What's the Science Behind Dreaming?

What comes to your mind when I say the word 'dream'? 

Alice in the Wonderland?

Songs?

Movies? 

Books?

My mind is bombarded with so many I could go on and on talking about them!

But really, what is the science behind the movie that keeps rolling in your brain when you sleep? Is there some studio like Inside Out up there that has characters and scripts and directors running around? Not really.

History of Dreaming

It's kinda interesting to see how ancients perceived dreams. I mean, if they drilled holes in people's heads to cure migraines (without anesthesia), their opinions on dreams are something I'd really amuse myself knowing. 

And I'm not disappointed.

Greeks and Romans thought dreams had prophetic powers (hence Percy Jackson kept having dreams of Kronos in the books). Egyptians thought it was a way to communicate with the gods, and there were actually dream interpreters Pharaohs would empty their pockets to just to understand the meaning of their dreams. I pity them when they had nightmares! 

Aristotle thought dreams were a way to process everything that happened throughout the day and make sense of emotions and events. 

And that could be his eureka moment. 

The Science

If history has so many myths, Science is gonna have even more hypotheses.

1. Like the Activation-Synthesis Hypothesis. This hypothesis is a little disturbing actually. It means that dreams are basically electrical impulses pulling in random thoughts and imagery.
2. Or the Threat Simulation Theory. This suggests that dreaming is like a defense. By simulating danger, it gives you an evolutionary benefit by improving your neuro-cognitive mechanism helping you to sense any threats nearby and avoid them. Who knows - maybe the only reason we're alive right now is because we stupidly died so many times in nightmares and never made the same mistake twice. Evolving, see?
3. Or the REM Sleep. Well, this was newly pitched by recent studies as compared to the other 2 theories. This states that basically your brain works 24/7 like the heart, and like the heart it doesn't stop working, but it DOES take a small kitkat break. Your decision-making capacity seems to go to some beach in Bahamas to stretch out, basking in the sun and your imagination kicks in. Yay! Your experiences throughout the day are sorted at night into short term memory and long term memory. But this happens only when you are in REM or Rapid Eye Movement sleep. At this stage, the brain is going to be so on its feet that it just sorts through everything so rapidly, converting few clips into visual pictures, creating an alternate reality for you.

Dreaming

Your dreams are sometimes metaphors. They connect to your real life in an unusual way. Like maybe I could dream of the perfume I wore on my first day to college - that is synonymous to my anxiety and fear. Or the flowers my friend bought me on my birthday - that can be nostalgia. Or something else. 

Sometimes, you can control your dreams. Here, you can do stuff like make decisions, reason, compare and process your emotions. It's a kind of a metacognitive (thinking about thinking) function. One such example of a dream is a lucid dream (NOT the song, guys). In a lucid dream, the dreamer can control whatever happens (to a certain extent). If my nightmares were lucid dreams, I'm sure they'd be boggarts I'd use a Riddikulus spell on, but ugh, they aren't!

Recall

Some people recall dreams, some people don't. The more attention you pay to your dream, the more you remember. Then again, age and gender also are factors - the younger you are, the more you remember and also women remember more than men.

 Conclusion

The best part about a dream is the creativity it sparks. The science and myths may be pretty interesting, but I bet most people will tell you that the height of creativity and inspiration they pick from their dreams is really WOW. Sometimes, dreams give you hope of an alternate reality, of what could be if things were a bit different. I mean, if I ever get to visit Wonderland in one of my dreams, or Hogwarts, I'm never waking up!