Reasons as to Why People Dream

Science has made it possible for deepening of our understanding about dreaming. Different research findings have explored the various reasons as to why people dream, and it can be stated that fundamental; answers are yet to be found about the same. Different theories, however, are in place regarding reasons as to why people dream (source).

Some scientific findings indicate that dreaming has no direct function but rather, it can only be taken as a consequence of other biological functions that take place during sleep. Different people that study dreams and sleep indicate that dreaming only plays a primary function. The different theories of dreaming that have been set in place span different scientific disciplines that that arrange from psychology and psychiatry to neurobiology.

Some research findings indicate that there is no real purpose as to why people dream. Some, however, indicate that dreaming plays a role in the physical, emotional and mental well-being of individuals. According to the theory by Sigmund Freud, it is through dreams that people are in a position to depict their unconscious desires, motivations, and thoughts. Sexual and aggressive instincts are some of the components that drive people according to Freud’s psychoanalytic view f personality, and they are usually repressed from conscious awareness.

Dreaming is therefore depicted as the most creative conscious state of an individual through which a spontaneous, chaotic recombination of cognitive elements leads to a novel configuration of information that can be regarded as new ideas.

A different theory that explains as to why people dream is the information-processing theory where the process of dreaming makes it possible for people to consolidate and process all the information that has been collected by people in the previous day.

Other theories have delved into an analysis of why people dream and one of the theories suggests that dreams are as a result of brains trying to explain external stimuli in the process of people sleeping. For example, the sound of a priest preaching can be incorporated in the dreaming process. A computer metaphor is used in a different theory when accounting for the process of dreaming.

It can be noted that there isn’t a satisfactory explanation in place that states concisely why people dream. It is, however, clear that researchers and scientists continue to put in place efforts that will make it possible to unearth some of the core reasons as to why people dream. There is still potential for a clear explanation to be offered in future, but momentarily, it will be to use existing findings.

Works Cited

1. Nielsen, T., & Levin, R. (2009). Dreams, Dreaming Theories and Correlates of Nightmares. Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 663-669.
2. Why do we dream? | HowStuffWorks. (2016.). Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/why-do-we-dream.htm