Dreaming

I have had some crazy dreams lately. 

Which have lead to not the best sleep,

which lead to napping, 

which lead to not sleeping at night. 

Do you see the irony of it all?

I tend to have a lot of tension in my dreams, 

I haven't had a happy dream

in a long time. 

Which made me wonder, 

What factors affect our dreaming?

My mom always told us we couldn't have 

ice cream late at night because it would 

give us nightmares. 

I think it was more the sugar keeping us awake.

But I did some looking into dreaming.

REM sleep is approximately a 90min period where

 your brain is more active and the perfect time for 

"story-like" dreaming.

When your REM sleep is closer to the

 time you wake up, you are more likely to remember 

more details. People who are sleep deprived 

tend to have a larger amount of REM sleep, 

giving them more vivid dreaming time.

(You see where this is going right?)

For years people have debated whether 

dreams have meanings. 

Several successful people have accredited 

 ideas and inventions to dreams. 

This can be explained to the point of,  

when we see a problem and feel stress over it 

or it is constantly on the mind we take it 

into our "dreams". Often resolving the problem 

simply to find deep sleep. 

Kelly Sullivan Walden, a certified dream coach 

divides dreams into eight categories.

Processing, Venting (nightmares), integration, 

breakdown/breakthrough, recurring, precognitive, 

prophetic, and wish fulfillment. 

The most common being recurring and venting.

(this is my struggle)

Some dreams that fall under the 

processing category have been used to solve 

emotional and physical problems. 

Lending insight into deeper troubles or psychological issues. 

Owen Flanagan a professor at Duke University says 

"Bizarreness will increase....

 the more you have on your mind"

(That isn't giving me a lot of hope

of resolving this )

This is where we dabble in crazy ideas. 

Can your dreams be "interpreted"?

Most everyone has had the dream of 

your teeth falling out. 

This has been linked to a fear of aging or death.

How about the one where you are falling?

This can lend to the loss of confidence or

 threat to security. 

(I had a dream I was wearing really high heels, 

and fell over in them, literally my body jumped 

like I was really falling. What does that mean?)

But most dreams are personal, 

reflecting underlying thoughts or feelings. 

(oh dear this is getting personal)

Symbols, objects, or images can signal 

a connection to reality,  

Serving as a metaphor to the conscious state of mind.

But you also have to know the parallel into your own life, 

the sighting of a lion would mean different things 

to a circus performer and a child whose favorite 

toy is a lion. By examining each element in the dream

and looking for parallels to reality or the subconscious

you can decipher a meaning. 

It may also be beneficial to consult a peer, 

we may not always see objectively

when it concerns our personal lives. 

Recurring dreams can continue for days, 

weeks, months, or even years. 

This is the most important kind of dream. 

This is most likely your unconscious mind trying 

to tell you something. 

If these dreams are a result from a traumatic 

experience, the experts recommend 

help from a therapist.    

So your dreams can be explained. 

For the most part. 

It doesn't take a genius to tell you 

that stress can induce crazy dreams. 

But my dreams tend to bring conflict,

or situations where no one acts normally, 

or I feel I should have spoken up 

in reality and my dreams become the place to 

honestly speak with someone. 

I don't like any of these options. 

But if you want to increase your REM

 (crazy dream time) here are some tips:

Get sleeping-more sleep increases REM time.

Keep a journal-Record the dreams when you wake, it will help you remember more details. 

Suggestions- Contemplate what you want to dream about 

before sleeping. 

Limit stimulates- like sugar or caffeine. 

Best of dreams 

By -J

Its finals time so don't freak out

 about the dreaming.