We’ve all had one of those dreams. Perhaps you were falling off a cliff and couldn’t catch yourself in time. Maybe you were back in high school only to discover you weren’t wearing any clothes. Or it might be something so strange you couldn’t make it up during waking hours if you tried.
Even though they can feel random, puzzling, and sometimes frightening, dreams are actually the brain’s way of processing what has happened during the day. While the logical part of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) is in rest mode, the imaginative part (the hippocampus) is given full reign.
Not only do dreams help us sort and strengthen our memories and process emotions, but they also serve as a problem-solving tool, exploring solutions unconstrained by reality.
According to brain surgeon and neuroscientist Dr Rahul Jandial, dreams are worth paying attention to because they can give us insights we wouldn’t achieve otherwise.
“They can make associations between people from different times in our lives, between seemingly unrelated events, between what’s happened in the past and what may happen in the future,” he explains.
“They can also offer us insights into our emotional state, the relationships in our lives, our health, and the problems that vex us during the day.”
What our dreams mean
Before researching his latest book, This Is Why You Dream, Dr Jandial likened the interpretation of dreams to reading a horoscope, more pop psychology than science. Now, he firmly believes dreams have important things to tell us.
“Given the rigorous science behind our understanding of what happens in the brain when we dream,” Dr Jandial says, “I now believe that dreams can be interpreted.”
Several theories exist on what dreams mean, but according to Dr Jandial, those dream dictionaries can’t be accurate, as what we dream about specifically relates to our personal experiences. Instead, we should focus on themes and how those could pertain to recent events.
“Dreams are not random. Our dreams are a combination of our memories and imagination, shaped by our emotions. They also tend to be more symbolic than literal.”
For example, anxiety about starting a new job might elicit a dream of a hike along a dangerous mountain path. During COVID lockdowns people reported dreaming of being trapped or being caught in a maze.
Many of us have had dreams where we show up late for a final exam, even decades after our last class at university, which may well correspond with a time in our lives when we feel judged or worry about failure.
“It’s important to think of the imagery in a dream as something symbolic that matches the emotion of the dream. Vietnam War veterans going through a divorce commonly dreamt they were back in combat, a time in their lives that matched the fear and stress of the divorce,” he adds.
Remembering our dreams
Humans spend about two hours a night dreaming, yet we don’t remember most of them. However, just because we can’t recall them doesn’t mean they didn’t happen.
To help jog your memory, dream analyst Jane Teresa Anderson says instead of reaching for your phone or jumping straight out of bed, we should lie with our eyes closed for five minutes and try to remember as many details as possible.
“You might just recall a bit of a dream, or a sensation, or a person’s name. Write it down. Once you’ve written it down, you’ve made it a memory, and because you can go back and read it, you’ve stopped it from disappearing,” she advises.
Doing this will help you pinpoint themes to explore further and better understand why you’re dreaming about events or people from your past.
“They might represent an experience that you’re dealing with now. The best way to work out what it means is to think of three words that you’d use to describe that person’s personality or approach and then think about what was happening in your life yesterday when some of those things came up.”
If your dreams are verging on scarier than strange, you’re more likely to remember them.
“Nightmares are by their nature highly emotional and, by definition, wake us up. This makes nightmares our most memorable dreams. We’re more likely to forget less emotional dreams,” explains Dr Jandial.
Studies have shown that what we do before bed, as we get ready to sleep, can affect the content of our dreams.
“If you want to increase the chance of a pleasant dream, make a habit of soothing or relaxing bedtime rituals. Conversely, watching a horror movie before sleep will make you more likely to experience a negative dream.”
Dreams are rarely logical, though, so if it’s a work presentation or exam you’re worried about, you’re unlikely to dream of PowerPoint slides or big chunks of text. If it’s a creative solution you’re looking for, you’re more likely to think of the answer in a visual and symbolic way, which requires more decoding.
