Dreaming
It will be several hours until the alarm buzzes, but suddenly a
man bolts up to a near-sitting position in bed. The room is
peaceful, yet he's terrified, and can't immediately reason why.
Then, after convincing himself that all's calm and he's safe, he
begins to unravel a few details of what has just scared him
awake.
Another alarm sounds and a woman shuts it off, pulls the covers
over her head and tries desperately to return to what was so
abruptly interrupted. In it were flowers and a blue sky. She was
sixteen and size eight again.
In another house, a five year old runs into her parent's
bedroom, waking them at 2.00 a.m. because she woke up to find a
monster sitting on her lampshade.
Dreams can be convincing. They can be prophetic. They can also
be elusive. Some people swear they never have them, while others
have almost total recall of a great number of them. Some people
can even get totally engrossed in a semi-dream state during the
day.
Researchers have a variety of theories explaining the phenomenon
of dreaming. Some say that dreams help us get back in touch with
our inner individual self. This is reinforced whenever we're
confronted with a problem that hasn't been solved by the end of
the day and we're told to "sleep on it," as if the answer is
going to somehow sashay to the surface later in the night.
Another theory is that dreaming is our mind's way of cleaning
the clutter from our mental computer so we can retain the more
important stuff. This might explain why we wake up tired...we've
simply swept our brains too much while we were sleeping. Often,
students study directly before going to sleep, thinking that the
information will be more easily retained and recalled the next
day.
Yet another theory for dreaming is that it helps us understand
what we've seen, felt and experienced, in somewhat of an
information assimilation process - that it acts as our own
personal housekeeper and file clerk.
Apparently, we're all quite active during sleep time. Scientists
say that we sleep each night in 4 or 5, ninety-minute stages. It
is during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage that we do our best
dreaming. We have a dream segment approximately every hour and a
half. Usually though, we won't remember any of them unless we've
been interrupted and awakened while they were happening.
It seems that if you've mastered the art of "lucid dreaming" you
can control the conversation and action and pretty much have
things your way. As of yet though, I've never been able to do
that, asleep or awake.
There are many dream interpretation books available, but chances
are you know someone who immediately explains your dream by
saying, "Well, you obviously must have been thinking about it
sometime that day." ("Yes, Aunt Clarese, I was thinking about a
barking bat taking off with my blow dryer earlier at lunch
today.")
Certain circumstances can affect the type of dreams we have.
Eating food a short time before going to sleep can pave the way
for some unique experiences. Or watching a scary movie can
increase the odds that you'll have a scary dream that night.
Stress and worry can also affect our dreams.
I guess I don't mind entering the somewhat fantasy world of a
dream, as long as there are no ten foot tap-dancing artichokes
yelling advice and trying to sell me a condo on the beach. But
forget them or recall them, ignore them or try to interpret
them, dreams are a part of our life and it's for our benefit
that they're going to continue to be.