Hello World — Physiology and Psychology of Dreams

The day before school started, I could not sleep. As many feel before the first day of school, I was nervous, anxious, and excited, especially since it was going to be my first time on campus. When I woke up, I began to get ready and right before I was going to leave my house I remembered my dream. Usually, when I remember my dream, I drop everything I do and go to tell someone because I know that I am going to forget five minutes later. Since I commute to campus, I dreamt that I got lost and could not find parking, causing me to be late for my first class. I do not always have dreams, nor do I always remember them, so I thought it would be interesting to research about dreams. I want to address why people dream, why others do not, and why some individuals cannot remember. I also want to address if one’s emotions and feelings before they sleep might affect their dreams. Such as, I was so nervous about school that I dreamt something had gone wrong. I hope to address the psychological aspect of dreams and how outside factors can affect dreaming.

It is interesting how people can remember their dreams hours after waking up, days later, or even knowing they had dreamt but cannot remember the details. If I have a nightmare, I always wake up somewhere in the middle of my dream. There have been moments where I experienced a hypnic jerk because I was dreaming that I fell. So, how does this movement occur if we are sleeping? Another topic I might address is the meaning and analysis of dreams. Similar to how there is meaning and symbolism of specific objects, places, or colors in literature, dreams also have meaning. Some questions I want to address are that do dreams make predictions or foreshadow moments? Do people get deja vu because they have felt or seen it in a dream? Also, why are some dreams remembered so vividly while other dreams are barely remembered? For example, Lucid dreaming is when the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming, primarily during REM sleep.

I am drawn to the topic of dreams because I always felt that it is an exciting conversation to have with friends or family. Every individual has their unique dream, and although someone else may have had a similar dream, everyone has their viewpoint and emotional connection. I want to incorporate a cultural aspect of the meaning of dreams too. For example, in my culture, there is a specific day that before one sleeps, they have the option to eat a piece of a salty pastry without drinking any water after. That night, it is said that, a man or woman will be bringing you water in your dream and whoever that person is may be your soon-to-be spouse. I also want to look into the physiology of dreaming. For example, how different parts of the brain work when dreaming. Most drugs have some side effects or adverse effects. Some of these effects include altering one’s dream state. Some drugs can either include increased sleep leading to more dreams or create a dreamless sleep. Some may even cause nightmares. So, I think it will also be interesting to research how some drugs affect sleep and dreaming.