p>The uninvited, uncontrollable and nonsensical nature of dreams disturbed our modern championing of rationality and reason, causing them to be dismissed as mere unconscious mental play. When the 19th- and early 20th-century pioneers of psychotherapy engaged with dreams, they attempted to rationalise the meaning and function of their seemingly random and illogical content. </p>
<p>Sigmund Freud’s <a href="https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Freud/Dreams/dreams.pdf">The Interpretation of Dreams</a> (1899) argued dreams provided insight into psychological repression and trauma, much of it of a sexual nature. Applying rationalised interpretations, dreams were not mental junk but telling insights into the forbidden wishes of individual minds. No longer external influences delivered by divine messengers, dreams were firmly grounded within us. Interestingly, the sinister nature of Hoffman’s Sandman story attracted Freud’s attention in his 1919 essay, <a href="https://www.freud.org.uk/2020/02/01/the-sandman/">The Uncanny</a>.</p>
<p>Yet it is Freud’s former friend and rival, Carl Jung, to whom Gaiman’s idea of The Dreaming owes a greater debt. Morpheus’s shared realm of dreamers is the fictional expression of Jung’s notion of the <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-collective-unconscious-2671571">collective unconscious</a>, a place of archetypal figures, symbols, and images that repeatedly appear in all our dreams. </p>
<p>Like all good works of fantasy, The Sandman questions the dominant story western society has repeatedly told itself for over three centuries: that we have become rational, disenchanted, free of the fantastical ideas of the past. As the glut of fantasy serials on Netflix suggests, such a world requires the compensatory enchantment of fantasy, fiction and dreams. </p>
<p>To borrow a line from Tori Amos’s <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5WNZswfEtZ6sAlH1lTzdx6">Tear in Your Hand</a>, we will be hanging out with the Dream King for the foreseeable future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karl Bell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gaiman’s dream goes by many names, each inspired by different ideas of what dreams and nightmares have been to people throughout history.Karl Bell, Reader in Cultural History, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1839042022-06-08T12:33:09Z2022-06-08T12:33:09ZHow your race, class and gender influence your dreams for the future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467281/original/file-20220606-24-h2ywie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C452%2C4569%2C3368&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Emile Bernard's 1888 painting 'Madeleine in the Bois d'Amour.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/madeleine-in-the-bois-damour-1888-from-the-collection-of-news-photo/1151163973?adppopup=true">The Print Collector/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Disney’s “Pinocchio,” Jiminy Cricket <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032910/characters/nm0249893">famously sings</a>, “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you.” </p>
<p>But Jiminy Cricket got it wrong. </p>
<p>We’re often taught that we are free to dream – to imagine our future possibilities. </p>
<p>Yet in a large research project we conducted with over 270 participants living in the U.S., we found that people’s dreams are restricted in very specific ways. Our book “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691229096/dreams-of-a-lifetime">Dreams of a Lifetime: How Who We Are Shapes How We Imagine Our Future</a>,” shows how. </p>
<p>Through interviews and focus groups conducted over roughly nine months, we asked people to talk about their dreams for the future. We spoke with people of different social class backgrounds; of different races and genders; and at different stages of life – newlyweds, new parents, people starting new jobs and recent immigrants. We talked to people facing serious hardships, such as poverty, homelessness, serious medical diagnoses or unemployment. </p>
<p>We found that these social characteristics and life experiences seep into the mind’s eye, quietly influencing how people dream and whether they believe their dreams can come true.</p>
<h2>Where men and women diverge</h2>
<p>We already know that the rich and poor, men and women, nonwhites and whites, the old and the young <a href="https://study.sagepub.com/ruane7e">have vastly different experiences</a> with criminal victimization, educational opportunity, health and disease, housing and wealth.</p>
<p>But through our research we have learned that these factors also have a powerful impact on dreaming. This is important because it appears as though one’s social standing can bake inequalities into the very life of the mind, creating both road maps and roadblocks.</p>
<p>Consider the content of people’s dreams. Both men and women were equally likely to dream of career accomplishments and having the opportunity to help others or donate large sums of money down the road.</p>
<p>But there were also notable gender differences. Women were more likely than men to identify topics associated with <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/gender-socialization-definition-examples-4582435">traditional womanhood</a> – family-related dreams, such as having kids, keeping peace in the family, maintaining long, successful relationships and hoping to improve their physical appearance.</p>
<p>Men, in contrast, were more likely than women to dream of adventure and fame, wealth and power – themes consistent with <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/gender-socialization-definition-examples-4582435">traditional manhood</a>. We also learned that women tend to be more varied, more committed and more optimistic about their dreams than men.</p>
<h2>A Latino dream gap</h2>
<p>Most people from all of the racial groups we studied felt their dreams were realistic and achievable.</p>
<p>When we asked, “Is your dream grounded in reality?” all of our Asian respondents and 80% of Black respondents answered “Yes,” with multiracial and white respondents falling in between these two groups. Over two-thirds of Asian, Black, multiracial and white respondents thought they had a 70% chance or better of accomplishing their dreams. </p>
<p>However, among Latino respondents, only about half saw their dreams as realistic. And only 41% felt there was a 70% chance or higher that their dreams would come true. </p>
<p>As people spoke to us about their dreams, we heard four positive lessons repeatedly offered by many of our study participants: “opportunity is boundless,” “dream big,” “never give up on your dreams” and “optimism makes anything possible.” We also consistently heard two negative lessons from some participants: “the deck is stacked” and “the higher people rise, the harder they fall.”</p>
<p>In talking to us about their dreams and whether they could accomplish them, 60% of Latino respondents referenced one of these two negative cultural lessons on dreaming. In contrast, all other racial groups were more likely to offer positive lessons on dreaming. That includes 60% of Black respondents, about two-thirds of multiracial respondents and roughly 80% of Asian and white respondents.</p>
<p>Among our participants, the practicality of dreaming and attainability of dreams seem to be powerfully connected to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12765">cultural lessons</a> imparted to them – the adages, parables and wisdom learned from books, movies, songs, national symbols and traditions they’d been exposed to throughout their lives.</p>
<h2>The American delusion</h2>
<p>When dreaming, class matters as well. The wealthier you are, the more varied your dreams, the more likely you are to engage in dreams you want to accomplish right away, the more reluctant you are to give up on a dream, and the more likely you are to see your dreams as realistic and doable. </p>
<p>These patterns confirm what Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills <a href="https://japan-forward.com/odds-and-evens-how-legendary-runner-billy-mills-found-purpose-by-chasing-an-olympic-dream/">so eloquently stated</a>: Being poor leads to “the most devastating poverty of all, a poverty of dreams.”</p>
<p>These differences – as well as many others we found in our research – broaden the definition of inequality. They show that inequality is deep-seated and often precedes action or outcome. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Drawing of small boy surrounded by empty space." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467579/original/file-20220607-40719-9wyv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467579/original/file-20220607-40719-9wyv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467579/original/file-20220607-40719-9wyv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467579/original/file-20220607-40719-9wyv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467579/original/file-20220607-40719-9wyv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467579/original/file-20220607-40719-9wyv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467579/original/file-20220607-40719-9wyv03.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Life circumstances determine whether a dream seems doable or daunting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/hope-of-lonely-boy-royalty-free-illustration/1345161790?adppopup=true">Jorm Sangsorn/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In our study, it was clear to us that some study participants never intended to actually pursue their dreams. </p>
<p>On the other hand, some respondents did intend to do so. And some were in a better position than others. The wealthy professional who wanted to start a business was already on track. Yet the retired middle-class woman who dreamed of making peace in the Middle East had no path available to her. The affluent high school senior who wanted to learn all the languages of the world was already working on mastering several foreign languages. The disadvantaged senior citizen who clung to the dream of becoming president had no traction at all. </p>
<p>American culture encourages people to dream big. But it’s important to ground those dreams with a dose of reality. When teachers say “You can be anything you want, even president of the United States” – and don’t explain the way in which politics, money and power are intertwined – they lay the groundwork for feelings of personal failure and resentment. And while the mantra “work hard and your dreams will come true” <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/02/religion-workism-making-americans-miserable/583441/">percolates in American culture</a>, it papers over the fact that millions <a href="https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/countries/united-states/poverty-in-the-us/hard-work-hard-lives-survey-of-low-wage-workers-in-america/">work grueling jobs</a> and still find themselves <a href="https://familyandcommunityimpact.org/why-dont-poor-people-just-work-harder-poverty-stress-and-getting-stuck-in-reverse/">mired in grinding poverty</a>.</p>
<p>Until the gap between the haves and the have-nots narrows, dreams will lie dormant or gradually wither – discouraging planning or shriveling into a cruel reminder of what won’t come true.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183904/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Your background and life experiences seep into the mind’s eye, quietly shaping whether you believe your dreams can come true.Karen A. Cerulo, Professor of Sociology, Rutgers UniversityJanet Ruane, Professor Emerita of Sociology, Montclair State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1660062021-08-18T13:33:19Z2021-08-18T13:33:19ZBeing chased, losing your teeth or falling down? What science says about recurring dreams<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415867/original/file-20210812-20-14a9lhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1351%2C665&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In some cases, recurring dreams that emerge during childhood can even persist into adulthood. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/">(Shutterstock)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Having the same dream again and again is a well-known phenomenon — nearly <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-98816-016">two-thirds of the population</a> report having recurring dreams. Being chased, finding yourself naked in a public place or in the middle of a natural disaster, losing your teeth or forgetting to go to class for an entire semester are typical recurring scenarios in these dreams.</p>
<p>But where does the phenomenon come from? The science of dreams shows that recurring dreams may reflect unresolved conflicts in the dreamer’s life.</p>
<p>Recurring dreams <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021152411010">often occur during times of stress</a>, or over long periods of time, sometimes several years or even a lifetime. Not only do these dreams have the same themes, they can also repeat the same narrative night after night. </p>
<p>Although the exact content of recurring dreams is unique to every individual, there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1958.60.6.02a00110">common themes among individuals</a> and even among cultures and in different periods. For example, being chased, falling, being unprepared for an exam, arriving late or trying to do something repeatedly are among <a href="http://dreamscience.ca/en/documents/publications/_2003_Nielsen_Reprint_D_13_211-235_TDQ.pdf">the most prevalent scenarios</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman appears to levitate near a cliff" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410225/original/file-20210707-27-18yhy6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410225/original/file-20210707-27-18yhy6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410225/original/file-20210707-27-18yhy6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410225/original/file-20210707-27-18yhy6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410225/original/file-20210707-27-18yhy6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410225/original/file-20210707-27-18yhy6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410225/original/file-20210707-27-18yhy6z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not all recurring dreams have a negative connotation. Some, such as being able to fly, can even have a euphoric effect.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The majority of recurring dreams have negative content involving emotions such as fear, sadness, anger and guilt. More than half of recurring dreams involve a situation where the dreamer is in danger. But some recurring themes can also be positive, even euphoric, such as dreams where we discover new rooms in our house, erotic dreams or where we fly.</p>
<p>In some cases, recurring dreams that begin in childhood can persist into adulthood. These dreams may disappear for a few years, reappear in the presence of a new source of stress and then disappear again when the situation is over.</p>
<h2>Unresolved conflicts</h2>
<p>Why does our brain play the same dreams over and over again? Studies suggest that dreams, in general, help us <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016570">regulate our emotions</a> and adapt to stressful events. Incorporating emotional material into dreams may allow the dreamer to process a painful or difficult event.</p>
<p>In the case of recurrent dreams, repetitive content could represent an unsuccessful attempt to integrate these difficult experiences. <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/2490256841?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true">Many theories</a> agree that recurring dreams are related to unresolved difficulties or conflicts in the dreamer’s life.</p>
<p>The presence of recurrent dreams has also been associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.50.3.612">lower levels of psychological well-being</a> and the presence of <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Dream-Content%2C-Dream-Recurrence-and-Well-Being%3A-A-a-Zadra-O%27Brien/af492efdd0bcdee15c4b5d743df9deb530e2daa0">symptoms of anxiety and depression</a>. These dreams tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021152411010">recur during stressful situations</a> and cease when the person <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-98816-016">has resolved their personal conflict</a>, which indicates improved well-being.</p>
<p>Recurrent dreams often metaphorically reflect the emotional concerns of the dreamers. For example, <a href="https://archive.org/details/dreamsnightmares0000hart_k4s6">dreaming about a tsunami</a> is common following trauma or abuse. This is a typical example of a metaphor that can represent emotions of helplessness, panic or fear experienced in waking life.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Panicked man runs with his computer under his arm" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410226/original/file-20210707-21-drq5zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410226/original/file-20210707-21-drq5zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410226/original/file-20210707-21-drq5zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410226/original/file-20210707-21-drq5zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410226/original/file-20210707-21-drq5zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410226/original/file-20210707-21-drq5zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410226/original/file-20210707-21-drq5zk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some people, during a stressful situation or when faced with a new challenge, may repeatedly dream that they are coming in late or unprepared for a math test, even years after they set foot in a school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Similarly, being inappropriately dressed in one’s dream, being naked or not being able to find a toilet can all represent scenarios of embarrassment or modesty.</p>
<p><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-11210-004">These themes can be thought of as scripts</a> or ready-to-dream scenarios that provide us with a space where we can digest our conflicting emotions. The same script can be reused in different situations where we experience similar emotions. This is why some people, when faced with a stressful situation or a new challenge, may dream they’re showing up unprepared for a math exam, even years after they have set foot in a school. Although the circumstances are different, a similar feeling of stress or desire to excel can trigger the same dream scenario again.</p>
<h2>A continuum of repetition</h2>
<p>William Domhoff, an American researcher and psychologist, proposes the concept of a <a href="https://dreams.ucsc.edu/Library/domhoff_2000b.html">continuum of repetition in dreams</a>. At the extreme end, traumatic nightmares directly reproduce a lived trauma — one of the main symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.</p>
<p>Then there are recurring dreams where the same dream content is replayed in part or in its entirety. Unlike traumatic dreams, recurring dreams rarely replay an event or conflict directly but reflect it metaphorically through a central emotion.</p>
<p>Further along the continuum are the recurring themes in dreams. These dreams tend to replay a similar situation, such as being late, being chased or being lost, but the exact content of the dream differs from one time to the next, such as being late for a train rather than for an exam.</p>
<p>Finally, at the other end of the continuum, we find certain dream elements recurring in the dreams of one individual, such as characters, actions or objects. All these dreams would reflect, at different levels, an attempt to resolve certain emotional concerns.</p>
<p>Moving from an intense level to a lower level on the continuum of repetition is often a sign that a person’s psychological state is improving. For example, in the content of traumatic nightmares <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43853181">progressive and positive changes</a> are often observed in people who have experienced trauma as they gradually overcome their difficulties.</p>
<h2>Physiological phenomena</h2>
<p>Why do the themes tend to be the same from person to person? One possible explanation is that some of these scripts have been preserved in humans due to the evolutionary advantage they bring. By <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00004015">simulating a threatening situation</a>, the dream of being chased, for example, provides a space for a person to practise perceiving and escaping predators in their sleep.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young woman in bed holds her cheeks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410227/original/file-20210707-15-16ptuyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410227/original/file-20210707-15-16ptuyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410227/original/file-20210707-15-16ptuyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410227/original/file-20210707-15-16ptuyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410227/original/file-20210707-15-16ptuyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410227/original/file-20210707-15-16ptuyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410227/original/file-20210707-15-16ptuyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some recurring dreams, such as losing one’s teeth, may be related to clenching one’s teeth during sleep or dental discomfort upon waking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some common themes may also be explained, in part, by physiological phenomena that take place during sleep. A 2018 study by a research team in Israel found that dreaming of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01812">losing one’s teeth</a> was not particularly linked to symptoms of anxiety but rather associated to teeth clenching during sleep or dental discomfort upon waking.</p>
<p>When we sleep, our brain is not completely cut off from the outside world. It continues to perceive external stimuli, such as sounds or smells, or internal body sensations. That means that other themes, such as not being able to find a toilet or being naked in a public space, could actually be spurred by the need to urinate during the night or by wearing loose pyjamas in bed.</p>
<p>Some physical phenomena specific to REM sleep, the stage of sleep when we dream the most, could also be at play. In REM sleep, our muscles are paralyzed, which could provoke dreams of having heavy legs or being paralyzed in bed.</p>
<p>Similarly, some authors have proposed that dreams of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.134.12.1335">falling or flying are caused by our vestibular system</a>, which contributes to balance and can reactivate spontaneously during REM sleep. Of course, these sensations are not sufficient to explain the recurrence of these dreams in some people and their sudden occurrence in times of stress, but they probably play a significant role in the construction of our most typical dreams.</p>
<h2>Breaking the cycle</h2>
<p>People who experience a recurring nightmare have in some ways become stuck in a particular way of responding to the dream scenario and anticipating it. Therapies have been developed to try to resolve this recurrence and break the vicious cycle of nightmares.</p>
<p>One technique is to visualize the nightmare while awake and then rewrite it, that is, to modify the narrative by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/drm0000031">changing one aspect, for example, the end of the dream</a> to something more positive. <a href="https://www.academia.edu/6707271/Lucid_Dreaming_as_a_Treatment_for_Recurrent_Nightmares">Lucid dreaming</a> may also be a solution.</p>
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À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ability-to-control-dreams-may-help-us-unravel-the-mystery-of-consciousness-52394">The ability to control dreams may help us unravel the mystery of consciousness</a>
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<p>In lucid dreams we become aware that we are dreaming and can sometimes influence the content of the dream. Becoming lucid in a recurring dream might allow us to think or react differently to the dream and thereby alter the repetitive nature of it.</p>
<p>However, not all recurring dreams are bad in themselves. They can even be helpful insofar as they are informing us about our personal conflicts. Paying attention to the repetitive elements of dreams could be a way to better understand and resolve our greatest desires and torments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166006/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claudia Picard-Deland has received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tore Nielsen has received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Dreams help us regulate our emotions and adapt to stressful events. Repetitive content may represent an unsuccessful attempt to integrate difficult experiences.Claudia Picard-Deland, Candidate au doctorat en neurosciences, Université de MontréalTore Nielsen, Professor of Psychiatry, Université de MontréalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1579162021-04-18T12:51:50Z2021-04-18T12:51:50ZCurious Kids: What do blind people experience in their dreams?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394320/original/file-20210409-21-1mj6tit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C18%2C5970%2C3989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The dreams of a person without sight since birth can be just as vivid and imaginative as those of someone with normal vision.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. Have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidscanada@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsCanada@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p>What do blind people experience in their dreams? — James</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Humans are extremely visual. Nearly <a href="https://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V74N4/0402_brainscience.html">half of our brain is devoted to processing visual information</a>. Most of the brain networks responsible for providing vision <a href="https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/plast.html">are established early in life</a>.</p>
<p>This means that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3722610/">from about the time of birth we begin our lifelong collection of experiences and memories</a> that strongly rely on vision. </p>
<p>Throughout life, we associate most of our interactions with visual images rather than with experiences from our other senses such as hearing or smell. </p>
<p>For those of us with normal vision, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.12.001">dreams are full of the visual images we experience during our waking life</a>. To understand what blind people experience in their dreams, we must distinguish the experiences of those who were blind at birth from those that became blind later in life. </p>
<h2>Just as vivid and imaginative</h2>
<p>Humans born without sight are not able to collect visual experiences, so <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/superpowers-for-the-blind-and-deaf/">they understand the world entirely through their other senses</a>. As a result, people with blindness at birth develop an amazing ability to understand the world through the collection of experiences and memories that come from these non-visual senses. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman waking up in bed" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394333/original/file-20210409-21-1n9k6kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394333/original/file-20210409-21-1n9k6kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394333/original/file-20210409-21-1n9k6kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394333/original/file-20210409-21-1n9k6kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394333/original/file-20210409-21-1n9k6kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394333/original/file-20210409-21-1n9k6kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394333/original/file-20210409-21-1n9k6kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The dreams of people who develop blindness later in life become less visual as their time without vision increases.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kinga Cichewicz/Unsplash)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The dreams of a person who has been without sight since birth can be just as vivid and imaginative as those of someone with normal vision. They are unique, however, because their <a href="https://wtamu.edu/%7Ecbaird/sq/2020/02/11/do-blind-people-dream-in-visual-images/">dreams are constructed from the non-visual experiences and memories they have collected</a>. </p>
<p>While a person with normal vision will dream about a familiar friend using visual memories of shape, lighting and colour, a blind person will associate the same friend with a unique combination of experiences from their non-visual senses that act to represent that friend. </p>
<p>In other words, people blind at birth have similar overall dreaming experiences but <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-28853788">they do not dream in pictures</a>. </p>
<p>The dream experience of a person who lost vision later in life is very different than someone who never had vision. People that lose vision later in life had the ability to collect many visual experiences that can appear in their dreams and in a manner very similar to a sighted person. </p>
<p>Interestingly — and perhaps expected — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2013.12.008">the dreams of people who develop blindness later in life become less visual as their time without vision increases</a> and as they collect more experiences without vision. </p>
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<em>And since curiosity has no age limit — adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157916/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Duffy receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. </span></em></p>A curious kid asks: what do blind people experience in their dreams?Kevin Duffy, Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1541332021-03-01T13:18:32Z2021-03-01T13:18:32ZAs death approaches, our dreams offer comfort, reconciliation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386738/original/file-20210226-21-y678q0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C61%2C2738%2C1946&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In our final days, relationships can be resurrected, love revived and forgiveness achieved.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-dream-of-st-joseph-by-georges-de-la-tour-nantes-mus%C3%A9e-news-photo/148278562">DeAgostini/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most devastating elements of the coronavirus pandemic has been the inability to personally care for loved ones who have fallen ill. </p>
<p><a href="https://khn.org/news/bereaved-families-are-the-secondary-victims-of-covid-19/">Again and again</a>, grieving relatives <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/24/us/coronavirus-victim-family-note-trnd/index.html?sr=twCNN042420coronavirus-victim-family-note-trnd0853PMStory">have testified</a> to how much more devastating their loved one’s death was <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article241678926.html">because they were unable to hold their family member’s hand</a> – to provide a familiar and comforting presence in their final days and hours. </p>
<p>Some had to say their final goodbyes <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-230-am-in-north-dakota-youre-holding-a-smartphone-to-let-a-husband-say-goodbye-to-his-wife-via-facetime-after-60-years-of-marriage-2020-11-23">through smartphone screens</a> held by a medical provider. Others resorted to <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article241678926.html">using walkie-talkies or waving through windows</a>.</p>
<p>How does one come to terms with the overwhelming grief and guilt over the thought of a loved one dying alone? </p>
<p>I don’t have an answer to this question. But the work of a hospice doctor named Christopher Kerr – with whom I co-authored the book “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Death_Is_But_a_Dream.html?id=KX6cDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description">Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at Life’s End</a>” – might offer some consolation.</p>
<h2>Unexpected visitors</h2>
<p>At the start of his career, Dr. Kerr was tasked – like any and all physicians – with attending to the physical care of his patients. But he soon noticed a phenomenon that seasoned nurses were already accustomed to. As patients approached death, many had dreams and visions of deceased loved ones who came back to comfort them in their final days. </p>
<p>Doctors <a href="https://www.nursingtimes.net/clinical-archive/end-of-life-and-palliative-care/the-significance-of-end-of-life-dreams-and-visions-04-07-2014/">are typically trained</a> to interpret these occurrences as drug-induced or delusional hallucinations that might warrant more medication or downright sedation. </p>
<p>But after seeing the peace and comfort these end-of-life experiences seemed to bring his patients, Dr. Kerr decided to pause and listen. One day, in 2005, a dying patient named Mary had one such vision: She began moving her arms as if rocking a baby, cooing at her child who had died in infancy decades prior.</p>
<p>To Dr. Kerr, this didn’t seem like cognitive decline. What if, he wondered, patients’ own perceptions at life’s end mattered to their well-being in ways that should not concern just nurses, chaplains and social workers?</p>
<p>What would medical care look like if all physicians stopped and listened, too? </p>
<h2>The project begins</h2>
<p>So at the sight of dying patients reaching and calling out to their loved ones – many of whom they had not seen, touched or heard for decades – he began collecting and recording testimonies given directly by those who were dying. Over the course of 10 years, he and his research team recorded the end-of-life experiences of 1,400 patients and families.</p>
<p>What he discovered astounded him. Over 80% of his patients – no matter what walk of life, background or age group they came from – had end-of-life experiences that seemed to entail more than just strange dreams. These were vivid, meaningful and transformative. And they always increased in frequency near death. </p>
<p>They included visions of long-lost mothers, fathers and relatives, as well as dead pets come back to comfort their former owners. They were about relationships resurrected, love revived and forgiveness achieved. They often brought reassurance and support, peace and acceptance. </p>
<h2>Becoming a dream weaver</h2>
<p>I first heard of Dr. Kerr’s research in a barn. </p>
<p>I was busy mucking my horse’s stall. The stables were on Dr. Kerr’s property, so we often discussed his work on the dreams and visions of his dying patients. He told me about his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbnBe-vXGQM">TEDx Talk on the topic</a>, as well as the book project he was working on. </p>
<p>I couldn’t help but be moved by the work of this doctor and scientist. When he disclosed that he was not getting far with the writing, I offered to help. He hesitated at first. I was an English professor who was an expert in taking apart the stories others wrote, not in writing them myself. His agent was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to write in ways that were accessible to the public – something academics are not exactly known for. I persisted, and the rest is history.</p>
<p>It was this collaboration that turned me into a writer. </p>
<p>I was tasked with instilling more humanity into the remarkable medical intervention this scientific research represented, to put a human face on the statistical data that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1049909113517291">had already been published in medical journals</a>.</p>
<p>The moving stories of Dr. Kerr’s encounters with his patients and their families confirmed how, <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/12/12/montaigne-on-death-and-the-art-of-living/">in the words of the French Renaissance writer Michel de Montaigne</a>, “he who should teach men to die would at the same time teach them to live.” </p>
<p>I learned about Robert, who was losing Barbara, his wife of 60 years, and was assailed by conflicting feelings of guilt, despair and faith. One day, he inexplicably saw her reaching for the baby son they had lost decades ago, in a brief span of lucid dreaming that echoed Mary’s experience years earlier. Robert was struck by his wife’s calm demeanor and blissful smile. It was a moment of pure wholeness, one that transformed their experience of the dying process. Barbara was living her passing as a time of love regained, and seeing her comforted brought Robert some peace in the midst of his irredeemable loss.</p>
<p>For the elderly couples Dr. Kerr cared for, being separated by death after decades of togetherness was simply unfathomable. Joan’s recurring dreams and visions helped mend the deep wound left by her husband’s passing months earlier. She would call out to him at night and point to his presence during the day, including in moments of full and articulate lucidity. For her daughter Lisa, these occurrences grounded her in the knowledge that her parents’ bond was unbreakable. Her mother’s pre-death dreams and visions assisted Lisa in her own journey toward acceptance – <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0TltiT8Y9CYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=losing+a+parent+acceptance+grief&ots=S1b_VEJ6YR&sig=fQ0IX4ZJ1ri80S1GlhwlYsmY648#v=onepage&q&f=false">a key element of processing loss</a>.</p>
<p>When children are dying, it is often their beloved, deceased pets that make appearances. Thirteen-year-old Jessica, dying of a malignant form of bone-based cancer, started having visions of her former dog, Shadow. His presence reassured her. “I will be fine,” she told Dr. Kerr on one of his last visits.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young girl's hand clasps a dog's paw." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386740/original/file-20210226-19-1nhokfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386740/original/file-20210226-19-1nhokfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386740/original/file-20210226-19-1nhokfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386740/original/file-20210226-19-1nhokfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386740/original/file-20210226-19-1nhokfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386740/original/file-20210226-19-1nhokfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/386740/original/file-20210226-19-1nhokfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For many kids, their only experience with death is with family pets, and the return of deceased animals can be comforting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/girl-holding-paws-and-dog-head-toned-royalty-free-image/1077570546?adppopup=true">Carol Yepes/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Jessica’s mom, Kristen, these visions – and Jessica’s resulting tranquility – helped initiate the process she had been resisting: that of letting go. </p>
<h2>Isolated but not alone</h2>
<p>The health care system is difficult to change. Nevertheless, Dr. Kerr still hopes to help patients and their loved ones reclaim the dying process from a clinical approach to one that is appreciated as a rich and unique human experience.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Pre-death dreams and visions help fill the void that may otherwise be created by the doubt and fear that death evokes. They help the dying reunite with those they have loved and lost, those who secured them, affirmed them and brought them peace. They heal old wounds, restore dignity, and reclaim love. Knowing about this paradoxical reality helps the bereaved cope with grief as well.</p>
<p>As hospitals and nursing homes continue to remain closed to visitors because of the coronavirus pandemic, it may help to know that the dying rarely speak of being alone. They speak of being loved and put back together.</p>
<p>There is no substitute for being able to hold our loved ones in their last moments, but there may be solace in knowing that they were being held.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154133/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carine Mardorossian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A hospice doctor spent 10 years studying the end-of-life experiences of over 1,400 terminally ill patients.Carine Mardorossian, Professor of English, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1510522020-11-30T19:12:27Z2020-11-30T19:12:27ZCoronavirus dreams: how anger, sadness and fear crept in during lockdown – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371945/original/file-20201130-19-mj0nmn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C61%2C4520%2C2680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lockdown isn't easy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julia Lockheart DreamsID com</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has changed nearly every aspect of our lives. Our dreams are no different. Soon after the first lockdowns started, people reported having more dreams than before, with different content. This was explained by the fact that many <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-covid-19-pandemic-is-changing-our-dreams/">people were sleeping for longer</a>, and waking without alarm clocks or an immediate schedule. </p>
<p>Other people were experiencing more stress, which <a href="https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/pandemic-dreams-excerpt/">can also alter dreaming</a>. Now a new study, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242903">published in PLOS</a>, has analysed hundreds of dream reports before and during lockdown to give detailed results of the pandemic’s impact on dreaming.</p>
<p>It has proven difficult to study dreams during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because it was unexpected, it was a challenge to find baseline dream data with which to compare the pandemic data. A similar problem occurred when researchers aimed to study <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17470259/">how dreams changed</a> due to the events of 9/11, and after the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1992-26224-001">1989 San Francisco earthquake</a>. </p>
<p>One method is to ask participants whether their dreams have changed during the pandemic, compared to previously. This was done in March 2020, when a representative sample in the US <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/drm0000146">was contacted by YouGov</a>. Nearly 30% of the participants reported that they could remember more dreams, whereas only 7.5% reported lower dream recall. People also reported that their dreams had become more negative emotionally. However, only 8% of respondents actually reported that they’d had a dream with content related to COVID-19. </p>
<p>A second method is to collect written descriptions of dreams, called dream reports, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/drm0000149">compare them to</a> reports collected several years previously by other authors. An <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/drm0000149">online survey</a> such as this was posted by Harvard Medical School researcher <a href="https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/39720">Deirdre Barrett</a> from March to July 2020. It requested the submission of “any dreams you have had related to the COVID-19 coronavirus”.</p>
<p>Dreams from 2,888 people were processed by Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), which is a computerised text analysis method. It identifies emotions, such as happiness or sadness, and other content categories. The study found that pandemic dreams had more negative emotions and fewer positive emotions, compared to pre-pandemic dreams. </p>
<h2>Improving understanding</h2>
<p>The new study, by <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Natalia_Mota5">Natália Mota</a> from the Federal University of Rio Grande in Brazil and colleagues, uses a third method. They collected dream reports from 67 Brazilian participants using the same procedure before and during lockdown. One group of participants had submitted dream reports during September and November 2019, and another submitted them during the Brazilian lockdown in March and April 2020. The two groups of participants were well matched for education level, age and sex distribution. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman sleeping on the bus." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371964/original/file-20201130-17-1u2cqlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371964/original/file-20201130-17-1u2cqlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371964/original/file-20201130-17-1u2cqlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371964/original/file-20201130-17-1u2cqlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371964/original/file-20201130-17-1u2cqlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371964/original/file-20201130-17-1u2cqlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371964/original/file-20201130-17-1u2cqlf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We may process emotions when we dream.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeffery Bennett/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The study assessed all dreams recalled by the participants during each period. Dreams were therefore not selected by the participants. This is important because such selection can bias results. </p>
<p>The study also used LIWC to automatically identify emotional words in the dream reports. In total, 239 dream reports were assessed. The researchers discovered that the dream reports during the pandemic were longer, when measured in words, than pre-pandemic reports. They also noted that pandemic dreams had significantly more anger and sadness than pre-pandemic dreams. This effect was found even when the increased length of dream reports was taken into account. </p>
<p>Fascinatingly, the level of anger and sadness in dreams was also related to how much mental suffering the person had as a result of social isolation during lockdown. This is consistent with the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00459/full">emotional regulation theory</a> of dreaming, which suggests that we process and regulate our emotions when we sleep. Pandemic dreams also had more references to contamination and cleanness. The authors link this to the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15766897/">threat simulation theory</a>, which holds that we practice overcoming threats in the virtual reality of our dreams. </p>
<p>At the end of the study, participants rated how much they observed their dreams or told them to others during the study. It turned out that such behaviour happened more in people who were happy (versus sad), energetic (versus tired), peaceful (versus aggressive), altruistic (versus selfish) and creative (versus confused). </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371814/original/file-20201129-22-1gnlkdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of a lockdown dream of walking alone then dancing with friends." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371814/original/file-20201129-22-1gnlkdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371814/original/file-20201129-22-1gnlkdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371814/original/file-20201129-22-1gnlkdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371814/original/file-20201129-22-1gnlkdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371814/original/file-20201129-22-1gnlkdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371814/original/file-20201129-22-1gnlkdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/371814/original/file-20201129-22-1gnlkdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lockdown dream of walking alone then dancing with friends.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julia Lockheart DreamsID com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This could be because feeling positive makes you more likely to observe and share your dreams. But it may also be that considering your dreams and talking about them has these positive benefits. The latter theory is supported by <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01351/full">work we have conducted</a> on the benefits of dream sharing. In particular, we found that discussing a dream for 30 minutes with a friend or family member and relating it to recent waking life circumstances can make the listener feel empathy towards the person sharing the dream. This can help us feel less lonely.</p>
<p>Perhaps people who share pandemic dreams are more likely to take seriously the fear, anger and sadness they feel – emotions we can often brush away during waking hours. Talking about the dreams with others can therefore be helpful in managing the emotions, rather than suffering in silence.</p>
<p>The authors of the new study conclude that paying attention to and telling our dreams is a “relatively safe way for self-observation and mental health management that can be recommended during this period of uncertainty.” This is evidence for the view that the sharing of dreams with family and friends <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-sleep-how-sharing-your-dreams-could-help-to-improve-your-relationships-137193">has benefits</a> for the dreamer and wider society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Blagrove receives funding from RCUK.
Mark Blagrove and Julia Lockheart comprise and are affiliated with DreamsID as their science art collaboration. </span></em></p>The level of anger and sadness in our dreams may be related to how much we suffer mentally with social isolation.Mark Blagrove, Professor of Psychology, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1457642020-10-26T18:49:15Z2020-10-26T18:49:15ZOur minds may be wandering more during the pandemic — and this can be a good thing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364403/original/file-20201020-21-13wk13e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many feel the coronavirus pandemic has changed not just our everyday lives, but also our inner mental lives. There has been talk of a <a href="https://www.mhvic.org.au/images/PDF/Submission/MHV_input_Mental_Health_Pandemic_Response_Plan.pdf">mental health pandemic</a>, but also of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2020-10-07/what-is-brain-fog-and-what-causes-it/12734948">lockdown brain fog when we are awake</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-covid-19-pandemic-is-changing-our-dreams/">reports of more frequent, vivid, and bizarre dreams when we are asleep</a>. </p>
<p>We tend to think of our waking and dream lives as separate. But it is striking how deeply they are linked. </p>
<p>Spontaneous thought, or mind wandering, occupies <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015331">up to 50% of wakefulness</a>. Our thoughts and attention frequently drift away from what we are doing and what is happening in our immediate surroundings, with one thought following another along an associative trajectory. </p>
<p>Spontaneous thoughts and experiences are also pervasive in sleep. The clearest example is dreaming, which has been described as an <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00412/full">intensified form of the mind wandering</a> that happens when we are awake. </p>
<p>Considering dreaming and mind wandering together suggests the fluctuations in spontaneous experience, the natural ebb and flow of attention and somewhat erratic trajectory of thoughts continue throughout waking and sleep.</p>
<p>In normal circumstances, we mostly <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015331">remain oblivious to the fact our minds have wandered</a>. Most people also only rarely remember their dreams, but when awakened in the sleep laboratory can report multiple dreams per night. Like mind wandering, dreaming is also largely (with the exception of certain <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30880167/">lucid dreams</a>) beyond our control. </p>
<p>However, attention to our inner lives may be amplified at a time when control over our everyday lives is elusive.</p>
<p>Paying attention to your dreams when you first wake up in the morning drastically increases dream recall. And <a href="http://journalpsyche.org/articles/0xc138.pdf">attempting to harness our thoughts and attention throughout the day</a> can actually make us more aware of our failures, including lapses in attention. If you have been paying more attention to your spontaneous thoughts during the pandemic, you might have become more aware of what was were there all along. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364404/original/file-20201020-13-7m9734.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364404/original/file-20201020-13-7m9734.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364404/original/file-20201020-13-7m9734.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364404/original/file-20201020-13-7m9734.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364404/original/file-20201020-13-7m9734.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364404/original/file-20201020-13-7m9734.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364404/original/file-20201020-13-7m9734.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364404/original/file-20201020-13-7m9734.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Melbourne under lockdown: attention to our inner lives may be amplified at a time when control over our everyday lives is elusive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unravelling-the-mysteries-of-sleep-how-the-brain-sees-dreams-45889">Unravelling the mysteries of sleep: how the brain 'sees' dreams</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Changes in spontaneous thought — for better or worse</h2>
<p>If you have been <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)30838-1">sleeping more during lockdown</a>, you are probably experiencing more early morning REM sleep. Because REM sleep is typically associated with the most vivid and complex dreams, this might lead to an increase in actual dreaming.</p>
<p>If you have also ditched your alarm clock, you are probably awakening directly from REM sleep, which further increases dream recall.</p>
<p>The pandemic has also changed what we daydream and <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-covid-19-pandemic-is-changing-our-dreams/">dream about.</a> Waking concerns about the pandemic seem paralleled by more frequent nightmares and dreams <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573961/full">about topics such as social distancing, contagion, or personal protective equipment</a>.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-dreams-may-come-why-youre-having-more-vivid-dreams-during-the-pandemic-137387">What dreams may come: why you're having more vivid dreams during the pandemic</a>
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<p>Some changes to our spontaneous mental lives can indicate something is amiss. Anxiety and stress are linked to increased repetitive thoughts and rumination; trouble focusing, disturbed sleep, nightmares, and unpleasant dreams, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-covid-19-pandemic-is-changing-our-dreams/">all of which seem to have increased during the pandemic</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364405/original/file-20201020-15-fqoadl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364405/original/file-20201020-15-fqoadl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364405/original/file-20201020-15-fqoadl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364405/original/file-20201020-15-fqoadl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364405/original/file-20201020-15-fqoadl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364405/original/file-20201020-15-fqoadl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364405/original/file-20201020-15-fqoadl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364405/original/file-20201020-15-fqoadl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">There are reports of increased nightmares during the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>These repetitive, sticky and non-progressive thoughts <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn.2016.113">contrast with the free, meandering movement that characterises most dreams and mind wandering</a>. </p>
<h2>Spontaneous thought might be beneficial</h2>
<p>The restlessness of our minds might also have a silver lining. Mind wandering certainly does compromise how well we perform tasks demanding attention. But because of their associative nature, dreams and mind wandering can also help make new connections and see familiar topics in a new light. When our minds wander, our thoughts are often drawn to the <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190464745.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190464745">future and personal concerns</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, dreams have the tendency to weave disparate waking experiences and concerns into new and sometimes bizarre narratives. You might encounter a dream character who is a mixture of different people you have been close to at different times in your life. </p>
<p>Or your initially pleasant dream of visiting friends in a faraway city might morph into a nightmare about getting infected, putting your family at risk, and being pursued by the police because you are breaching lockdown. </p>
<p>Spontaneous thoughts in waking and sleep might help process memories and guide future planning and decision making, for example by enabling us to imagine alternative courses of action; they can also be a source of insight and creativity. </p>
<p>Such thoughts may also contribute to coping and emotional processing. Future-oriented mind wandering is often <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190464745.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190464745">positive, whereas past-oriented mind wandering tends to be associated with negative moods and emotions</a>.</p>
<h2>A great escape</h2>
<p>Being in the here and now is often lauded as a virtue we should aim to cultivate through mindfulness. But sometimes, distraction can be useful: <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-015-0993-2">Mind wandering can provide a welcome break from boring tasks</a>, allowing us to return with refreshed attention.</p>
<p>Other times, distraction might just be pleasant. In our dreams, we experience alternative realities; we can travel freely and, because <a href="https://open-mind.net/papers/the-avatars-in-the-machine-dreaming-as-a-simulation-of-social-reality">dreams are rich in social interactions</a>, we can interact with people we are separated from in waking life. </p>
<p>Given the monotony, restrictions, and social isolation many of us are experiencing, the unruliness and unboundedness of our minds might sometimes be a great escape. </p>
<p><em>If you are interested in joining a study on mind wandering and dreaming, please email spontaneous.experiences.sr@gmail.com.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145764/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Windt receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Spontaneous thought, or mind wandering, occupies up to 50% of our time awake. In a time of COVID, the unruliness and unboundedness of our minds might be a great escape.Jennifer Windt, Senior Research Fellow, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1418052020-07-01T14:19:49Z2020-07-01T14:19:49ZPasha 70: Why have I been having weird dreams during the pandemic?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345001/original/file-20200701-159815-pn76w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Sleep is incredibly important for the body and mind. When we sleep our immune system makes antibodies, which help fight off pathogens. That’s obviously vital during a health crisis. But many people have been having disrupted sleep and weird dreams in recent times. </p>
<p>In today’s episode of Pasha, Dale Rae, Director of Sleep Science and a senior researcher at the faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town, discusses why it’s so necessary to sleep well and why the coronavirus is upsetting some people’s rest. </p>
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<p><strong>Photo:</strong>
“Nightmare concept showing a boy on bed facing giant monster in the dark land” By Tithi Luadthong <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/nightmare-concept-showing-boy-on-bed-1486924805">Shutterstock</a></p>
<p><strong>Music</strong>
“Happy African Village” by John Bartmann, found on <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/John_Bartmann/Public_Domain_Soundtrack_Music_Album_One/happy-african-village">FreeMusicArchive.org</a> licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1</a>.</p>
<p>“Nobody Sleep” by Paolo Pavan found on <a href="https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Paolo_Pavan/The_Swing_of_Things_1107/Nobody_Sleep">Free Music Archive</a> licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Why is the coronavirus affecting my sleep and dreams?Ozayr Patel, Digital EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1385622020-05-29T00:30:06Z2020-05-29T00:30:06ZJourney to the land of lockdown dreams<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335841/original/file-20200518-83384-a0n5eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C1597%2C926&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still from the film _Dreams_ by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the Covid-19 crisis has unfolded, <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/21240/enforced-covid-19-lockdowns-by-people-affected-per-country/">billions of people in the world</a> have learned just what the word “lockdown” means. As the days stretched into weeks and even months, sleep was one of the rare escapes from confinement – but maybe not even then. Ask around and you will probably find that others in your circle of friends and family feel the same way: while locked down, our dreams can seem more intense, and even more troubling. But why should this be? </p>
<p>Throughout our lives, sleep provides the brain with crucial time needed to rebuild, repair, and prepare for the next day. Hippocrates himself thought that a good night’s sleep was key to good health, along with a healthy diet, exercise and a fulfilling sex life. Our current knowledge substantiates this: sleep plays a role in many major physiological processes, including eliminating waste, boosting immunity, consolidating memory and even maintaining positive mood. A good night’s sleep really does wonders.</p>
<p>Yet our obligations – our pastimes, even – are often detrimental to our sleep. Those who must get up early each day to drive an hour to work frequently miss out on some sleep. Massive amounts of screen time lead to chronic sleep restriction, with longer-term consequences, including raising rates of obesity, diabetes risk and high blood pressure. Even a small daily sleep deficit affects our concentration and attention, and this deficit is only partially offset by sleeping more over the weekend.</p>
<h2>Longer nights, deeper sleep</h2>
<p>The residents of France emerged from the country’s lockdown on May 11, many having spent 55 straight days inside. They emerged to find a city streets strangely quiet, as if in a dream. Under lockdown, many had been able to savour a pleasure usually reserved for weekends or retirement: an extra hour of sleep. Those able to work from home no longer have a daily commute, and could rest a little longer. Nights in the city were also quieter, with fewer cars and motorbikes to disturb the silence – in the morning, you can even hear birdsong in the heart of Paris. And the less interrupted our sleep is, the better we remember of our dreams.</p>
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<p>The extra hour of morning sleep we have during lockdown is chiefly rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, where the bulk of dreaming takes place. The longest episodes of REM sleep occur at the end of the night, and can last between 30 and 60 minutes. This means people living under lockdown dream more, as they might when on holiday, and their dreams are longer, <a href="https://presse.inserm.fr/en/why-does-the-brain-remember-dreams/11156/">as was shown recently by Perrine Ruby</a>, a research fellow at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre.</p>
<p>But is there anything unusual about these dreams?</p>
<h2>The stuff our dreams are made of</h2>
<p>Outside of lockdown, what are our REM-state dreams like? Large surveys of dreams show that the content of our night-time adventures is fairly ordinary, visual and auditory. Dreams are filled with emotions, but they are more often negative (fear, anger, sadness) than positive. Although we frequently have human interactions, they’re only rarely of a sexual nature. The content of our dreams is largely sourced from our daily lives: we see our loved ones and colleagues, move through familiar settings, go about our work and rehash our day-to-day worries.</p>
<p>Ordinary events from the previous day or two feature heavily, but in a troubled and somewhat dramatized form. The majority of our dreams follow this continuity between the dream and the real world, although we sometimes dream of worlds we’ve never seen and actions we’ve never taken. Who hasn’t experienced the thrill of flying in dreams? These eccentricities are rare, yet they make a lasting impression and lend the word “dream” its extraordinary connotation.</p>
<p>According to Freud, dreams in lockdown should feature the things we lack. Deprived our of freedom of movement and our loved ones, we might dream of open spaces, social events or the kinds of food we can no longer eat. Research has shown that this may not be the case, however. For example, in a 1970s study, California researcher Bill Dement restricted subjects’ water intake for 48 hours to see if they would start <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13563767">dreaming of fountains</a>. They did not.</p>
<p>So, what do we dream of in lockdown?</p>
<h2>What we dream of in lockdown</h2>
<p>It’s important to note up front that we are in the realms of anecdote and clinical experience rather than hard science. For that, we will have to wait for the results of properly regulated studies currently underway.</p>
<p>As can be expected, the content of dreams in lockdown varies. Recent daily life and those close to us have always been an intrinsic part of our dreams, and while dreams in lockdown sometimes feature idyllic countryside escapes, the threat of the virus has invaded our days (and, for doctors, our work in the hospital) and so has also invaded our dreamscapes.</p>
<p>Over the course of the lockdown, the masked faces and blue scrubs of hospital staff have started to appear in our patients’ dreams. Many people – and by no means just those experiencing the most stress – wake up suddenly at night feeling as if they’re choking, have a fever, or have barely escaped some catastrophe. Bad dreams are common in stressful situations, and lend credibility to a recent theory that one of the purposes of dreams is to virtually simulate threats so as to be able to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18325788">better face them during the day</a>.</p>
<p>Almost all medical students at the Sorbonne University dream of failing their competitive exams the day before. In their dreams, they show up late, are suddenly struck with appendicitis, can’t find their way to the exam room, can’t understand the questions, or don’t know the answers. Yet we have demonstrated that the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25108280">more they fail in dreams, the better they perform on the exam</a>. It is if, after such a nightmare, students were less stressed under real conditions, or were able to anticipate, like chess players, the twists fate might have in store.</p>
<p>Dreams of difficulties and failure abound in all professions: before an important stage debut, actors dream of forgetting their lines; the day before the Olympics, athletes dream of losing their running shoes; taxi drivers find themselves on unknown streets, or far from destinations.</p>
<p>And when a virus threatens humanity, we dream of the virus. In this way, too, we are fighting it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabelle Arnulf received funding from Plan National Maladies Rares, Fondation Kleine-Levin syndrome, Académie des Sciences, IHU@ICM, Société Française de Médecine et de Recherche sur le Sommeil, FUI Banque Publique France, and UCB Pharma.</span></em></p>Dreams that are more vivid, more frequent and more striking… Lockdown seems to trouble our nights as well as our days, and there’s reason to believe that’s not just a figment of our imagination.Isabelle Arnulf, Neurologue, professeur de médecine, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière - U1127, InsermLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1371932020-05-13T11:47:38Z2020-05-13T11:47:38ZThe science of sleep: how sharing your dreams could help to improve your relationships<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334678/original/file-20200513-156656-70ptc7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=845%2C1064%2C7521%2C5291&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Storytelling and empathy – the power of sharing your dreams.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julia Lockheart/Sleep Lab</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you wake up from a strange or particularly memorable dream, how likely are you to share it? Maybe you might tell your partner about it over breakfast or text a friend to tell them the details and ponder over its meaning. </p>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/amerjpsyc.123.1.0093?seq=1">about 15% of dreams are shared</a> – mainly with romantic partners, friends and relatives. And if you don’t currently share your dreams, you might want to start thinking about it, as research also suggests that it can help to improve <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J398v03n01_04">relationship intimacy</a>. </p>
<p>This echoes our <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01351/full">recent research</a> at the Swansea University Sleep Laboratory which shows that sharing your dreams and listening to other people’s dreams can help to improve your empathy levels. Indeed, we found that when people share dreams with each other, the person discussing their dream significantly increases their empathy towards the person they are sharing the dream with. </p>
<p>There is much evidence that sleep benefits the <a href="https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jsr.12457">processing of important and emotional memories</a>. And we often dream of our waking-life emotional experiences and concerns. So some researchers have suggested that our dreams have a role in, or reflect, the neural processing of emotional and important memories in sleep. </p>
<p>The Swansea University Sleep Laboratory has undertaken many lab studies on the relationship of dreams to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1074742715000246?via%3Dihub">memory and emotional processing</a>. But we also look at the effects of the dreamer discussing their dream content and <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00831/full">relating it to their waking life</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-dream-135609">Why do we dream?</a>
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<p>We have found that discussing a dream for approximately an hour with trained experimenters can result in “aha” moments for people. These can include realisations of where items of <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2018-64659-001.pdf">dream content</a> came from in waking life, and of metaphorical references to particular concerns, issues or events – that may not have been easily seen or understood during waking hours.</p>
<h2>Dream drawings</h2>
<p>We quickly realised how much people seem to enjoy sharing their dreams, so we set up a science art collaboration, called <a href="http://dreamsid.com/index.html">DreamsID</a> – Dreams Illustrated and Discussed. </p>
<p>We hold public events with discussions of people’s dreams. Simultaneous with each discussion, artist Dr Julia Lockheart paints each dream so the dreamer has a permanent reminder of it. The dreamer can then discuss it at home with family and friends. </p>
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<p>It was Sigmund Freud who first traced the links between <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01553">dreams and memory</a>, so Lockheart paints on to pages torn (with publisher’s permission) from Freud’s book <a href="https://www.freud.org.uk/learn/discover-psychoanalysis/the-interpretation-of-dreams/">The Interpretation of Dreams</a>. Since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, we are doing this online with healthcare and key workers. This enables live participation from around the world.</p>
<p>One example, illustrated below, shows the dream of nurse recovering from COVID-19: “I tried to warn people in a party of the dangerous forest outside but they would not listen. I then saw a dead body in a nearby hospital-like room, and an old ventilator, and a cat jumped on my face and was suffocating me”.</p>
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<p>Hearing and discussing dreams in this way over several years was the inspiration for research into dreams and empathy. We found that the sharing of dreams had a powerful effect on us as well as on audience members and family and friends of the dreamer. And it was this that got us wondering about the importance of dream sharing and relationships.</p>
<h2>Closer connections</h2>
<p>We recruited pairs of people, already in a relationship or friends, who would be tested for their level of empathy towards each other. For this we used <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10570314.2010.512278">an empathy questionnaire</a> with statements for participants to agree or disagree with – such as: </p>
<ul>
<li>My friend’s/partner’s emotions are genuine. </li>
<li>I can see my friend’s/partner’s point of view. </li>
<li>I can understand what my friend/partner goes through. </li>
<li>When I talk to my friend/partner, I am fully absorbed. </li>
</ul>
<p>One member of each pair then shared and discussed one or more of their dreams with the other member of the pair, over a two-week period. Both people then completed the empathy questionnaire again after each dream discussion. And we found that the person discussing their dream had significantly <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01351/full">increased empathy towards the person sharing their dream</a>. </p>
<p>Research shows that engaging with literary fiction – which includes films and plays – can also increase one’s empathy. This is because you get to understand the world being portrayed and take on the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2008.00073.x">perspectives of the characters</a>. We believe that dreams act in a similar way – as a piece of fiction. So when the dream is explored by the dreamer – and by those it’s shared with – it induces empathy about the life circumstances of the dreamer. </p>
<p>As sharing our dreams enhances emotional disclosures between people, it may also be that, from an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02036-8">evolutionary perspective</a>, the storytelling aspect of dream-sharing helps in terms of social bonding.</p>
<h2>Dreams and lockdown</h2>
<p>Under lockdown, some people are sleeping for longer, and wake without alarm clocks or an immediate schedule. Many people are also reporting having <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-dream-135609">stranger dreams</a>. So there is an opportunity here for dreams to be recalled and held in <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dreaming-in-the-digital-age/202004/people-may-be-remembering-more-dreams-during-the-pandemic">memory rather than forgotten</a>. </p>
<p>There is also likely to be more time than usual for couples or families to share their dreams – and with it, to boost their empathy levels. This could be a helpful tool given that, <a href="https://theconversation.com/lockdown-challenges-what-evolution-tells-us-about-our-need-for-personal-space-136527">with limited personal space</a>, relationships may be feeling a little fragile right now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137193/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Blagrove receives funding from RCUK. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Lockheart and Mark Blagrove comprise and are affiliated with DreamsID as their science art collaboration. </span></em></p>Listening to other people’s dreams can help to improve your empathy levels.Mark Blagrove, Professor of Psychology, Swansea UniversityJulia Lockheart, Senior Lecturer and Head of Contextual Practices, University of Wales Trinity Saint DavidLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1373872020-05-01T07:06:19Z2020-05-01T07:06:19ZWhat dreams may come: why you’re having more vivid dreams during the pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331681/original/file-20200430-42923-52ezge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C3888%2C2438&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bruce Rolff/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>An interesting side effect of the coronavirus pandemic is the number of people who say they are having <a href="https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/its-having-impact-why-you-shouldnt-stress-over-vivid-covid-19-quaran-dreams">vivid dreams</a>.</p>
<p>Many are turning to <a href="https://neptunearchive.org/COVID-19-COLLECTIVE-DREAM-JOURNAL">blogs</a> and social media to describe their experiences.</p>
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<p>While such dreams can be confusing or distressing, dreaming is normal and considered helpful in processing our waking situation, which for many people is far from normal at the moment.</p>
<h2>While we are sleeping</h2>
<p>Adults are recommended to sleep for <a href="https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need">seven to nine hours</a> to maintain optimal health and well-being.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-wonder-isolations-so-tiring-all-those-extra-tiny-decisions-are-taxing-our-brains-136965">No wonder isolation's so tiring. All those extra, tiny decisions are taxing our brains</a>
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<p>When we sleep we go through different stages which cycle throughout the night. This includes light and deep sleep and a period known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which features more prominently in the second half of the night. As the name implies, during REM sleep the eyes move rapidly.</p>
<p>Dreams can occur within all sleep stages but REM sleep is considered responsible for highly emotive and visual <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-dreaming-9618">dreams</a>. </p>
<p>We typically have several REM dream periods a night, yet we do not necessarily remember the experiences and content. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn915" title="The cognitive neuroscience of sleep: neuronal systems, consciousness and learning">Researchers</a> have identified that REM sleep has unique properties that help us regulate our mood, performance and cognitive functioning. </p>
<p>Some say dreams act like a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810017302283" title="Social contents in dreams: An empirical test of the Social Simulation Theory">defence mechanism</a> for our mental health, by giving us a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810003000199" title="The threat simulation theory of the evolutionary function of dreaming: Evidence from dreams of traumatized children">simulated</a> opportunity to work through our fears and to rehearse for stressful real-life events.</p>
<p>This global pandemic and associated restrictions may have impacts on how and when we sleep. This has positive effects for some and negative effects for others. Both situations can lead to heightened recollection of dreams.</p>
<h2>Disrupted sleep and dreams</h2>
<p>During this pandemic, studies from <a href="http://www.chinadailyhk.com/article/126633" title="Insomnia and rise in anxiety emerge as big problems">China</a> and the <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/life-under-lockdown-coronavirus-uk">UK</a> show many people are reporting a heightened state of anxiety and are having shorter or more disturbed sleep.</p>
<p>Ruminating about the pandemic, either directly or via the media, just before going to bed can work against our need to relax and get a good night’s sleep. It may also provide fodder for dreams.</p>
<p>When we are sleep deprived, the pressure for REM sleep increases and so at the next sleep opportunity a so-called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810017302271" title="Daytime microsleeps during 7 days of sleep restriction followed by 13 days of sleep recovery in healthy young adults">rebound</a> in REM sleep occurs. During this time dreams are reportedly more <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-but-true-less-sleep-means-more-dreams/">vivid</a> and emotional than usual.</p>
<h2>More time in bed</h2>
<p>Other studies indicate that people may be <a href="https://evidation.com/news/covid-19-pulse-first-data-evidation/">sleeping more</a> and <a href="https://blog.fitbit.com/covid-19-sleep-patterns/">moving less</a> during the pandemic. </p>
<p>If you’re working and learning from home on flexible schedules without the usual commute it means you avoid the morning rush and don’t need to get up so early. Heightened dream <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18556915/" title="Dream Recall, Dream Length, and Sleep Duration: State or Trait Factor">recall</a> has been associated with having a longer sleep as well as waking more naturally from a state of REM sleep.</p>
<p>If you’re at home with other people you have a captive audience and time to exchange dream stories in the morning. The act of sharing dreams reinforces our memory of them. It might also prepare us to <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/remembering-dreams-psychology#1">remember</a> more on subsequent nights.</p>
<p>This has likely created a spike in dream recall and interest during this time.</p>
<h2>The pandemic concerns</h2>
<p>Dreaming can help us to cope mentally with our waking situation as well as simply reflect <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00459/full" title="The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes">realities and concerns</a>.</p>
<p>In this time of heightened alert and changing social norms, our brains have much more to process during sleep and dreaming. More stressful dream content is to be expected if we feel anxious or stressed in relation to the pandemic, or our working or family situations.</p>
<p>Hence more <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/04-04-2020/you-arent-the-only-one-having-buzzy-covid-dreams/">reports</a> of dreams containing fear, embarrassment, social taboos, occupational stress, grief and loss, unreachable family, as well as more literal dreams around contamination or disease are <a href="https://www.idreamofcovid.com/dreams">being recorded</a>.</p>
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<p>An increase in unusual or vivid dreams and nightmares is not surprising. Such experiences have been reported before at times associated with sudden change, anxiety or <a href="https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-trauma-can-affect-your-dreams">trauma</a>, such as the aftermath of the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-terror-attacks-dreams/impact-of-9-11-terror-attacks-evident-in-dreams-idUSKIM95168020080219">terrorist attacks</a> in the US in 2001, or <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11752360/" title="Sleep Disturbances in the Wake of Traumatic Events">natural disasters or war</a>. </p>
<p>Those with an <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3690155" title="Bad Dream Frequency in Older Adults with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Prevalence, Correlates, and Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Anxiety">anxiety disorder</a> or experiencing the trauma first-hand are highly likely also to experience changes to dreams.</p>
<p>But such changes are also reported by those <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11752360/" title="Sleep Disturbances in the Wake of Traumatic Events">witnessing</a> events like the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-terror-attacks-dreams/impact-of-9-11-terror-attacks-evident-in-dreams-idUSKIM95168020080219">9/11</a> attacks second-hand or via the media.</p>
<h2>Problems solved in dreams</h2>
<p>One <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00459/full" title="The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes">theory on dreams</a> is they serve to process the emotional demands of the day, to commit experiences to memory, solve problems, adapt and <a href="http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory">learn</a>.</p>
<p>This is achieved through the reactivation of particular brain areas during REM sleep and the consolidation of neural connections. </p>
<p>During REM the areas of the brain responsible for emotions, memory, behaviour and vision are reactivated (as opposed to those required for logical thinking, reasoning and movement, which remain in a state of rest).</p>
<p>The activity and connections made during dreaming are considered to be guided by the dreamer’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810017302283" title="Social contents in dreams: An empirical test of the Social Simulation Theory">waking activities</a>, exposures and <a href="https://open-mind.net/papers/the-avatars-in-the-machine-dreaming-as-a-simulation-of-social-reality">stressors</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/while-we-wait-for-a-coronavirus-vaccine-eating-well-exercising-and-managing-stress-can-boost-your-immune-system-137255">While we wait for a coronavirus vaccine, eating well, exercising and managing stress can boost your immune system</a>
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<p>The neural activity has been proposed to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn915">synthesise</a> learning and memory. The actual dream experience is more a by-product of this activity, which we assemble into a more logical narrative when the remainder of the brain attempts to catch up and reason with the activity on waking.</p>
<h2>Please … go to sleep</h2>
<p>If disrupted sleep and dreams are problematic or distressing for you, consider how your sleep schedule and behaviour has changed with the pandemic. Maybe seek advice for supporting your sleep and well-being during this time.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I at the <a href="https://www.sleepwake.ac.nz/">Sleep/Wake Research Centre</a> have produced several <a href="https://www.sleepwake.ac.nz/what-we-do/covid-19-resources/">information sheets</a> on sleep during the pandemic.</p>
<p>We are also conducting a <a href="https://massey.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_e3EQd7khA328R0h">survey</a> concerning the sleep of people living in New Zealand. This explores factors affecting sleep during the pandemic, and participants can comment on their dreaming.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137387/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Gibson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At times of anxiety and trauma an increase in unusual or vivid dreams and nightmares is not surprising.Rosie Gibson, Research Officer, Sleep/Wake Research Centre, College of Health, Massey UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1356092020-04-14T14:21:15Z2020-04-14T14:21:15ZWhy do we dream?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326828/original/file-20200409-152855-1ye7wfe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C37%2C3567%2C2576&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/lucid-dreaming-series-background-design-human-266440211">agsandrew/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although science knows <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-going-on-in-your-brain-when-you-sleep-39723">what dreams are</a>, it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/was-freud-right-about-dreams-after-all-heres-the-research-that-helps-explain-it-60884">still not known exactly why we dream</a>, although plenty of theories exist. </p>
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<p>Dreams are patterns of sensory information that occur when the brain is in a resting state – as in asleep. It is generally assumed that dreams only occur during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep – this is when the brain appears to be in an active state but the individual is asleep and in a state of paralysis. But <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep30932">studies</a> have shown that they can also happen outside of REM. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11121/">Research</a> from sleep studies, for example, shows that REM-related dreams tend to be more <a href="https://sleepcouncil.org.uk/advice-support/sleep-hub/sleep-disorders/vivid-dreams/">fantastical, more colourful and vivid</a> whereas non-REM dreams are more concrete and usually characterised in black and white. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.4545">Recent studies</a> <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=b0aIDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=the+neuroscience+of+sleep+and+dreams&ots=qbODZ3adQl&sig=TPNT54zZyOR3OOJathElv9d3W4M&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20neuroscience%20of%20sleep%20and%20dreams&f=false">on dreaming</a> show that during a dream (and in particular a REM-related dream) the emotional centre of the brain is highly active whereas the logical rational centre of the brain is slowed. This can help explain why these dreams are more emotive and surreal. </p>
<p>Evolutionary theory suggests <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-23047-005">the purpose of dreams</a> is to learn, in a safe way, how to deal with challenging or threatening situations. Whereas the “memory consolidation” theory suggests that dreams are a byproduct of reorganising memory in response to what has been learned throughout the day. </p>
<p>Both theories have at least one thing in common – during times of stress and anxiety we either dream more or remember our dreams more often, as a way of coping with challenging circumstances and new information.
This is also in line with another theory of dreaming – <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3330663/">the mood regulatory function of dreams theory</a>, where the function of dreams is to problem-solve emotional issues.</p>
<h2>Anxiety and stress dreams</h2>
<p>While there is no evidence that we dream more when we are stressed, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Schredl/publication/47541043_Nightmare_frequency_in_patients_with_primary_insomnia/links/5687b01b08ae051f9af57f0a/Nightmare-frequency-in-patients-with-primary-insomnia.pdf">research shows</a> we are more likely to remember our dreams because our sleep is poorer and we tend to wake in the night more frequently. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389945715009053">Studies show</a> the dreams of people with insomnia (a disorder largely characterised by stress) contain more negative emotion and are more focused on the self, in a negative light. Also, the dreams of people with insomnia tend to focus on current life stressors, anxieties and can leave an individual with a low mood the following day. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326138/original/file-20200407-60103-107m9tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326138/original/file-20200407-60103-107m9tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326138/original/file-20200407-60103-107m9tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326138/original/file-20200407-60103-107m9tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326138/original/file-20200407-60103-107m9tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326138/original/file-20200407-60103-107m9tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326138/original/file-20200407-60103-107m9tc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘And then I was sitting on top of a palm tree in a white plastic chair.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/contemporary-art-collage-vacation-summer-mood-1461477758">Evgeniya Porechenskaya/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Outside of insomnia, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twenty-four-Hour-Mind-Dreaming-Emotional/dp/0199896283">research has found</a> that people who are depressed, while going through a divorce, appear to dream differently compared to those who are not depressed. They rate their dreams as more unpleasant. Interestingly though the study found that those depressed volunteers who dreamt of their ex-spouse were more likely to have recovered from their depression a year later compared to those that did not dream of the ex-spouse. Participants whose dreams changed over time, to become less angry and more pragmatic, also showed the greatest improvements. The question is why?</p>
<p>Although our senses are dampened during sleep (with vision being completely absent), strong sensory information, such as an alarm, will be registered and in some cases incorporated into the dream itself. We also know that during times of stress we are more vigilant to threat (on cognitive, emotional and behavioural levels), so it stands to reason that we are more likely to incorporate internal and external signals into our dreams, as a way to manage them. And this may account for these changes in our dreams, when we are anxious, depressed or sleeping badly. </p>
<h2>How to sleep better</h2>
<p>The current thinking is stress reduction before bed and good sleep management – such as keeping a consistent sleep routine, using the bedroom only for sleep, making sure the bedroom is cool, dark, quiet and free from anything arousing – will reduce awakenings at night and so the frequency of stress-related negative dreams. </p>
<p>That said, using a technique called <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-we-one-day-heal-the-mind-by-taking-control-of-our-dreams-60886">Imagery Rehearsal Therapy</a> (IRT), mainly used for treating nightmares in people with post-traumatic stress disorder, it appears stress and anxiety associated with nightmares and bad dreams as well as the frequency of bad dreams can be reduced. This is achieved by re-imagining the ending of the dream or the context of the dream, making it less threatening. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326147/original/file-20200407-66040-pb7hkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326147/original/file-20200407-66040-pb7hkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326147/original/file-20200407-66040-pb7hkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326147/original/file-20200407-66040-pb7hkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326147/original/file-20200407-66040-pb7hkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326147/original/file-20200407-66040-pb7hkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326147/original/file-20200407-66040-pb7hkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The night I became a pink unicorn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/contemporary-art-collage-lady-vintage-watermelon-1461477755">Evgeniya Porechenskaya/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>There is also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15402000902762360%208.">evidence</a> that IRT is effective for <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/df5d/92ed9f1830dea20a46c763bbc92e4aa911ff.pdf">reducing nightmares in children</a>. Although IRT is thought to be successful by giving the dreamer a sense of control over the dream, this hasn’t been well studied in people who are stressed or anxious. </p>
<p>That said, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15402002.2020.1739688">a recent study</a> showed that teaching people with insomnia to be aware while they were dreaming and <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-a-lucid-dream-researcher-heres-how-to-train-your-brain-to-do-it-118901">to control the dream</a>, as it occurs – known as <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/04/the-ways-to-control-dreaming/360032/">lucid dreaming training</a> – not only reduced their insomnia symptoms but also reduced their symptoms of anxiety and depression. Perhaps then the key is to manage the dreams as opposed to trying to manage the stress – especially in uncertain times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Ellis is director of Sleep Research and Consulting Limited. He has received funding from Health Education England North East, Public Health England, Calms, Irish Rugby Football Union, NIHR, ESRC, Wellcome Trust, Sleep Council, UCB Pharma, NHS Education Scotland, NHS Wales. He has consulted to UCB Pharma, Eisai, Sanofi Aventis, Vermillion Press, Unmind and Third City.</span></em></p>During times of stress and anxiety we either dream more or remember our dreams more often, as a way of coping with challenging circumstances and new information.Jason Ellis, Professor of Sleep Science, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1326712020-03-18T14:31:12Z2020-03-18T14:31:12ZWhat inspired Joseph Shabalala’s genius - in his own words<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320090/original/file-20200312-111253-1wcxwdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Warner/WireImage</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Joseph Shabalala was the leader of the internationally renowned <a href="https://mambazo.com/">Ladysmith Black Mambazo</a>, and the best-known exponent of the unaccompanied male choral style known as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/isicathamiya">isicathamiya</a>. Appropriately, tributes following his <a href="https://theconversation.com/of-strong-winds-heavy-hearts-and-joseph-shabalala-telling-the-south-african-story-131848">recent</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/dance-softly-and-carry-a-big-voice-understanding-joseph-shabalala-131939">death</a> have reminded us of the extraordinary achievements of this most celebrated of South African composers working within a popular endogenous idiom. </p>
<p>But they have left largely untouched questions about what lay behind those achievements: the sources of his creative energies, his beliefs about what he was doing, his wishes about what he wanted to achieve. </p>
<p>I came by the some of that information along several routes. </p>
<p>Joseph and I had a long friendship; we enjoyed a professional association that culminated in his appointment as an honorary professor of music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal; and I had the privilege of sitting down with him over a period of six months for a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3060865?seq=7#metadata_info_tab_contents">series of focused discussions</a> to probe these very questions. In a characteristically generous move, he also gave me access to his hand-written private notebooks, filled with his musical and music-teaching reflections.</p>
<h2>The school of dreams</h2>
<p>One of the core topics we broached was the question of how he learnt his craft as a composer. His answer was startling: for a period of six months in 1964, he was visited in his dreams every night by a choir “from above” who sang to him. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m sleeping, but I’m watching the show. I saw myself sleeping but watching, just like when you are watching TV.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Shabalala compared this experience to that of going to school. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was lucky to be trained by that spiritual group. These people were my teachers. I learnt everything about music from those people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But why compose at all? What provided the particular impulses for Shabalala’s songs? He had more than a single answer. He would say things like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sometimes you can hear the music when you just keep quiet. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But pressed to be more specific, his answers would become less mystical.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The composition comes from your eyes. You see something. You see something and you want to correct if that thing is wrong, or you want to praise if that thing is right. You feel maybe this thing’s not good, how can I correct this? Or you feel like, how can I tell the people that this thing’s good, we must all do things like this, I wish to see this again? Alright, alright let me make a song about it!</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320087/original/file-20200312-111268-5069hg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320087/original/file-20200312-111268-5069hg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320087/original/file-20200312-111268-5069hg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320087/original/file-20200312-111268-5069hg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320087/original/file-20200312-111268-5069hg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=301&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320087/original/file-20200312-111268-5069hg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320087/original/file-20200312-111268-5069hg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320087/original/file-20200312-111268-5069hg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joseph Shabalala leads Ladysmith Black Mambazo in a performance in Washington in 2007. Photo by.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At heart, Shabalala was motivated by a belief of disarming simplicity – that, as he once put it to me,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Music is for peace. When you sing, you feel like you want people to come together and love each other and share ideas.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He attributed by far the largest and most important part of the process of composing music to what occurred while he was asleep. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>When I’m sleeping my spirit does the work. Sometimes at night when I’m sleeping, I will discover my wife shaking me – says, ‘Hey what’s going on? Are you singing now?’ So that’s why I say: When my flesh is sleeping, it’s daytime in my spirit.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He described this sleep-time work as “a beautiful teaching at night”. He might have laboured over a song during the day, but</p>
<blockquote>
<p>at night when you relax, you feel like there’s somebody who is next to you, talking to you, correcting you. To me, it’s just like a school at night. In fact, I’m just like somebody who has an advisor all the time when I think about music.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A quest to be original</h2>
<p>Linked to Shabalala’s wish to contribute to the betterment of society, was the unrelenting demand he made of himself to try always to do something new as a composer. He lived with the injunction to be original, to surpass himself, to do what had never been achieved before within the isicathamiya idiom. </p>
<p>This could become a burden – and nowhere more so than in the commercial recording studio, where his ideals clashed with the studio’s primary commitment to produce a profitable commodity. </p>
<p>Shabalala’s impulse to do better often had the effect of making his music more complex: it became more difficult to rehearse, to perform, to record, and its tendencies were often at odds with the formulaic expectations of the record producers. In years gone by, he recalled, he would take his group to the studio to record an album and be finished in five hours. But at the apex of his career this would take a week – or even longer if he was dissatisfied with the results.</p>
<p>Most dramatically, this became manifest in Shabalala’s growing resistance to the three- or four-minute song. Had his ambition been granted, he would have abolished such limitations altogether. Indeed, so “policed” was he by these industry standards that they were worryingly with him from the first rehearsal of a new song. Even at that early stage he would check the length of the piece against the clock, discuss the matter with the group, have them sing through the song without any repetitions. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bq_zSSOCEZA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s song Long Walk to Freedom was released in 2006.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For what he ultimately aspired to was to make an album consisting of a single, unbroken song. Once he went as far as to propose the idea to his producer at Gallo Music Productions.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I said, can you allow me to make an album, just sing, not stopping? Just sing, just sing. I can give different melodies – but not stop, just sing right through. Just to tell the people a story. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Of course, this flew in the face of industry commodification, and the request was ridiculed. “He was laughing at me!” Shabalala said. “He was just laughing at me!”</p>
<p>Aesthetic that wish certainly was, but it was also inseparable from Shabalala’s unremitting ambition to find better ways to help bring about a more humane world. That ambition found many expressive modalities in his work and practice. One of my personal favourites is a typically poetic entry in one of his notebooks. In a section entitled <em>Practical Advice to Composers: On the need for authenticity</em>, he writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Look for the sound that has not been heard. Cattle don’t bellow in the same way. How do the calves low? How does a goat bleat? How does a crow crow, and how does it communicate with a hen? There are many birds – they do not sing in the same way.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such were the values that Shabalala lived for, and that came to life in his huge output of songs for his multiple <a href="https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/ladysmith-black-mambazo">Grammy-award-winning</a> vocal group. He leaves a legacy not just to admire, but also to ponder. It is one from which we have things to learn.</p>
<p><em>This article is based on research originally published in The British Journal of Ethnomusicology. Read the paper over <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3060865?seq=7#metadata_info_tab_contents">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Ballantine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A period of intense dreaming in 1964 shaped the entire body of the late Joseph Shabalala’s songs. In these rare in-depth interviews, he spoke of his beliefs and inspirations.Christopher Ballantine, Professor of Music Emeritus, and University Fellow, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1260182019-11-04T02:36:24Z2019-11-04T02:36:24ZCurious Kids: how do fish sleep?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299379/original/file-20191030-154716-1wc4d64.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C3%2C2026%2C1355&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Ringtail Unicornfish, which occurs in tropical marine waters of the Indo-Pacific. All fish sleep, even the weird-looking ones.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bernard Spragg/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>How do fish sleep? Do they keep swimming or do they sleep somewhere? – Anna, age 5, Thornleigh, NSW, Australia.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291898/original/file-20190911-190031-enlxbk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=90&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p>
<hr>
<p>Nearly all animals sleep. Sleep is very important for refreshing the mind and body. When people sleep we close our eyes and lie motionless for a long time. We may be less aware of what is going on around us and our breathing slows down. Some people are very heavy sleepers and it takes a LOT to wake them up!</p>
<p>Fish don’t have eyelids — they don’t need them underwater because dust can’t get in their eyes. But fish still sleep. Some sleep during the day and only wake up at night, while others sleep at night and are awake through the day (just like you and I).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299378/original/file-20191030-154707-1n7h8ay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299378/original/file-20191030-154707-1n7h8ay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299378/original/file-20191030-154707-1n7h8ay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299378/original/file-20191030-154707-1n7h8ay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299378/original/file-20191030-154707-1n7h8ay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299378/original/file-20191030-154707-1n7h8ay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299378/original/file-20191030-154707-1n7h8ay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A happy puffer fish.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do fish know when it’s bedtime?</h2>
<p>It’s pretty easy to tell when fish are sleeping: they lie motionless, often at the bottom or near the surface of the water. They are slow to respond to things going on around them, or may not respond at all (see some sleeping catfish <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N15GyYRy7c">here</a>). If you watch their gills, you’ll notice they’re breathing very slowly.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-are-stars-made-122787">Curious Kids: how are stars made?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>People with fish tanks at home will know that when the lights go off at night, the fish become far less active. If you turn a light on in the middle of the night you’ll see how still they are.</p>
<p>Like people, fish have an internal clock that tells them when to do things like sleep and eat. So even if you accidentally leave the lights on at night, the fish may settle down and go to sleep anyway.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-N15GyYRy7c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video showing sleeping catfish.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some scientists have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982211002922?via%3Dihub">studied sleep</a> in fish that live in caves where it is always dark. Even in some of these species there are times of low activity that look just like sleep. Of course there is no sunrise or sunset in caves so their rhythm is often different to fish that live at the surface in bright sunshine.</p>
<p>Some fish, like tuna and some sharks, have to swim all the time so that they can breathe. Its likely that these fish sleep with half their brain at a time, just like dolphins.</p>
<p>Parrot fish <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdzAUQ4juH4">make a mucus cocoon</a> around themselves at night — a gross, sticky sleeping bag which might protect them from parasites attacking them while they sleep.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299377/original/file-20191030-154699-lcvok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/299377/original/file-20191030-154699-lcvok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299377/original/file-20191030-154699-lcvok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299377/original/file-20191030-154699-lcvok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299377/original/file-20191030-154699-lcvok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299377/original/file-20191030-154699-lcvok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/299377/original/file-20191030-154699-lcvok0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fish don’t need eyelids because dust can’t get in their eyes - but they still sleep.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gavin Leung/Flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Fish may dream like people do!</h2>
<p>One wonders if fish dream while they are sleeping. So far we don’t have the answer to that question but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ZaFwYI3AE">recent video footage</a> of a sleeping octopus showed it changing colours, which suggests it may have been dreaming about hiding from a predator or sneaking up on its own prey (which is why octopuses change colour when they’re awake).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-is-the-sea-salty-124743">Curious Kids: why is the sea salty?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Believe it or not, fish sleep is being studied to help us better understand sleep in people. Most of <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/revneuro.2011.22.issue-1/rns.2011.005/rns.2011.005.xml">these studies</a> use zebrafish and try to understand things like the effects of sleep deprivation (lack of sleep), insomnia (trouble getting to sleep) and circadian rhythm (sleep cycles).</p>
<p>Here is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55YwDntyKu0">a cool video</a> about sleep in animals, including fish.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au</em> — —</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126018/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Culum Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fish may not have eyelids to close, but they sleep – and perhaps even dream.Culum Brown, Professor, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1189012019-06-19T14:43:44Z2019-06-19T14:43:44ZI’m a lucid dream researcher – here’s how to train your brain to do it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280067/original/file-20190618-118539-8o8nad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/lucid-dreaming-series-background-design-human-266440211?src=tRpSDVXFoEYvL6p9EJ6FlQ-1-4&studio=1">agsandrew/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dreams can often be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25092021">confusing and blurry experiences</a>. Reduced critical thinking, little to no access to our true memories and heightened impulsivity and emotions during normal dream states often make for head-scratching moments when our eyes first open in the morning.</p>
<p>But dreams don’t always play out this way. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810016301283?via%3Dihub">More than half</a> of us have at least once in their lifetime experienced awareness of dreaming in the moment and, in some cases, the ability to direct a dream like a sleepy Steven Spielberg. Nearly a quarter of us report lucid dreaming once a month or more.</p>
<p>Two key changes in the brain appear responsible for these states. The frontotemporal cortex, which controls our higher cognitive abilities and is inhibited during normal dreams, shows <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3369221/">higher activation</a> during lucid dreams. Researchers also observe an <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2737577/">increase in gamma waves</a>, synchronised firing by groups of neurons at a frequency implicated with <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190464745.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190464745-e-26">conscious awareness and executive functions</a> such as voluntary action and decision-making. </p>
<p>Scientists are interested in how to influence the brain to enter into these states – and not just for the fun of it. They hope that lucid dreaming will provide valuable insight into <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11515143">how consciousness is formed</a>, as well as being of practical use in many settings.</p>
<p>For example, lucid dreaming therapy holds great potential as a treatment for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17053341">sufferers of chronic nightmares</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25639732">Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD)</a>. People afflicted with PTSD usually experience recurrent nightmares which are usually centred around a single traumatic event. These recurrent nightmares are so terrifying that they cause anxiety, insomnia and disturbed sleep, which then negatively impacts daytime functioning. With lucidity, nightmare sufferers can realise that what they are experiencing is not real and subsequently turn the nightmare into a positive or a neutral dream.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280073/original/file-20190618-118526-17l5iez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280073/original/file-20190618-118526-17l5iez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280073/original/file-20190618-118526-17l5iez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280073/original/file-20190618-118526-17l5iez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280073/original/file-20190618-118526-17l5iez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280073/original/file-20190618-118526-17l5iez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280073/original/file-20190618-118526-17l5iez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lucid dreams can help relieve the trauma of recurring nightmares.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lifestyle-night-portrait-young-scared-stressed-1159789336?src=NjpHT4zUN4qywLMd0TgErw-1-17&studio=1">TheVisualsYouNeed/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lucid dreaming also offers opportunities to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25846062">improve motor skills</a> through visualisation. Using mental imagery to rehearse motor skills has been shown to improve the performance of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17509840701823139">sportspeople</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24602719">medical practitioners</a> and <a href="https://mp.ucpress.edu/content/30/3/275">musicians</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993(01)04291-5/fulltext">aiding the rehabilitation</a> of hand control and other motor tasks, for example after nervous system damage. The technique works because imagining performing a motor action <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8713549">activates almost the same neural structures</a> as actually performing it – and the same goes for <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22036177">dreamed actions</a>.</p>
<h2>Becoming lucid</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810012001614">Various techniques</a> have been developed and tested to induce lucid dreams in recent years, but as yet none are reliably and consistently successful across individuals. That’s not to say that they won’t work on you though – while research in this area is in its infancy, some techniques already hold real promise. Here are the techniques with the most potential, most of which you can try at home.</p>
<p>Cognitive techniques are activities that are performed during the day or while falling asleep. Thus far, this type of approach has been most successful at inducing lucid dreams. According to a recent study of <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-40360-001">169 Australian participants</a>, a combination of three techniques induce lucid dreams most successfully: reality testing, Mnemonic Induction Lucid Dreaming and Wake-Back-to-Bed. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810012001614">reality testing method</a> involves habitually asking your waking self whether you’re dreaming, and performing an action that helps you to find out. The popular film Inception references this technique with a spinning top, which would normally eventually stop rotating but continues eternally when dreaming. If you don’t fancy keeping a spinning top in your pocket, you can hold your nose and perform the normally impossible task of breathing through it. Repeated checks throughout the day make you more likely to do the same checks while dreaming, and thus become lucid to the freer dreamworld in which you can breathe through a blocked nose.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hhavsmsi_5M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810012001614">Mnemonic Induction Lucid Dream (MILD)</a> technique, one rehearses a dream and visualises becoming lucid while repeating a mantra expressing the same intention, such as: “Next time I’m dreaming I want to remember that I am dreaming.” For best results, it should be performed while returning to slumber during the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810012001614">Wake-Back-To-Bed (WBTB)</a> technique, whereby one sets their alarm clock to one or two hours before their normal waking time, gets up for a few minutes, and then goes back to sleep.</p>
<p>This brief awakening is thought to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-53854-001">increase cortical activation</a> in the key brain areas implicated in lucid dreaming when one slips back into rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the stage during which vivid dreaming occurs. Unsurprisingly, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-53854-001">pressing the snooze button</a> multiple times before finally waking also appears to increase the chances of lucid dreaming.</p>
<p>Of course, these strategies require sustained effort to have an effect. In search of an easier route to lucid dreams, various <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2019.00428/full">wearable technology companies</a> have developed contraptions that flash light, vibrate, or play sounds during REM sleep. The idea is that they’ll be incorporated into the dream content and thereby alert the dreamer that they are dreaming.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280225/original/file-20190619-171281-vutp12.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280225/original/file-20190619-171281-vutp12.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280225/original/file-20190619-171281-vutp12.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280225/original/file-20190619-171281-vutp12.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=345&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280225/original/file-20190619-171281-vutp12.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280225/original/file-20190619-171281-vutp12.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280225/original/file-20190619-171281-vutp12.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rapid eye movement sleep stages progressively increase in duration after each sleep cycle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sleep_Hypnogram.svg">RazerM/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But both the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03080188.2017.1380468?journalCode=yisr20">literature</a> and my own experiences at the University of Essex’s sleep lab suggest that such external stimulation techniques need to be handled with care. If presented in the wrong way, stimuli will either not be incorporated into the dream – or worse, cause people to wake up. Some people are lighter sleepers than others, so the intensity of stimuli should be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03080188.2017.1380468?journalCode=yisr20">tailored</a> to the specific threshold at which each individual wakes up. They should also be delivered in specific moments of REM sleep when the brain is most receptive. Current wearable technology does not take these factors into account, and research is yet to fully unravel how such stimuli can be effectively deployed.</p>
<p>Recent research suggests drug interventions may hold promise. For example, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30089135">galantamine</a>, an enzyme inhibitor that is typically used to treat Alzheimer’s disease, has been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30089135">shown</a> to significantly increase lucid dream induction rates when used in conjunction with the WBTB and MILD techniques. This prescription drug should be left alone by aspiring lucid dreamers though – research is in its early stages and the drug can have side effects. </p>
<p>Caution should also be exercised with other supplements and herbs that claim to increase dream lucidity – they are <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11818-017-0122-8">not backed</a> by scientific evidence and, as with all drugs, there is the risk of allergic reactions and side-effects.</p>
<p>Our understanding of lucid dreams has advanced significantly in the last decade. There is still much work to be done, but it hopefully won’t be too long before we figure out how to reliably and consistently induce them. Watch this space.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Achilleas Pavlou receives PhD scholarship funding from A.G. Leventis Foundation. </span></em></p>Research on lucid dreams is still in its infancy, but some induction techniques already hold real promise - and most can be tried in the comfort of your own bedroom.Achilleas Pavlou, PhD Researcher, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1051302018-12-10T01:14:54Z2018-12-10T01:14:54ZCurious Kids: Where do dreams come from?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246360/original/file-20181120-161615-1crk6qy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scientists have a few ideas about where dreams come from -- but nobody knows for sure. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Patrick</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is an article from <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a>, a series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome: find out how to enter at the bottom. You might also like the podcast <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/imagine-this/">Imagine This</a>, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on Curious Kids.</em> </p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Where do dreams come from? - Winifred, age 4, Selby, Victoria.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hi Winifred. People have wondered about where dreams come from for a very long time. To be honest, scientists still don’t fully understand where dreams come from. But we have a few ideas.</p>
<p>Dreams are like imagining stuff while you are asleep, so you could say dreams come from your imagination. As you know, our imaginations can be very powerful – if you try imagining your favourite food, your mouth might even start watering.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-we-need-food-98938">Curious Kids: Why do we need food?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Going to sleep is like putting a computer into “sleep” mode. The computer is not completely switched off, it just is not working as hard. When we go into sleep mode, we can rest and save our energy but we don’t fully turn ourselves off.</p>
<p>When we are asleep our brain does not switch off. It keeps working, but not as hard. But the part of the brain that helps us make decisions when we are awake? It is resting. That’s when our imagination can run wild.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246363/original/file-20181120-161621-1pu6kpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246363/original/file-20181120-161621-1pu6kpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246363/original/file-20181120-161621-1pu6kpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246363/original/file-20181120-161621-1pu6kpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246363/original/file-20181120-161621-1pu6kpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246363/original/file-20181120-161621-1pu6kpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246363/original/file-20181120-161621-1pu6kpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246363/original/file-20181120-161621-1pu6kpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What is she dreaming about?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hussbagel/101885291/in/photolist-a1bWX-kNB3r-5hSjK5-xZeJ6-7syLj-3cb3H-tC2ZJ-2xhFaK-2541usu-Dgtvk-k73gZM-8HyR1h-fCaH1p-a6gxM6-dAjjrX-9ihmsu-ip6y8-eb7K5d-5pjzDv-8Xi1Pt-bui27p-5ep4Kr-pA3xCb-5Di26f-Vq6Yiy-9AfuDd-6sBiZ-fwFv8-LS5wu-5WVSVj-51QiA1-zCuNS-4dQAGF-67XT7z-eJ12k-5uE9to-6R4sHy-RS93W-bK2yUg-7oTLpb-8t9pHh-a4EGvV-brgmW2-9iuvNd-5jx3T-9NByeF-pxj9vH-bbdos-6LRArz-5PpjT9">Flickr/Jon Huss</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why do we dream?</h2>
<p>People who have done research on why we dream have found most dreams people have tend to be about <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185262#pone.0185262.ref003">common stuff</a> that happens in our lives (like playing with a friend).</p>
<p>Or we dream about stuff that might be important to us (like an upcoming party). </p>
<p>We think this is the same for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763414002474">animals who dream</a>, too. Cats seem to commonly dream about chasing things, because that’s what cats think about doing a lot when they are awake.</p>
<p>Scientists have <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11910-013-0433-5">found out</a> that when we dream about stuff, it might help us to remember that stuff better when we are awake. So maybe our dreams help us make stronger memories.</p>
<p>It’s a good idea for kids to get a good sleep each night to help you remember what you are learning about each day.</p>
<h2>Solving problems</h2>
<p>Other scientists think that maybe dreams help us to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661318300706">solve problems</a>. </p>
<p>Let’s say you are learning how to ride a bike or a scooter. You might dream about riding. Maybe you are trying out different ways to ride, get the balance right, and not crash. It’s like you are practising while you are asleep. Then when you are awake, you might even have an idea about how to get better at riding.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246361/original/file-20181120-161638-10yhrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246361/original/file-20181120-161638-10yhrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246361/original/file-20181120-161638-10yhrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246361/original/file-20181120-161638-10yhrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246361/original/file-20181120-161638-10yhrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246361/original/file-20181120-161638-10yhrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246361/original/file-20181120-161638-10yhrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246361/original/file-20181120-161638-10yhrds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Have you ever dreamed you were in a strange place?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pasma/472577658/in/photolist-HL5SE-b3jyW-6bwneR-75Q2Uj-e96hBk-5Ch7bS-5PSF8T-YSRw5U-8MMjmD-iF3LjJ-4EgK7p-81zqE3-LxVb27-4Kb7g5-apozaF-4PQazS-aY9Uq-4rSrYa-r1FUoB-fLYB8T-bi8pWH-7F5iEH-eidpLQ-cv8cY3-DLptMp-6rwGvJ-b9J4pk-GqzvZ-a6rBUn-3WYrAn-bjMxVi-96XL12-7ViEfg-6ugdKs-bLLowt-mMRiu-aa54gG-296cA5Y-4F26hY-8Uf95e-bwaMBW-6aNBcX-g7U6wg-6a2uPB-aAGGrT-W3H7hE-a4HXKg-bzQ4pr-iUVhPv-5pNFDR">Flickr/marco</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what about strange dreams? Well, it might be that our brain is just <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f1af/886bfac2ee058ddaf1a6fb61dabe08e19b08.pdf">trying to make sense</a> of some strange thoughts that come to us while we are asleep. </p>
<p>Maybe nightmares are the brain trying to replay scary experiences in an effort to make sense of them. Researchers have shown that some people might be able to make their bad dreams less scary if they <a href="https://psychcentral.com/blog/a-brief-guide-to-imagery-rehearsal-therapy-irt-for-nightmare-disorders-for-clinicians-and-patients/">imagine and write down different endings</a> for their dreams and “practise” them before bed.</p>
<p>Some people think dreams might <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/articles/200503/why-we-dream">keep the mind busy</a> and entertained, allowing the body to have a good rest.</p>
<p>The truth is, nobody really knows for sure where dreams come from. Maybe the answer will come to you in a dream. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-our-brains-freak-us-out-with-scary-dreams-81329">Curious Kids: Why do our brains freak us out with scary dreams?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. You can:</em></p>
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<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Please tell us your name, age and which city you live in. You can send an audio recording of your question too, if you want. Send as many questions as you like! We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105130/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shane Rogers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When we are asleep our brain does not switch off. It keeps working, but not as hard.Shane Rogers, Lecturer in Psychology, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/974082018-11-06T16:46:50Z2018-11-06T16:46:50Z‘It is the job of the living to save the dead from drowning’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/243241/original/file-20181031-76384-1bi69v6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C24%2C1500%2C963&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The remains of an Ixil man emerge from the ground, one of the countless victims of the civil war in Guatemala. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tristan Brand/FAFG Fundacion de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I arrive in Buenos Aires in December. My fieldwork in Guatemala has ended and that in Argentina has not yet begun. I am in between things. I’ve been working with a team of forensic anthropologists exhuming mass graves and piecing together bones, labouring to identify victims of Guatemala’s recent history of political violence. After months of intimate proximity to death and terror, it is strange to arrive in the sunny cheer of Buenos Aires.</p>
<p>It’s high summer in Argentina, vacation time. I’m disoriented by the (to me) upside-down seasons of the Southern Hemisphere. I’m startled to find myself wandering the Palermo Soho neighbourhood, where tourists sip café cortados at sidewalk cafes. In leafy Parque Centenario, people practice yoga, folding themselves into the downward-dog position. I am a world away from Guatemala City with its barred windows and cautious streets. It is hard to believe that a few weeks ago I was standing in the mud of an excavation site in the remote province of Quiché, excavating bones.</p>
<p>In Guatemala, I was always with other people. We dug together and ate meals together. We shared rooms, clothes, mosquito spray, water bottles and colds. In Argentina, I am alone. My newly rented studio apartment is as bare and white as a clinic: white tiled floor, white walls, white curtains. In the bright summer light, I feel like I’m living inside an eggshell.</p>
<p>When do I realise I am not well? When I hear people laughing as they pass on the street and rush to close the curtains so they won’t glimpse me? When I skip dinner and sit hungry on the edge of my bed rather than go outside? Odd things enter my mind: a woodcut print I once saw of children in a garden. Above them, puffy summer clouds. Below them, roots of trees and plants sinking into the earth – and tangled among the roots, skeletons.</p>
<p>I constantly think of three men, how their bones were crisscrossed in the dirt. Why this exhumation and not one of the others? I don’t know, but this particular mass grave in the hills of El Quiché is always present, like a radio playing in the background. The strata of copper-tinged soil. The women from the community, arms folded, waiting at the edge of the excavation. The sound of the river and the pick axes.</p>
<h2>200,000 dead and 45,000 disappeared</h2>
<p>There are hundreds of mass graves in Guatemala. During the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/jun/14/disappeared-guatemala-family-search-son-marco-antonio-molina-theissen">armed conflict from 1960 to 1996</a>, the Guatemalan military, supported by the US government, targeted Maya farming communities for their supposed sympathy with leftist guerrilla groups. Entire villages were massacred. The United Nations estimates that <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/amerika/3880">83% of the victims were indigenous Maya-speaking Guatemalans</a>. The scale of the violence is staggering: in a country with a population of 8 million people, 200,000 were killed and 45,000 disappeared. El Quiché was at the epicentre of the bloodshed: locally, the conflict is known simply as <a href="http://berkeleyjournal.org/2017/03/la-violencia-after-war-the-long-legacy-of-conflict-in-guatemala/"><em>La Violencia</em></a> – the violence.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242455/original/file-20181026-7056-bq9ruo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242455/original/file-20181026-7056-bq9ruo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242455/original/file-20181026-7056-bq9ruo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242455/original/file-20181026-7056-bq9ruo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242455/original/file-20181026-7056-bq9ruo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242455/original/file-20181026-7056-bq9ruo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242455/original/file-20181026-7056-bq9ruo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=829&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The province of El Quiche, Guatemala.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9partement_du_Quich%C3%A9">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>Standing in the exhumation site, <a href="http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/35562/">we dig to find the buried bones</a>. We uncover three male skeletons. Tidy bullet holes, entry and exit, mark two of the crania; the third skull is completely shattered. As we clean away the dirt, Maxi tells us to look for machete marks, which appear as lines etched across the bone. In other mass graves, on other skeletons, we have found the tell-tale hatch marks on skulls, scapula, fibula (a blow to sever the Achilles tendon, so people can’t run away). This is the kind of forensic detail we are being trained to spot and document. It can be used as evidence to prove torture and murder, to build a case for genocide in a trial. If there ever is a trial.</p>
<p>Toothbrushes, brooms, dustpans, pink and green plastic buckets. Maxi stopped at the Walmart outside of Guatemala City to buy supplies. The tools for exhuming mass graves are ordinary. We work for hours cleaning dirt off the three bodies, careful not to displace their position in the grave. It is not the bones I find most disturbing. It is not the skulls with their expression of grinning or screaming. It is not even the cord still tied around the intricate bones of one man’s wrists. It is the boots. All the local men wear these exact boots. When I look up from my work, I see these very boots gathered around the grave, worn by the men watching us, the men hoping to find their missing father, brother, son. After work, I scrape the mud from my shoes, using a stick, just as I use a stick to clean the mud from the soles of the dead men’s boots.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242449/original/file-20181026-7053-rkuw7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242449/original/file-20181026-7053-rkuw7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242449/original/file-20181026-7053-rkuw7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242449/original/file-20181026-7053-rkuw7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242449/original/file-20181026-7053-rkuw7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242449/original/file-20181026-7053-rkuw7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242449/original/file-20181026-7053-rkuw7k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers unearth human remains in the province of Quiché, Guatemala. Thousands of bodies have been discovered. Of the more than 200,000 people murdered or missing, 83% were indigenous-language speakers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tristan Brand/FAFG Fundacion de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The three dead men are dressed in typical work clothes. As I brush the dirt off a plaid shirt, I can feel the sharp ribs beneath the fabric. I notice the even stitching of the homemade shirt. The fabric is intact and retains its colours. Some of the thread along the sleeve has rotted away (cotton degrades faster than nylon), leaving the fabric in pieces. I imagine the wives and mothers who cut and stitched the cloth.</p>
<p>Maxi tells me that when the bodies of women are found wearing <em>traje</em> (traditional dress), women from the community ask for photographs of their <em>huipil</em>, their handwoven blouses, and sometimes climb into the grave to inspect the stitching. The design of a <em>huipil</em> is unique and can give a clue to the identity of a skeleton. If a woman finds the body of her mother, she may have the same <em>huipil</em> made for herself and her daughters.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242450/original/file-20181026-7056-1qhuv2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242450/original/file-20181026-7056-1qhuv2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242450/original/file-20181026-7056-1qhuv2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242450/original/file-20181026-7056-1qhuv2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242450/original/file-20181026-7056-1qhuv2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242450/original/file-20181026-7056-1qhuv2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242450/original/file-20181026-7056-1qhuv2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Ixil woman participates in the search to find the remains of her brother, Quiche province.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tristan Brand/FAFG Fundacion de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Recognition by <em>huipil</em> is not scientific identification. Bodies are also sometimes found with jewellery, visible tattoos and even legible identification documents. Such evidence is noted and forms part of a forensic profile. It can help establish identity, dependent on the findings of a forensic exam, and ideally, a DNA match. But identity documents can end up with someone other than their original owner. People have similar tattoos. Jewellery gets stolen. Clothes get switched.</p>
<p>Families and community members may find clothing more convincing than a forensic identification or even a DNA match. It can be hard to imagine a skeleton – or often just a fragment of bone – as a son or mother. A watch, a tattoo, a driver’s license – any of these may be more hospitable to the imaginative work entailed in accepting human remains as a missing loved one. (For more on the complications of associating bone fragments with missing people, see Renshaw, 2016 and Wagner, 2008.) Families and forensic teams sometimes measure evidence by different standards and find certainty in different forms of proof.</p>
<h2>Locating the dead</h2>
<p>In Guatemala, these different ways of knowing <a href="https://www.interventionjournal.com/content/pau-p%C3%A9rez-sales-susana-navarro-garc%C3%ADa-2007resistencias-contra-el-olvido-trabajo-psicosocial">converge on dreams</a>. In the Maya cosmovision, the dead play an active role in the lives of the living. Dreams are one of the principal channels of communication, a means by which ancestors offer counsel and give warning. From a young age, children are encouraged to remember and tell their dreams. (For more on dreams in Maya society, see Pérez-Sales and Navarro Garcia 2007; Tedlock, 1981; and Molesky-Poz, 2009. For children’s dream training, see Tedlock, 1981.) In the context of exhumations, community members report dreams in which the dead indicate where their body is located so that it can be found and given a proper burial. Without funeral rites, the dead are not at peace and cannot fulfil their communal role. (Pérez-Sales and Navarro-Garcia, 2007. For a well-documented discussion of communication between living and dead in the context of exhumation in East Timor, see Kinsella and Blau, 2013.) Exhumation helps restore the correct relationship between the living and the dead.</p>
<p>Community members seek to <a href="https://www.stabilityjournal.org/articles/10.5334/sta.au/">locate bodies through dreams</a>, but the forensic team chooses where to excavate based on archaeological evidence. They look for subtle changes in the topography that may indicate a sunken area. They dig exploratory trenches looking for signs that the dirt is <em>revuelto</em>, the layers mixed together, which is an indication that it has been previous disturbed.</p>
<h2>Dead bodies can’t drown</h2>
<p>I want to know how these competing methods of locating bodies affect the relationship between teams and communities. I ask Zulma, who is the director of an organisation that provides practical and psychological support to communities during the process of exhumation. Zulma is a social worker who grew up in Quiché, wears the <em>traje</em> of her village, and speaks Ixil and Spanish. She acts as an interpreter, not only linguistically, but socially, between the local communities, the forensic team, and other NGOs and government actors. She tells me that for Maya communities, DNA is important and dreams are too. When I ask if she feels like the forensic teams takes the dreams reported to them seriously, she pauses and says, “We have to be patient with the scientists. They have a different way of seeing the world.” She adds, “more than anything, they are interested in the colour of soil, but we are interested in dreams.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242452/original/file-20181026-7071-1f1xms1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242452/original/file-20181026-7071-1f1xms1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242452/original/file-20181026-7071-1f1xms1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242452/original/file-20181026-7071-1f1xms1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242452/original/file-20181026-7071-1f1xms1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242452/original/file-20181026-7071-1f1xms1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242452/original/file-20181026-7071-1f1xms1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exhumation helps to restore normal relations between the living and the dead.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alicia Andre/Penninghen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I ask Alvaro, a Spanish-speaking forensic archaeologist, what role dreams play in the team’s work. He says that just a week before, a woman approached him to relate a dream indicating that her father was buried under a big pine tree at the current site. I ask if the team will search there. He says, “We have to respect the way they see the world.” Then he sighs and says, “but there are a lot of pine trees!”</p>
<p>The site being excavated sits at the edge of a forest. We are digging by a large pine tree, whose thick roots make the shovelling hard going. It is already late in the day when we find the first bone. The air is heavy with approaching rain. As Alvaro scrapes away the earth from the femur, local men prepare a tarp to protect the site from the impending storm. In a flash of a machete blade they chop branches from trees, cutting supports and stakes cleverly notched to fit together. Maxi once said that one of the tragedies of La Violencia was that it disgraced the machete. It brought shame to a noble instrument that harvests maize and builds houses. So much death dealt by machetes, so many massacres. A tool of life made a weapon of death. The men at the site wield machetes with grace and magic, making tents over the open pits in minutes.</p>
<p>The rain begins to pour down, but the team keeps working under the tarp, fuelled by a buzz of excitement that we have found a grave. Within an hour, the distinct forms of three bodies are visible. They are skeletonized, meaning that all the flesh has decomposed and that only bone is left. There seem to be more bodies farther beneath. Alvaro guesses seven in total.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242454/original/file-20181026-7056-u7xev3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/242454/original/file-20181026-7056-u7xev3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242454/original/file-20181026-7056-u7xev3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242454/original/file-20181026-7056-u7xev3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242454/original/file-20181026-7056-u7xev3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242454/original/file-20181026-7056-u7xev3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/242454/original/file-20181026-7056-u7xev3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A member of the FAFG team takes a picture of some of the remains found, including a piece of a broken skull.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tristan Brand/FAFG Fundacion de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the ride back to town, as the truck inches through the downpour, Maxi and Alvaro tell a story. During an exhumation in another community, a hard rain began to fall. The excavated pit with its half-exposed bodies quickly filled with water. Community members jumped in to save the people buried there from drowning. The punchline of this story is, of course, that dead bodies can’t drown.</p>
<p>A story about the dead drowning marks a boundary between the team and the families. It separates a biomedical conception of the corpse from an understanding of the dead as still in some sense vital. It divides science from the sacred. Such a boundary might seem unassailable, but the longer my fieldwork goes on, the less sure I am about the stability of such divisions. I begin to think that the boundary between scientific and non-scientific world-views is more like a porous membrane than a cement wall.</p>
<h2>Not just dreams</h2>
<p>It is not just dreams that unsettle the boundary between science and something else. It is also the potential liveliness of bones. In a lab, I see a forensic anthropologist stroke the forehead of a skull with tender touch and say, “poor guy,” as she records the trauma she reads in his bones. I notice a team member cringe when hammering a segment of femur to prepare a DNA sample. When I ask her about it, she says, “I hate doing it. It feels wrong. After everything they’ve been through.” A member of the Argentine forensic team remarks that she abhors the part of the lab protocol that requires her to place skulls in plastic bags. “It’s stupid but I feel like they’re suffocating.”</p>
<p>These are not strictly scientific reactions. The worry of suffocation is not so different than the worry of drowning. Tender touch, a visceral reluctance to break a bone or place a skull in a plastic bag imply a certain continued vitality to bones and a vulnerable personhood that persists in the dead. As Katharine Young has remarked about prohibitions against dark humour during autopsies, you can only offend a subject, not an object. So, too, it is subjects not objects who can be injured and cared for.</p>
<p>Perhaps “care” is the boundary that matters. It is not a boundary that divides scientific and non-scientific or families and forensic teams, it is one that encloses them in the same field. The field of care includes cleaning bones and examining the stitching of a <em>huipil</em>. It encompasses both dreams and DNA. As archaeologist Rosemary Joyce and human rights scholar Adam Rosenblatt have pointed out, forensic anthropologists are among the few groups of people socially sanctioned to care for dead bodies. Families and forensic teams share the duty of caring for the dead. It is the job of the living to save the dead from drowning.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The article on which this translation is based was published in collaboration with the <a href="https://blogterrain.hypotheses.org/">blog of the journal Terrain</a>. The illustrations and photos were kindly provided by the students of the <a href="https://www.penninghen.fr/">Penninghen School</a> and by the photographer <a href="https://tristanbrand.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Guatemala-Forensics/G00008wpP3TKzdIQ/I0000l1S.emeNVQg">Tristan Brand</a> with the FAFG Fundacion de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexa Hagerty has worked with the FAFG Fundacion de Antropologia Forense de Guatemala.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laure Assaf is a member of the editorial team of the review Terrain.</span></em></p>The Ixil people of Guatemala dream of the places where their dead, massacred during the country’s armed conflict might be located.Alexa Hagerty, Anthropologist, Stanford UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.