Brain States and Conscious

Dreaming The topic of sleep and dreaming is interesting to me because of the complex nature of the brain. It seems we know so much about human physiology, yet the brain is still mysterious. We know about neurochemicals, for instance, but do not really understand how memory is stored, accessed, or how dreaming affects our abilities during waking life. We know that a chemical upset, even minor, can make a huge difference in our state of consciousness, or our ability to perform in daily activities.

Dreaming is fascinating to me because we know that the brain is a machine, and like any machine, it must be maintained (through nutrition) as well as rest and sleep. I find it personally interesting that dreams can be so vivid, unreal, frightening, pleasurable, and yet still mysterious. Dreaming is part of sleep -- and a recurring stage in which our state of consciousness is reduced in varying degrees, our sensory activity is suspended, and we have a slowing of muscle reaction.

Dreaming is a part of sleep and is a perception of images and sounds during sleep -- more an apparent participant than an observer is. Dreaming occurs during one stage of sleep, the REM stage (when brain activity is highest), and is thought to be a symbolic expression of our unconscious mind, but also one that helps consolidate and organize our brain functions and memory. Dreams seem to be caused by the random firing of electronic impulses in neurons in the cerebral cortex.

Most researchers agree that what we perceive to be random or irrational when we recall dreams is the logical part of the mind trying to make sense of the information it received, the stimuli given, and finds ways to process it based on prior knowledge and experience (Obringer, 2012). Healthy humans usually spend about 1/3 of their entire lives sleeping -- a fact that has changed based on the modern schedule.

It is likely that sleep and dreaming evolved so that we would find a way to process the thousands of images we receive on a daily basis, to organize them, and then to learn and adapt. To me, though, one of the most fascinating aspects of dreaming is the notion that dreaming actually keeps us healthy by allowing us to individually process information. However, because we are in the subconscious realm, dreams occur in vivid colors, sounds, shapes, or emotions that may or may not make sense to us.

Scientists think this is the way our brain organizes new information so it can be processed to make sense in the future, as well as how we strengthen memories, remove clutter and reconnect the brain chemicals while resting so we do not need to process realistic events. Humans cannot function without adequate sleep and dreaming -- not just psychologically, but physically/biologically (Zhang, 2004).

Research on this topic was personally relevant to me in that reading about Carl Jung helped me understand that it was necessary to get regular sleep and be rested and prepared for dreams in order to be able to study and learn effectively. As well, one author noted that dreams help prepare and protect us from life's stresses, "almost like having an internal therapist, because you associate, through dreams, to previous similar feelings and you work throughout the emotion related to it so that.