Do Dreams Have Meaning Scientifically?

When you wake up and try to remember your dreams, some of them simply disappear like mice. Others remain so vivid in your recollection, so distinct and memorable, that you may begin to question if you dreamed them more than once as the days pass. You still have dreams, even if you don’t remember many or any of them. While there is still much to learn about dreams, people generally agree that they are a part of the human experience. Well, do dreams have meaning scientifically? Let’s find out.

Some Dream Theories

Sigmund Freud, a renowned psychologist, had a lot to say about the scientific meaning of dreams. He claimed that dreams helped people avoid waking up too early when light or sound disturbed their sleep, but he also felt that dreams revealed hidden desires (1). From bits of ordinary pictures, events, and memories, your sleeping brain constructs a “manifest dream,” according to him. The “latent dream,” or you are suppressed and unconscious wishes are simplified, reorganized, and hidden by the manifest dream. Carl Jung, like Sigmund Freud, thought that dreams had meaning. Jung was interested in distinct archetypes, or patterns, that emerge symbolically in dreams, arguing that dreams may help explain everyday happenings and balance out portions of yourself that you aren’t aware of yet (2).

How To Know If Your Dreams Have Meanings

Your initial instinct may be to reach for your phone to write down your dream to the Dreambook when you wake up from a dream. Instead, lie still for a few moments and allow the dream to marinate in your mind entirely. Try to expand your consciousness to any ideas or sensations you had during the dream as you allow each scenario to develop in front of you. Pay attention to any minor details that jump out as you recall the events of the dream. They may appear little in the light of day, yet they may have had greater meaning in your dream. After you’ve gone through the dream with yourself, open up the Dreambook app and note down whatever you recall. You might recall more significant facts that help construct the dream story as you write (3). You can use a dream diary to understand your dreams better, and Dreambook is the best digital dream journaling app for this.

Dream interpretation websites can be useful, but you’ll typically obtain more understanding by looking at the dream through the perspective of your own experiences. People have a lot to say about their dreams, but what one person means to you may not be the same as what another person means to you. Connecting what you have seen in your dreams to your real life, you can make out what those dreams mean by linking to them how you felt during a real-life experience.

No one knows for sure what dreams are used for. But, if they are significant to you, they are priceless at the end of the day.

References:

1:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-behind-dreaming/#:~:text=One%20prominent%20neurobiological%20theory%20of,and%20imagery%20from%20our%20memories.

2: https://www.healthline.com/health/do-dreams-have-meaning

3: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284378