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Bryn Huffman
Mr. Ratica
Google Applications
1 October 2015
Dreams
Why do we dream? Many have been intrigued by this question. The history of the many theories
of dreams is great and lengthy. Alas, at this point in time, no one exactly knows the function of sleeping
or dreaming. But we can try to understand the effects that sleep and dreams have on our mind, and what is
going on in our brain when we do so.
People used to believe dreams were produced by someone else, rather than the dreamer
themselves. They even thought dreams were produced by a type of spirit, or even a god. Some, and still
many today, thought that each object in a dream correlated or were symbols with things in real life. In
modern science, we know dreams are created by the dreamers brain, but still dont know how the process
works entirely (Antrobus 165).
In order to better understand dreams, we must understand the concept of REM sleep. The
discovery of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep, or REM sleep, sparked an increase of interest in dreams and the
study of it. (Antrobus 165) REM stands for rapid eye movement. This occurs when your eyes move
rapidly in multiple directions during sleep. When this does not occur, it is simply called non-REM sleep.
(Jennifer Robinson, par. 2) Dreaming and REM sleep are linked, as most dreaming occurs during that
kind of sleep. (Lewis 89) Scientists have found that during REM sleep, brain waves change from one
pattern to another in 90 minute cycles. They have also found that the more often you interrupt someone
dreaming, the sooner the brain begins to dream again. If you take away someones REM sleep, the brain
makes up for it later during the following nights. So, this kind of sleep must be vital to our

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health (Antrobus 168). One author states, The direction of eye movements during REM sleep seemed to
correspond to the reported content as if the person were watching the dream action. For example, a dream
of watching a tennis match would correspond to horizontal eye movements. This point of view was called
the scanning hypothesis.(Carskadon 234) Therefore, when we dream, our eyes are rapidly moving.
What is our brain doing when we sleep? The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus is the area of the brain
where we relay visual information, which is a vital part of our dreams, as dream images are usually 80
percent as bright and clear as when we are awake. In her research, Carskadon notes that,during REM
sleep, however, the lateral geniculate neurons are again highly excitable and are at least as active as
during wakingit may be the neuronal population underlying the prominence of visual imagery during
dreaming(Carskadon 237). It is quite interesting to find that the right hemisphere of our brain, which
processes things such as emotions, relationships, body language, imagination, and patterns are typically
characteristics of the dream state. And, as Robert Hoss wrote, Perhaps viewing the dream from the
standpoint of the thought processes attributed to the right brain provides a further key to understanding
dreams.(The Dreaming Brain, par. 8, 9) Another interesting case occurred when a woman had a stroke,
she lost many of her brain functions, most related to vision, and she stopped dreaming after that. (Dream
Centre, par 4) So, parts of our brain connected to our vision or our right brain are most likely involved
when we dream.
From ancient peoples to our modern day, weve been curious about dreams. There is a lot of
research regarding dreams and sleep. Some questions have been answered, but numerous still remain. Our
brain has a big part in dreams. Perhaps, in the future all our questions about dreams will be answered.

Works Cited
Antrobus, John. Dreaming Encyclopedia of Human Behavior. Volume 2. Academic Press, INC,
1994
Carskadon, Mary. The Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreaming. Volume 1. Macmillan Publishing
Company, New York. 1993

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Hoss, Robert The Dreaming Brain DreamScience.org October 12, 2015
Lewis, James. The Dream Encyclopedia. Gale Research, Inc, 1995
Robinson, Jennifer. What Are REM and non-REM Sleep? WebMD. com WebMD, LLC.
October 22, 2014
Dream Centre of The Brain Found BBC.News.co.uk September 10, 2004