The importance of dreams and how to remember them

For as long as humans have existed, we have dreamed. Machiel Klerk, our dream expert, describes dreams as a world you find yourself in during sleep. In that world your mind is awake, while your body is asleep. So, it’s essentially a different state of consciousness than when the mind and body are both awake. The reason we often don’t remember our dreams is because our short-term memory formation is at its lowest when we dream. If you’re one of those people who thinks they don’t dream it’s more likely you do dream, and you just don’t remember. In fact, on average, we dream for 6 years in our lifetime. 

So why do we dream? Well, first we’re going to rewind the clock and look at the fascinating history of dreaming before delving a little into the science and psychology of why we dream. In this article, Klerk also reveals 5 things everyone should know about dreaming and some useful tips to help you start to remember and track your dreams.  

THE HISTORY OF DREAMING  

Dreams have fascinated people of thousands of years, and they still do today. In Mesopotamian societies, such as Sumerians and Babylonians, in the region that is today’s Iraq, they believed their gods communicated with them through their dreams. And those who could interpret dreams held prominent roles in society with their findings often used in policy- and decision-making.  

On the other hand, the Norse believed our lives were fated and foretold in our dreams. This dream state of foreshadowing was a common theme in Norse mythology. The god Baldur, for example, was said to have foreseen his own death in his dreams. Despite the intervention of his father, Odin, his death came to pass as he dreamt it.  

Over in ancient Egypt, dreams were understood to be a conduit to the afterlife and a looking glass into the future. According to the Bible, Joseph (he of the coat of many colours) interpreted the Pharaoh's dream to foretell a seven-year famine, counselling leaders on how to plan and avoid starvation. Dream analysis was big business and the Egyptian Dream Book, dating back to 1200 BCE, consists of 108 dreams, their interpretations, and whether they are thought to be a portent of good or bad events. According to the ancient text, to dream of being dead was a good omen as it was a sign of long life and seeing a snake meant a dispute would soon be settled.  

Dreams played a fundamental role in both Ancient Greece and Rome too. Dreams were considered divine by nature and both societies worshipped a god of sleep. The Greeks revered Hypnos while the Ancient Romans looked to Somnus. His son Morpheus was Oneiroi, a dream spirit, and along with his brothers he could influence the dreams of others, and his talent allowed him to meddle in the dreams of kings and fellow gods.   

Dreams have long been considered a mirror to our souls and inner most thoughts. In ancient India, and still today, dreams are a means to discover one’s spiritual path. In more modern history, dreams during the Renaissance took on symbolic and artistic significance. Artists like Leonard di Vinci and more recently Salvador Dali would play with reality, incorporating elements in their work.  

From the different types of dreams to the real meaning behind recurring dreams, here are 5 things you need to know about dreams. 

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DREAMS & PSYCHOLOGY: WHY DREAMS ARE IMPORTANT 

In more recent years, this desire to understand the mind through dreams influenced the birth of dream science and psychoanalysts including Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, whose theories remain relevant for psychotherapists to this day.   

Matthew Bowes, a psychotherapist with a special interest in dreams based in Brighton, England, believes that dreams serve two main purposes: either therapy or creative problem solving. “There is ample evidence that one of the primary functions of dreams is to help process difficult emotional states, whether we are conscious of that or not. There is a theory that we dream about what concerns us in life and through the process of dreaming, we attempt to figure out the best way through that situation by comparing current experiences with past memories.”  

Matthew Walker, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, also believes dreams have a therapeutic function. “It’s said that time heals all wounds, but my research suggests that time spent in dream sleep is what heals,” notes Walker.  

The creative problem-solving aspect is a popular theory amongst scientists and psychologists. Nicoline Douwes Isema is a sleep expert based in the Netherlands and member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. She says, “When you are sleeping your mind is absent of any distractions from the outside world, it has the time and space to make new connections and explore emotions that may have been overlooked during the day. They are an emotional playground, providing a unique space where the emotional centres of the brain have free play. In this way, dreaming can help individuals adapt to changes in life and enhance emotional intelligence.”  

Of course, to work with your dreams you need to remember them, in this video our dream expert Machiel Klerk reveals 3 tips to help you remember. 

 To view this video with subtitles please click here to watch it on YouTube, once there please follow the subtitle instructions below.

To add subtitles in your language to the video, please follow these instructions. Click play on the video below. Tap on the settings icon (it looks like a cog). Click on Subtitles/CC, then Auto-Translate, select your language and enjoy the video.

We don’t have to engage with our dreams but if we do, they can help us live better, more creative and happier lives.