Dreams are images that our brain generates while we sleep. These have always produced a great interest in science and in the general population. Let’s know what kinds of dreams exist.
- We recommend you read: “Sleep paralysis: what it is, symptoms, causes and treatment”
What are dreams?
Dreams consist of images, scenes or situations that can refer to countless situations. Some dreams are related to events in our real life, as well as worries or desires that haunt our head in wakefulness. On the other hand, others surprise us because they are absurd, strange stories or far from our reality.
Also, not all dreams make us feel the same way. There are some that make us feel happy and we would like them to materialize in a real situation. However, others deal with frightening content, generating discomfort even when we have already woken up.
Science has been showing interest in the study of dreams for years. From the researchers’ perspective, these can be defined asa series of images generated by our brain that are projected when we resttag. The truth is that, despite what it may seem, our brain is not completely disconnected during sleep. Thus, although our mind rests, it always retains minimum levels of consciousness.
Sleep essentially consists of two phases: REM and non-REM. The acronym REM stands for “rapid eye movement”, a name that is due to the fact that in this phase our eyes move quickly. The REM phase makes up 25% of our total sleep time and is where dreams occur. In one night we can enter REM phase up to 5 times, usually the first after the first 90 minutes of sleep.
As for the non-REM phase, it occupies 75% of the total sleep time and there are no rapid eye movements in it. It should be noted that our REM phase is very important, since it is what allows us to select those contents acquired during wakefulness that will remain in our long-term memory. Therefore,dreams could be a strategy that allows our brain to organize the information that we have been receiving during the time we are awake .
Although, as we can see, science has studied the phenomenon of sleep and everything related to it, this issue has also been the subject of much superstition and popular belief. What has generated the most interest has been, without a doubt, the interpretation of dreams. For example, there are those who claim to have dreamed of events that actually happened, so they are convinced that dreaming can be a way of predicting the future. Other people have claimed to have seen a deceased loved one in their dreams, so that dreaming is seen as a way to connect with the afterlife.
Although finding an exact interpretation for each dream does not seem to be very feasible, it can be interesting to know what types of dreams exist. In this article we are going to make a list of the main types of dreams, so stay and see if you yourself have had any of them .
- We recommend you read: “What does it mean to dream of being pregnant?”
What kinds of dreams are there?
As we said at the beginning of the article, there is a great diversity of types of dreams. Although collecting them all would perhaps be impossible, in this list we will collect the most common and interesting. Let’s see them.
1. Everyday dreams
Everyday dreams are those most common in the population. Its theme usually revolves around everyday life, where people, scenarios or events of our day to day appear. Normally, the content of these dreams does not remain in our memory, so they are not remembered or are only partially remembered when we wake up.
2. Recurring dreams
Dreams of this type are characterized by appearing repeatedly. The person maybe dreaming of the same content throughout the night and even several days in a rowtag. Anyone can have recurrent dreams, although these are especially related to times of stress and even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Thus, people who have experienced a traumatic event may show symptoms related to re-experiencing the event in question. Recurrent and intrusive dreams related to the event that generated the trauma are an aspect that requires professional treatment, since they can seriously interfere with the person’s well-being and quality of life.
3. Nightmares
Who has not had a bad night due to the blissful nightmares? These dreams with negative content can be unpleasant and even frighteningtag. In them, the person can be involved in situations of risk, panic, discomfort, etc. Nightmares can generate a more or less intense fear response, although it is common that when we wake up we feel overwhelmed, anxious, showing tachycardia and cold sweats.
As with recurring dreams, nightmares can have various causes, although they are closely related to the experience of traumatic events and stress. Similarly, we are more likely to have nightmares when we eat heavy and abundant meals, have a sleep disorder or take some type of medication. In any case, nightmares are common in the general population and we should not worry if they happen sporadically.
4. Prophetic or precognitive dreams
This type of dreams are those in which the person sees images of an event that later comes truetag. These dreams have always been surrounded by a certain halo of mysticism, since they have been associated with the possibility of predicting the future.
However, the vision of scientists is quite far from popular ideas, since it considers that the temporal relationship between two events (the dreamed and the real) does not have to imply causality. Other hypotheses suggest that these dreams can act as an adaptation mechanism of our brain that prepares us for events that may occur in the near future.
5. Metaphorical dreams
Metaphorical dreams, also called symbolic dreams, consist of non-literal representations of aspects of our livestag. For example, if we find ourselves very overwhelmed at work by the demands of our superiors, we may dream situations that reflect that emotional state. For example, we can dream that we are drowning in the sea.
From psychology, and especially from the psychoanalytic current, the interpretation of dreams is based on extracting meaning from apparently incomprehensible dreams. That is, it seeks to understand the underlying message of this type of metaphorical dreams.
6. Inspirational dreams
These types of dreams are those thatallow the person to discover ingenious ideas or answers to their everyday problems. This type of daydreams make us “turn on the light bulb”, so that an answer that had not occurred to us in wakefulness suddenly appears in our heads. Many artists and intellectuals claim that the foundations of their creations or discoveries began with this type of revelations while they were asleep.
7. Daydreaming
The phenomenon of daydreaming, also known as Daydreams , is that the person, even while awake, begins to disconnect from the present momentand sinks into their own thoughts. It is something like a trance state in which you seem to be dreaming without the need to sleep.
Some people consider that daydreaming is not exactly dreaming, since the person is not in REM phase and the brain is not working in the same way as in the rest of the dreams that we have discussed so far. However, we have decided to include it in the list since it is a phenomenon that is not only very frequent, but subjectively experienced as something very similar to a conventional dream.
8. Dreams of visiting or meeting
These dreams, like the prophetic ones, are usually surrounded by an aura of mystery and paranormal issues. In these dreams,the person is able to see or interact with a deceased relativetag. In the jargon of dreams, these episodes are known as “encounters” and people who have experienced them in the first person say they feel a great relief afterward and an assurance that there is life after death.
9. Conscious or lucid dreams
The so-called lucid dreams are those in which the person is aware of dreamingtag. There are people who, even being aware that they are dreaming, are not capable of waking up or modifying the course of dreaming. On the contrary, others can manipulate what happens in the dream, its theme, what they do in it, etc. This phenomenon is very curious, since in lucid dreams the person has a control over himself that does not occur in other types of daydreams.
10. Sleep paralysis
Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon, to say the least, curious. This causesthe brain to wake up while the body is still asleeptag. The person is aware that he is waking up, but when he tries to move his body he is unable. This can be especially distressing, as it usually takes several seconds or even minutes for the body to wake up.
Hallucinations sometimes occur in the course of sleep paralysis. The person may hear voices of familiar people or everyday sounds that are not actually occurring. In addition, the person may experience tachycardia and rapid and intense breathing once they have managed to wake up. Although sleep paralysis is not a daydream as such, it deserves to be on our list because of its peculiarity.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.
