Why Do We Dream?

It is an age-old question: why do we dream? Ancient civilizations saw dreams as portals for receiving wisdom from the gods. In modern psychology, Sigmund Freud famously theorized that dreams were the "royal road to the unconscious". Are we getting closer to understanding dreams?

Sigmund Freud gave psychoanalysis as one explanation for why we dream. But Freud had little understanding of the REM and NREM sleep cycles - and modern day dream research has pointed us to a number of other theories of dreaming. But first, let's start with the father of dream research...

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind. The controversial psychoanalyst said that our brain protects us from disturbing thoughts and memories by repressing them. Freud also believed that we are almost entirely driven by sexual desire, although much of it is unconscious.

If you asked Freud why do we dream he would say dreams are a secret outlet for repressed memories and desires. Freud used dream analysis to interpret the underlying language of dreams - which is very different from normal conscious thinking. I discuss this idea more in dream interpretation.

To support his dream research, Sigmund Freud split the human psyche into three parts: the Id, Ego and Super-Ego.

• ID - Newborn babies are born with only an Id. The Id is a sense of mind that causes us to act on impulse: to follow our primary instincts and ignore the consequences. The Id runs on the "pleasure principle" - it doesn't care about anything but its own satisfaction.

• EGO - As they grow up, toddlers develop an Ego. This is the part of the psyche that allows us to understand that other people have needs, and that impulsiveness can hurt us in the long run. This "reality principle" makes sure we meet the needs of the Id, without conflicting with the laws of the Ego.

• SUPER-EGO - By the age of five, we develop the Super-ego. This is our moral brain, that tells us the difference between right and wrong. However it doesn't make allowances for special circumstances - it is up to the Ego to decide.

This concept can be demonstrated with The Iceberg Metaphor... Just like an iceberg, the conscious mind is only the tip. It is a small part of who we are. There is much more "under the surface". Way down below, we have little or no conscious awareness of the Id, which influences all our decisions. The Ego is free floating in all three levels - both conscious and unconscious - monitoring our behaviors by day.

What does this have to do with dream research? Every night when we sleep, we disconnect from our conscious tip of the iceberg. The lights go off and we are protected from external stimuli (like noise, temperature and pain) as well as internal stimuli (like emotions and fears). We do this by creating our own internal worlds - our dreams.

Freud said dreams are a way to express the unconscious emotions arising from the Id - otherwise we would be constantly disturbed by them in our sleep and soon wake up. So why do we dream? To protect our sleep.

Freud went on to dissect the meaning of dreams in his famous 1900 book: The Interpretation of Dreams. Learn more about his dream analysis.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung (1875-1961) thought he could answer the riddle: why do we dream? Jung was a great follower of Freud and his dream analysis, but he eventually broke away to form very different theories.

Jung claimed that the function of dreams is to compensate for parts of the personality that aren't properly developed in real life. However, this conflicts with the fact that our waking life and our dreams show consistent thoughts and behaviors. For instance, if we are aggressive in real life, we will have violent dreams.

Dream Research

There are many theories of dreaming - some overlap with others and some are just plain bizarre. Dream research has given us these core theories in answer to the question: why do we dream?

Why Do We Dream?
...Because of Random Impulses

In 1977, two doctors put forward some dream research that would seriously challenge Freud's dream understanding. Hobson & McCarley said that dreaming is the result of random impulses coming from the brain stem.

Using an EEG machine, Hobson & McCarley were able to track the regular REM states of people during sleep. They used this data to form a predictable mathematical model and conclude that dreaming is a freak physiological (bodily) occurrence - rather than a psychological function.

According to them, the fact that we see images and hear sounds in our dreams is simply the brain's way of understanding noisy electrical signals. They said that dreams are random and meaningless.

However, many scientists point out that dreams often make sense. In fact, they can follow very intricate plots. This suggests our higher brain is playing a role. What's more, if dreaming was just the brain's attempt to make sense of nonsense signals, lucid dreams would be impossible!

Why Do We Dream?
...To Organize The Brain

We may dream to de-clutter our brains. Every day we are bombarded with new information, both consciously (e.g. learning) and unconsciously (e.g. advertising). This modern dream theory suggests dreaming is a way to file away key information and discard meaningless data. It helps keep our brains organized and optimize our learning.

Critics of this theory say that our brains are not the same as computers. To draw a comparison to filing, processing and storage space is likely to be inaccurate. They also point out that although some of our dreams relate back to the waking day (Freud called this day residue), the majority of our dreams are not about real events.

This theory hasn't been proven with any dream research. If it were true, we could expect to see our entire day replayed to us during our REM sleep!

Why Do We Dream?
...To Help Solve Problems

A number of researchers think that dreams are for problem-solving. One scientist in particular, named Fiss, claimed that our dreams help us to register very subtle hints that go unnoticed during the day. This explains why "sleeping on it" can provide a solution to a problem.

Unfortunately, there are also arguments against this theory of dreaming. For a start, most people only remember a very small number of their dreams. So if our dreams contain important answers - why aren't we programmed to remember them better?

Why Do We Dream?
...To Cope With Trauma

Dreams may be a way of coping with trauma. Based on the intensity of our emotions, we will generate dreams to cope with certain situations.

For instance, if you escape from a house fire and the experience shakes you up, chances are you will dream about it that night. The more traumatic the event, the more emotions are felt, and the more important it is to get over it. Dreaming about the fire will help you come to terms with what happened and prepare you for it ever happening again.

Of course, this doesn't explain why we dream of fantastic or mundane things - only that nightmares can be a kind of rehearsal for trauma.

Dream Analysis

Here are some more examples of how humans interpret dreams in different cultures around the world:

-- Shamans use dreams to diagnose illness. It is thought that the subconscious brain has an awareness of malfunctions in the body long before the conscious brain becomes aware of them. In this sense, shamans are psychoanalysts, much like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. -- The ancient Egyptians used dreams to make predictions about the future. They reported their dreams as messages from the gods, which were thought to contain vital wisdom and prophecies. -- Similarly, people in the Western world in the 1900s used dreams to find game, predict the weather, and tell the future.

-- Today, talking about our dreams is a very useful platform for saying what's on our mind without taking full responsibility it. For instance, we can probe how someone feels about something by saying "I had this weird dream about you last night..." and gauging their reaction.

So Why Do We Dream?

Dream research offers many theories - but still no definitive answer to the question: why do we dream?

Scientists generally seem to agree that dreaming is a form of thinking during sleep. Dreams contain at least some psychological meaning, but this doesn't necessarily prove a purpose, such as problem-solving. Overall, our understanding of dreams is still quite vague.

In a way, Freud gave dreams an unfortunate legacy. He taught us to associate them with psychological problems and anxieties. But in reality, most of our dreams are healthy and engaging - aren't they?

Dreams are a mixed bag. The truth is, science still doesn't have a definitive answer to: why do we dream? Most dream research shows that it is worthwhile to remember your dreams - at least, until we figure out what they are for! And if you plan to have lucid dreams, your recall is vital...

Sleep Research
History of Sleep
Why Do We sleep?
Sleep Deprivation
Why Do We Dream?
Dream Interpretation