Why Do We Dream? | Wonderopolis
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Have You Ever Wondered...
Why do we dream?
What is Rapid Eye Movement?
How many days per year do most humans spend asleep?
Today’s Wonder of the Day was inspired by Doodle
, FL. Doodle Wonders, “Why do we dream and how?” Thanks for WONDERing with us, Doodle!
When you go to sleep each night, your mind goes on a sort of sleep . As you sleep, your brain passes through different sleep stages again and again.Over the course of a typical night, your brain cycles back and forth through the various stages of sleep four to five times!Most dreaming occurs during the stage of deepest sleep, called "" or "REM." During REM, our eyes begin to move around quickly under our eyelids.If you have ever watched people sleeping (even family pets!), then you may have noticed their
eyelids. This is a perfectly normal part of REM sleep.Researchers used to believe that people dreamed only during REM, but most experts now agree that dreams can occur at any time during the sleep .So why do we dream? For centuries, humans have wondered about the meaning and purpose of dreams.Despite improvements in medical technology and sleep research, experts today still have not reached a conclusion about why people dream. They have, however, developed some interesting theories.Some experts believe dreams are a way to process all the events and emotions we experience throughout the day. They believe dreams play an important role in our ,
health.Similarly, other experts claim dreams are a form of problem-solving. They believe our dreams provide us with a safe place to work through problems, questions and dilemmas in our lives.Other researchers claim dreams are simply a bodily function, much like blinking or burping. Researchers may not be able to agree on why we dream, but they can all agree on one thing: We all do it.It's probably a good thing that we dream since we spend a lot of time asleep. Though we may not call it a , we sleep about one-third of our lives. On average, most people sleep about eight hours per night.When you do the math, you find that most humans sleep approximately 122 days out of every year. By the time you're 75 years old, you will have spent about 25 years asleep!
Wonder Contributors
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jonathan and
for contributing questions about today’s Wonder topic!
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Wonder Words (12)
Wonder What's Next?
If you can’t stand the heat, get into this wonder! Tomorrow’s wonder is all about hot and cold.
Try It Out
Need a place to write down your dreams so you don't forget them? Try .A dream journal is a special place where you can keep a record of dreams when you wake up. You can even add illustrations by drawing pictures, too!
Did you get it?
Wonder Contributors
We’d like to thank:
jonathan and
for contributing questions about today’s Wonder topic!
Keep WONDERing with us!
Wonder Words
OMG SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We're glad you liked this Wonder! Thanks for stopping by! :)
to give us good thought to entertain our body while it gets the energy it needs to function correctly.
Dreams are a source of magic (u could call it) Sometimes it gives u signs and sometimes it gives you memorys that your body couldnt provide durring the day when you dont even think about it
Hello, dionna! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about dreams! We're glad you're WONDERing! :)
SO CUTE!!!!!
Hi, WONDER friend! We're THRILLED you liked this Wonder! What was your favorite part? Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment! :)
What causes sleep walking then? I've slept walked a few times and have done strange things. Once I grabbed a hairbrush, put it in the kitchen, then went back to bed while I was sleeping! i don't remember it but my dad told me what happen.
Why do we do it?
That's a great question, Samantha! Why not enter it in the "What Are You Wondering?" section? It could end up as a new Wonder of the Day!
can we have this as a question and it is why do we sleep walk? And this was a 5 star wonder
We're THRILLED you liked this Wonder, Ave! Thanks for the AWESOME star rating! Check out
Have fun WONDERing! :)
That dog jumped up real quick
He did indeed, Donavin! He looked like he was having quite a vivid dream! We WONDER what was happening in his dream! :)
I noticed that you mention researchers a LOT. I wonder why our eyes move rapidly in our sleep, and how researchers know all that they know about dreams. I also wonder why people forget their dreams.
This reminds me of when someone told me that, if you think you didn't have any dreams, it's because you forget 99% of your dreams every night.
My class wonders why that is.
Hey Libbey! That is a great question! We've wondered about dreams before - check out
You'll learn about how we sleep in different cycles. Maybe when our dream happens can impact if we remember them? Can you look up dreams with your class or your librarian? We WONDER what you would find! :)
Hey Alexis! Thanks for WONDERing with us today! Researchers can provide a lot of good information to answer the things we WONDER about! Where could you learn more about how they study dreams? Can you ask you librarian about any books about rapid eye movement? We WONDER what you would find out! :)
I read the part that says that researchers had developed some interesting theories. I wonder what some of those other theories are. My teacher wonders if, since Wonder #71 was published, researchers have found any new theories?
Hey Mohamad! You can read more about those theories right under that paragraph! Some experts believe dreams help us process events and emotions from the day, some believe dreams are a form of problem solving, and some believe is just a normal body function! Which one of those ideas do YOU think is right? We like your idea of WONDERing about NEW dream theories! Where do you think you could look something like that up? Maybe at the library? or online with your teacher or family member? Let us know what you find out! :)
When I read the part that said "dreams are a way to process all the events and emotions we experience throughout the day," I wondered if nightmares happen when something bad happens during the day?
Hey Brendon! That is a great question! We WONDERed about nightmares and crazy dreams too! Have you check out ? You are right too! What happens during the day can impact your dreams at night during REM sleep! Check it out and let us know what you learn! :)
Man! Thank you so much wonderopolis!!!!!! :)
You are so very welcome, Wonder Friend Rachel! Thanks for joining us to learn cool new things and Wonder! We hope you have a super duper weekend! :)
Man! I would have never knew this if wonderopolis wasn't here! Thanks!!!! :)
Wow I wonder if the reason we talk in our sleep is because we are talking in our dream and so it's happening outside our dreams too. =)
What a great idea, AndriaRose! We think it's funny to imagine talking in our sleep-- but many of us here at Wonderopolis do it! We must be very chatty in our dreams! :)
Do you dream, Wonder Friend? Sometimes we daydream, while we are awake, or dream while we're asleep. Do you remember your dreams, AndriaRose? :)
Hello Wonderopolis,
Our second grade class really liked learning why we dream. We were just wondering why do people talk and walk in their sleep? We also wonder do all animals dream like the dog in the video?
Thanks for visiting us today, Mrs. Barboza's Class! We're glad you've been using your WONDERful imaginations to think about what happens when we close our eyes and our heads hit the pillow at night! We dream, we snore, we (sometimes) drool, and we even talk! How crazy!
We are glad you've been exploring our Wonder and you have created some awesome questions of your own! Keep up the great work! We hope you'll do some more research and WONDERing to find the answers to those questions! :)
So we dream but what about bad dreams?
Many of us have bad dreams from time to time, Kaite, and it would be really cool if we could figure out why that happens! Sometimes it helps to talk about those dreams with a grown up, or perhaps reading instead of watching TV before bed will help, too! Thanks for sharing your comment, Wonder Friend! Keep dreaming! :)
Why do people loose their memory when they hit your head really hard? I need to know.
I'm reading this book in my class room named "Three times Lucky " and in the book a character loses his memory in a car crash. Please tell me Wonderopolis!!!!!!
Hey there, Kennedy, that sounds like a very interesting book! We Wonder if you can Wonder with the help of an adult, or even ask your doctor the next time you're in for a check up! We bet you'll learn something new! :)
WHY DO WE DREAM? I want to know!!
Check out our Wonder, Jake! Everyone is different, but it's cool to learn about how dreams are formed! :)
I've always had the strangest dreams! I still remember a dream I had a long long time ago!!!
Isn't that fascinating to Wonder about, Ellie? We think dreams are very cool, but very curious, too! Thanks for sharing your comment about dreaming-- we hope you have a WONDERful day! :)
Every once in a while, when I am falling asleep, I hear my dog Annie, who is 6 years old, whining and whimpering in her dream!
Hi there Angelina, what a great observation! Dreams are SUPER interesting and we all have different reactions to how we fall asleep and what we dream about! We hope you have a WONDERful day-- we are so glad you joined us today! :)
Thank you for doing this wonder. I learned a lot about sleep and dreaming. I also really liked the video, it was really cute and funny. I can't wait to go and find more wonders!
Your comment just made our day, EmmaleeTEAM!
Thanks for letting us know that you learned a lot from this Wonder and that you're excited to explore even more Wonders of the Day!
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(C) National Center for Families Learning (NCFL)4发现相似题Why Do We Dream? Theories Of Interpretation, REM Sleep & Fulfilment
Why Do We Dream?
Have you ever wondered why we evolved to dream? Or what your dreams mean? Or why your dreams can seem so real and meaningful when you experience them but are then mostly forgotten? Or why, when you do manage to remember a dream, it often seems so weird?
This site contains the answers to these age-old mysteries as well as explaining the connection between dreaming,
and . It also explains the overwhelming importance to evolution of the brain state known as
(rapid eye movements).
When something evolves in Nature it is usually for a good reason and dreaming is no different. The expectation fulfilment theory of dreaming (first published in 1993 by psychologist ) explains how, far from being a mere by-product of 'brain down-time' as some people think, or a way of consolidating memories as others suggest, dreaming evolved to play a central role in keeping us sane. However, in some circumstances, it can, quite literally, drive us mad.
Read on to find out more about
If you want clear information about the origin of creativity, what mysticism is for, or the nature and true function of consciousness, a new book,
is for you. You can read its
&A lovely, evocative expression of the richness of the mind … The linkage of waking emotional
material to dreams is entirely convincing.& Professor Rosalind Cartwright
and how new research continues to back up his theory
&One of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the
last hundred years.&
Farouk Okhai
Consultant Psychiatrist
&Absolutely the right
way forward&
BBC Radio 4's 'All in the Mind' on the human givens approach
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