Dreams Blog

We dream in several stages of our sleep, and it doesn’t necessarily have to occur during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage. However, constantly depriving ourselves of the REM stage due to losing the last couple of hours of sleep means losing the opportunity to view the images that may have significant definitions in how we live our life.

According to experts, dreams are there for a reason and have some purpose in a way. Images could serve as clues for solutions that we may need to implement to live a more meaningful life.

Certain patterns may be discovered when we dream. In fact experts have linked those who dream often to have productive tendencies during their waking moments – such as writing more creative stories.

Despite these admirable observations, dreams are useful to all people regardless of their profession as these images have significance only to the individual.

Interpretations on the actual definition of dreams can be made but the answer always lies to the dreamer.

For those with severe sleep apnea, there’s a silver lining, there’s a lesser occurrence of bad dreams based on the research conducted by medical experts.

Dr. Jim Pagel, one of the lead researchers of a medical study that was published in the Feb. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, said that they discovered that patients with severe sleep apnea have fewer nightmares. He added that this is one of the first studies that clearly support the findings. This gives the medical experts more understanding of this condition.

Pagel is the director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Southern Colorado and he is optimistic that further studies and research will be made in the topic of sleep apnea.

He said that sleep apnea becomes more interesting now that it has tie-ins to dreams and nightmares and they will explore more on this aspect in their upcoming researches.

Students who took the Sleep and Dreams class at the Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington has conducted dream research via their own sleep patterns in a bid to test common ideas about this state.

The researchers were taught on the general mechanics of sleep and the aspects of their own sleep. This was shared by Associate Professor of Psychology Noel Wescombe, the course instructor.

The students were instructed to measure their sleep by putting on a headgear that can transmit data wirelessly to a device called Zeo, a gadget that’s similar to an alarm clock and can be placed beside the sleeper’s bed.

The graph produced by the Zeo reveals the stages of sleep by the student which could range from interrupted sleep or rapid eye movement (REM) or deep sleep.

Skipping sleep could result to an individual losing the level of REM sleep. Wescombe said that for participants sleeping four hours or less, they may likely have had deep sleep but still lacked REM sleep.

Studying dreams can take a lifetime or in fact a career choice for many but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get at least a vague idea on the meaning behind the dreams that we make.

Dreams can be interpreted in several ways. What one sees and interprets may not necessarily apply to the other because after all we are unique. Finding an actual meaning on the visions that we see during our sleep may be frustrating. It is best to go with the flow and see how things go.

There are several aspects of the dream that we need to consider such as how we can inculcate these so-called “messages” in our everyday lives. If we see a gun in our dream, does this mean that we need to buy one? Not necessarily, it may be a symbolism that we need to gun down negative thoughts and continue in our life’s journey with optimism.