Dreams are an amazing world that opens the door to the unconscious when we sleep. There are still debates about why a person needs dreams - there are many assumptions, but not a single exact answer. Depending on their worldview, everyone understands the nature of dreams in their own way. For some, a dream is a rest, while others try to interpret the hidden meanings that came in a dream.
Many people confuse one another, remember: a dream is a physiological process in the body in which changes in brain activity are observed, a dream is a condition in which the human soul receives some experience ... A person sees images - often they signal us about something.
Have you noticed that if you eat something salty at night, then because of the desire to drink water, you dream of water? This is surprising, but a dream can save a life - if, say, a fire occurs, then first he will dream, and then the person will wake up abruptly.
If dreams and dreams are what you are interested in, then you have opened the right article. Perhaps you can learn something new for yourself here.
We bring to your attention a list of 10 interesting facts about sleep: the new discoveries of scientists associated with it. Riddles of dreams and other questions.
10. Cetaceans, birds and crocodiles sleep “half”
Such different animals, but with the same habit! Birds, cetaceans and crocodiles sleep “half”, that is, one hemisphere remains awake. Thus, they remain conscious all the time.
It is especially interesting to talk about whales - imagine whales are sleeping at the very surface of the water. They slowly sink, then, having plunged to a certain depth, the whales beat with their tail, after which they rise to the surface, then they take a quick breath / exhale, and then the process repeats. On average, such a whale sleep lasts 15 minutes. During the day, the whale repeats the procedure several times, gaining the necessary reserve of sleep.
9. Birds sleep sitting, standing, and ducks on the fly or afloat
Most birds sleep while standing or sitting, hiding their head under the wing (sometimes they’re leg tight). In order to sleep - the bird does not have to go to bed, as we do.
In addition, there are birds that sleep right on the fly - for example, storks and ducks. Migrating birds sleep as follows: every 15 minutes in the middle of the flock one of the birds flies and slightly moves its wings. It carries the air flow created by the flock. Then another bird takes its place.
In addition to this amazing phenomenon, birds can sleep afloat - ducks, for example, do not get ashore. And the parrots sleep even stranger - they hang on the branch upside down and fall asleep.
8. Dreams of human embryos are composed of sounds and tactile sensations.
As you know, an embryo is an early stage in the development of an animal, starting from the egg. Scientists have concluded that dreams of human embryos located in the womb of the mother, due to the lack of visual stimuli, consist only of tactile sensations and sounds.
The fetus does not yet have awareness, therefore, it cannot see dreams, but the fast phase of sleep is recorded in all birds and mammals, including the fetus. But questions remain - when exactly does the fetus gain consciousness? After birth, or does it occur gradually? Questions to Still Think About ...
7. Nightmares are seen by all people, especially often in childhood
Each of us in dreams comes awesome images (to one more often, to the other less). To people who are far from emotional experiences, fears, etc., frightening images come much less often. As a rule, nightmares dream of anxiety, experienced traumatic days, stress, problems, etc.
Even nightmares dream when the brain does not have time to process the received information in a day. Therefore, he is trying to deal with the problems that come in the form of nightmares.
It is proved that children have nightmares more often than adults. The fact is that the psyche of the child is very vulnerable - it is very important to create a favorable atmosphere in the house so that the baby does not see cruelty, violence and everything that can injure him.
6. Freud wrote the work “Interpretation of Dreams”
The writings of the Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) are ambiguous. The psychiatrist believed that the dream scenario with its seeming absurdity is nothing more than a code of secret desires that are satisfied in images of this form during sleep. He made such a conclusion, taking as a basis his work with mentally unhealthy people. How to relate to his work - everyone decides for himself. There is such a phrase "according to Freud”, It is interesting what it means - all actions of a person are determined by his libido, ie desire for copulation. And thanks to this desire, you can sublimate - for example, learn languages, write paintings or poetry, reaching unprecedented heights in the sphere into which you direct your libido.
"The Interpretation of Dreams" is Freud's first and major monographic work.. The first edition was published in 1900, but for a long time did not find buyers. In this book, the Austrian psychiatrist first explained what the unconscious is.
5. Onyrology - the science of sleep
Onyrology is a mysterious science ... She is engaged in the study of dreams and everything connected with them.. The term "neuroscience" was first used in the II century BC. This science, despite the seriousness of the approach, remains one of the most mysterious.
Interestingly, we still cannot confidently answer the question: “Why do people see dreams? ” However, the science of neuroscience has provided us with several hypotheses: hidden desires (the author of the hypothesis is Sigmund Freud), getting rid of the unnecessary (Zhang Jie suggested that in a dream a person gets rid of all that is superfluous: whether it's unresolved conflicts, uncompressed emotions, etc.), natural selection of thoughts ( psychologist Richard Coates considers the brain of the sleeper as a theatrical scene, according to this hypothesis, the brain selects suitable emotional reactions, and swaps the rest). The hypotheses do not end there, in addition, intriguing discoveries await scientists (and, of course, us!).
4. Breath in a dream changes according to phase
There are 2 phases of sleep: slow and fast. During one night, these phases replace each other. On average, one phase lasts for 1 to 2 hours. The phase of slow sleep includes 3 stages, and fast consists of only one. During the night, the stages follow one after another - the cycle repeats over and over. It can be up to 7 cycles per night.
It is noteworthy that human breathing changes according to phase. With a quick sleep, for example, you can notice the movement of the eyeballs, the movement of the hands, astray breathing and even a change in the heart rate.
3. During sleep, the body is paralyzed
When we sleep, some skeletal muscles are paralyzed during REM sleep.but don't be alarmed. This is designed so that we do not injure ourselves - for safety. The REM sleep phase is a deep sleep during which a person sees dreams. During this period, eyeballs and muscles responsible for breathing are active, but most other muscles are inactive.
During normal sleep, the body blocks nerve impulses, which is why we can not make movements. If this did not happen, then sleeping people would get out of bed, wave their arms and legs, inflict injury on themselves.
2. August Kekule discovered the formula of benzene during sleep
You have probably heard that in dreams come creative ideas and even insights. Rafael Santi (1483-1520), for example, in a dream came the image of the famous Madonna.
Creative ideas come in dreams to many artists. This can be explained - when a person is deeply immersed in his activity, and all the time he thinks about it, it is quite natural that in a dream he will receive what concerns his niche.
Concerning Friedrich August Kekule (1829-1896), he was able to discover the formula of benzene through a dream. Although the composition was known, chemists could not understand how the atoms in the benzene molecule are interconnected.
Reflecting on this problem, Kekule fell asleep, and in a dream he saw how chains of atoms spun in front of him, and one of them closed in a ring. Upon awakening, the chemist immediately wrote down his hypothesis, which was eventually confirmed.
1. A myth is widespread that Mendeleev saw a periodic system of chemical elements in a dream
You have probably heard that Dmitry Mendeleev (1834-1907) saw a chemical table in his dream. However, she did not come to him spontaneously, Mendeleev himself treated a fascinating story with irony, talking about the table: “Maybe I’ve been thinking about her for 20 years, and you think I fell asleep and done ...”
The fact that Mendeleev fell asleep and suddenly saw a periodic table is nothing more than a myth spread by professor A.A. Foreigners to amuse his students. And then they began to spread this myth. Maybe Mendeleev also saw the table in a dream, but this did not happen spontaneously, moreover, he made corrections in it from 1869 to 1871.