Dreams And The Mind

I didnt know if i could put this in the scientific evidence section so yeah. Does anyone have an explanation of what dreams are? And why do we see sometimes such strange dreams? Thanks in advance. God bless

P.S By explanation i mean either your opinion or scientific evidence (preferably)

Interesting question. If you goggle it you can read of many ideas people think you dream, which usually means that no one really knows.
My dreams tend to be pretty random and with the usual nonsensical situations. It is interesting how I can awaken with good memory of a dream I had, yet after a few minutes find it hard to remember unless it was particularly vivid or disturbing. My thought is that is part of the brain purging the bits and pieces that build up, sort of purging the trash bin and defragging the hard drive. I do find that I dream of lost loved ones more when in grief, and have more stressful dreams when stressed.

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I have crazy dreams and I don’t think they mean anything. It is the brain’s way of doing system maintenance. But I know people who believe that God has told them very significant things in dreams, and that happens in the Bible, so I guess that is a possibility. But I don’t spend a whole lot of time wondering if some weird dream I had was supposed to tell me something. I think if God wanted to speak to me through a dream, I’d recognize it as that.

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Interesting question! I think I’ve read that dreams are frequently your subconscious working out stress from the day. It’s interesting that using an alpha blocking blood pressure med sometimes suppresses night terrors in those (such as combat veterans) with PTSD. On the other hand, beta blockers antihypertensives, meds for restless legs or Parkinson’s, stimulants, and some antibiotics can cause nightmares.

However, one thing I’ve noticed as a father is that having a full bladder gives you a peculiar urgency to your dreams–and many times, my 3 (particularly when they were young) have had to go to the bathroom urgently right after waking with a bad one. I’ve found the same if I drink too much water. (I’m not being silly; it’s just very interesting to me how these things work out)

Nabeel Qureshi, the Christian write and convert from Ahmadiyya Islam, wrote of mystic books that “interpreted” various symbols from dreams; but I’m a bit skeptical of thinking of them as messages from God. I’ve heard of stories both for and against Christianity in this respect. It seems that we can interpret what we want when we don’t understand things.

Hypnagogic phenomena can involve jerking and vivid visions or sounds as you fall asleep. This can come from being very tired. The visions can be terrifying–like seeing a stranger by your bedside, etc, that then vanishes. However, they are very natural.

Here’s a list of suggestions for nightmares I read: (of course, I’m not trying to treat you or anyone else. This is for discussion only).I wonder if others have found this sort of problem and response.

Thanks.
Good practice recommendations include the following:
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Seek out healthy social interaction to promote emotional stability and sense of wellbeing.

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Take a warm shower and empty the bladder prior to sleep.

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Exercise regularly, but not within four hours of sleep time.

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Avoid greasy fatty foods close to bedtime. Do not skip meals, as hunger may influence sleep quality.

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Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine close to bedtime.

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Keep a consistent schedule for sleep and daytime function.

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Sleep in a comfortable environment that is conducive to good sleep (appropriate bedding, temperature, noise levels, etc).

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Establish a healthy, relaxing bedtime routine.

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Avoid television, computers, and screens (such as smart phones or tablets) for at least an hour before bedtime.

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Use bed only for sleep and intimacy (stimulus control).

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Good advice. I find the hardest is avoiding screens. Evidently the blue spectrum light is activating to the brain, but yet here I am.

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And now so too here am I. Got to sleep early but woke just after midnight. I rarely recall dreams and didn’t this time either. When it was apparent I wasn’t going back to sleep immediately I got up determined not to look at my computer and finished reading the second part of the book I’m reading instead. But sleepiness hasn’t returned so I switched on the computer. This screen is the blue kind. I’ve noticed that my new cell phone has a different light at night which is redder, but tiny writing and tiny keys are annoying.

@NickolaosPappas, I don’t know what dreams are either and as I’ve said I rarely remember any. But in my young adulthood I kept a pad and pencil near the bed and got in the habit of writing them down. You can get in the habit but I have lost it now.

My highly speculative hunch is that dreams are a kind of experience processing that takes place outside of our conscious experience. I believe our conscious minds are the new kid on the block but that our brains are doing much more than that. Alas our conscious minds now work almost exclusively in analytic, language driven ways. We’ve sort of lost touch with the more image and symbol driven processing which goes on still, but our conscious minds are ill equipped to make sense of it. Does it matter? I’m curious but I rarely lose sleep over it. Of course I am clearly losing sleep but assume that is age related. I rarely dwell on what messages I may be missing from my subconscious mind.

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