Ashka Shah
Cynthia Hawkins
WRC 1013-057
11/01/2012
Dreams
A dream is a story that is created to express one’s unconscious self. Dreams represent a world of imagery in which one’s darkest fears, deepest secrets, and most passionate fantasies break out from the unconscious mind and only at this time become present to his or her consciousness. Dreaming is defined as the subjective experience of imaginary images, sounds or thoughts during sleep. However, there are several key questions that are usually brought up when Dreams becomes a subject of a talk. For instance, where do dreams come from? Why does one dream? And, what do certain dreams mean?
Dreaming usually occurs in the “rapid-eye movement (R.E.M.) stage of sleep, in which brain activity is high and signaled by rapid horizontal movements of the eyes” (Dreams). Sometimes dreams occur during the other stages of sleep; however, these are much less memorable and less clear. These can sometimes last for a few seconds, or as long as twenty minutes, so we tend to forget when we naturally pass out of sleep through the traditional cycle. If one is awoken directly from REM sleep, for example by an alarm clock, he or she is much more likely to remember the dream from that REM cycle. Although it's most likely that not all dreams will be remembered because they occur in REM cycles, which are interrupted by periods of "delta sleep" which in turn have a tendency to cause the memory of previous dreams to fade.
So why does one dream? There are a few theories as to why dreams occur. Some see dreaming as an important process through which “… all species with complex brains analyze and consolidate information” (Dreams). This is supported by the fact that most mammals dream. Other theories conclude that dreaming is nothing more than random brain activity that has little to no logical relevance. One of the first theories