"I believe in my dreams for my brain works hardest when I am asleep." August Strindberg, Swedish playwright
Each step echoes on the wet pavement as I run panic-stricken down a dark, deserted residential street. My pounding heart fills my body, ringing in my ears and throbbing in my fingertips. Over my shoulder I see a shadowy figure gain on me as my feet become heavier with every stride until I can no longer move. Rooted to the ground, I feel defenseless against my pursuer. Suddenly, I gasp for air, and I'm jolted awake from my nightmare.
thursday, december 4, 2003
For three consecutive nights, I had this same distressing dream. I knew it was trying to tell me something and the third morning I figured it out: I was overwhelmed. Already worried about my school and work commitments, I accepted a second job offer though I knew it might be too much. My increased stress from the day was haunting me at night.
Unresolved issues such as test anxiety or critical parents often surface in dreams as frightening obstacles. Experts say dreams offer us information about our waking lives that we may need to confront. Taking a closer look at what we dream about can bring us self-understanding. It amazes Gayle Delaney, founder of the Association for the Study of Dreams, how insightful people are while dreaming. Delaney, who's appeared five times on Oprah and is the author of All About Dreams, says people of average intelligence can have extraordinary revelations while dreaming because their minds are working to process the patterns of their lives from a less defensive perspective.
Lack of solid sleep can prevent you from remembering your dreams. William Dement who co-discovered REM sleep, says the dream world seems to be unavoidably tied to REM. "The brain created the dream world and we have no choice but to live in it," Dement, founder of Stanford University's Sleep Disorders
As we sleep our body travels through levels of unconsciousness, from light to deep. According to the American Psychoanalytic Association, most of our dreaming happens during the Rapid Eye Movement stage, or REM sleep, which occurs about every 90 minutes. During REM there is heightened brain activity including a burst of rapid eye movement as well as increased breathing and heart rate, genital enlargement and paralysis of bodily movement.
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