Dream where I was flying. Did I really dream it? SMH.

Do you remember a dream that feels real?

The following poem is about wanting to forget my dreams. Sometimes, it is better to stick to reality. Particularly, I always dream that I am flying. I wish I could pick and choose my dreams. Maybe, I can 😯.

Dreamcatcher, dreamcatcher

Catch me a dream

One that feels like a tv show

Sprinkle personality

Play me like a Yoyo

Take me up and down

Let me be a Gilmore girl

A Brooke Davis cheering in a basketball game

Spring me around and let me fly like Peter Pan

Or dance in the rain like Don Lockwood

Laugh like nanny Fran

Drink coffee every day on an orange couch

Change like the transformers

Fight like Raymond and Ross

Learn chess like Beth Harmon

In the morning , erase it all.

Let me forget.

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On dreams…

Dreams have fascinated people since the crack of dawn. In particular, dream analysis was pioneered by Freud. Some of his teachings are still argued about today. Let’s not beat around the bush. There are people who find dream analysis a hoax. Others who take dreams way too seriously.

Have you ever gotten into a fight with someone because they were rude to you in a dream? Or dreamt of someone close to you dying? So, you spent the rest of the day bawling your eyes out. It happens. In fact, in my family my dad’s great uncle got in a physical altercation with someone because of a dream.

This begs the question, are all dreams real?

I mean they feel real to me. Especially, the one’s where I wake up screaming, cannot breathe, or speak. Today, we are closer to tracking dreams in our brains. We are so close to knowing how our dreams work.

For some reason, in my good dreams, I am flying. I have a bizarre fascination with Peter Pan and Neverland. Perhaps, the movie is influencing my dreams. However, there is no way for me to know for sure, without letting scientists track my sleep patterns. For now, all we have are what we know about other people’s dreams. Check out the more detailed list below 👇🏼.

When people remember dreams that never happened

Dreams are the portal to our false- memories. Also, known as fake memories that never happened, but we think did.

Scientists can map other people’s brain waves at night. Firstly, by looking at sleep-patterns while a person is dreaming. Then, right after dreams finish. Secondly, researchers look at the long-term recall (or remembering) of dreams, 1 to 2 weeks after.

This 2015 data revealed that 3 % to 7% of long-term dreams reported, were false memories of dreams. So, no, maybe I did not dream of flying. Maybe, you did not dream of her or him. Instead, you could have remembered something that never happened. Maybe, it is your subconscious telling you to focus on something, or someone 😉.

What we know about dreams now

1. While dreaming, we often problem-solve. We sometimes fall asleep and work the night trying to solve our own problems.
2. Some people dream in black and white- while others dream in color. Well, it is debatable. Some researchers think we only think we dream in black and white due to memory issues. However, older studies from the 1950’s found that people did dream in black and white, since movies were in black and white.
3. We sometimes remember dreams that never happened.

With all we know today, there is still so much about dreaming that is unexplained. There are things we might never know.

At my end, this does not bother me much. As curious as I am, I like the mystique of dreams. Well, that is what makes them so dreamy. The allure, mystery, is why there are so many movies, tv shows, songs, and poems about dreams.

A lot is unknown in our brains.

Sorry, we have to wake you up- to learn about your dream

To investigate dreams, we have to interrupt sleep. That is a bit counter-intuitive right? I feel so bad for the volunteers who are woken-up at random times. Well, not that bad, or I wouldn’t have the content to write about now.

Dream analysts change or play with the physiological scenario where dreams happen, in order to track dreams better.

Most of what we know about dreaming is linked to Rapid Eye Movements or REMS. This stage of sleep is essentially the physiological aspect of dreaming.

To paint a clearer picture, people who wake up during the rapid eye movement stage of sleep, were dreaming. Think of when your eyes flutter when you see your crush. Or the shutter of a camera lens. Our eyes do the same thing when we dream.

Welcome to the experience express, I mean the dream express

Some men and women in lab coats believe that experiences happen during sleep.

A lot of what we know about dreams is linked to the frequency, in which we recall dreams. How much we remember our dreams and when. After waking up from REM sleep, people record what they feel and take an emotional quiz.

Self-ratings are not always accurate. What we record when we wake up is subjective. Still, it is a closer step into understanding the enigma of dreams. Different types of dreams exist like:

• Emotional dreams (positive/ negative)
• Problem-solving dreams
• Lucid dreams

Lucid dreaming: When you are aware of your dream

For starters, this is all debatable. Some people don’t think psychosis and lucid dreaming are linked, or even a thing at all.

Allegedly, this state of sleep is very rare, whereby, a dreamer gains insight into the actual dream. When you know you are dreaming and try to control the outcome.

REM sleep is where we have the most dreams, including elaborate images. Although researchers can observe other stages of sleep, REM sleep is the most interesting, because that is when dream images happen. Like when we see ourselves flying or winning an award.

A lucid dreamer can recognize their hallucination and their true state (i.e., that they are sleeping). This always happens to me when I get the same dream of all my teeth falling out. I think to myself, oh ****, not again. However, at the time, the feelings feel so real. Sometimes, I even wake up, right before I am about to die in a dream.

Final thoughts: To know about dreams or not?

In conclusion, there is a lot we still do not know about dreaming. In a way, I hope it stays that way. I like being in this limbo stage of knowing and not knowing.

I imagine people being woken up in the middle of the night to record dreams, I find it so fascinating. At the same time, I don’t know if I would want to be one of the subjects. I still enjoy reading about it though 😊.

Please do not cite me as a source or take my information as a given. Read more about the topic via the hyperlinks of peer-reviewed articles I left throughout this post. I could have gotten some information wrong, since this was a quick article written in less than a day. Researchers sometimes take months to a year (or more), to write one article.

Always checkout their work for yourself and come to your own conclusions. No need to listen or believe a random stranger (that’s me 🙋🏻‍♀️) on the Internet.

If you enjoy neuropsychology related topics, check out more articles on pain and being basic.

What was the last vivid dream you remember?