Why do we dream? Are we alone in the universe?

[ellie.j]

This is for a school project and I am in Year 7.

I would like to know anything to do with these questions because I would be very interested to find out

[NimrodTheGoat]

we dream because our mind tries to solve problems when we sleep, we can do it awake as well, and the only reason we remember our dreams is because we wake up during stage five of sleep: REM. REM is where our dreams occur.

we dont dream because we sleep, we sleep because we dream as said by my college professor in a lecture once (or something along those lines)

 

"We typically enter REM approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep. The first cycle of REM often lasts only a short amount of time, but each cycle becomes longer. This is why we need long periods of sleep each night. If we get short periods of sleep, we can’t really get through the stages we need to heal and stay healthy. REM can last up to an hour as our sleep progresses. In case you are wondering, if you feel like a dream is taking a long period of time, it really is. Contrary to what was once believed, dreams take as long as they actually seem."

 

Source:https://psychcentral.com/lib/stages-of-sleep/

 

 

and to the question "Are we alone in the Universe" , who knows.

Edited March 6, 2017 by NimrodTheGoat

[DrmDoc]

To understand why we dream, you'll have to start with why humans likely evolved as sleeping species because dreaming emerges amid sleep. Although dreaming happens when we sleep, dreaming isn't sleep. Our brain is as active while dreaming as it is when we are awake. There is evidence which suggests that sleep evolved as a means to conserve energy during periods of rest and between periods of feeding. in other words, sleep evolved as a means to manage our metabolism and dreaming emerges because of our brain's metabolic needs in sleep. Our brain is the largest consumer of our body's total energy uptake, which is about 20%. When we dream, our brain becomes active and that increases blood flow, which increases nutrients to the brain during sleep. The content of our dreams is how our brain synthesizes or interprets this metabolic activity in sleep. As far as why dreams can be difficult to remember, memory evolved congruent with experiences that had a real physical/material impact on the survival of ancestral animals. We don't remember our dreams easily because they are not real physical/material experiences and don't have the survival impact conforming to the evolved nature of memory. I hope this helps.

Edited March 6, 2017 by DrmDoc

[LabRat1]

This post is deeper than the Mariana trench.

 

I have no clue about dreaming, but I can probably give some insight on the alone part of your question.

 

Firstly the universe is like amazingly huge. So with such a large place there probably wouldn't be any shortage of elements such as carbon, oxygen or important molecules such as water. The probabilities are immense. Just take a look at the TRAPPIT system that was recently discovered,In our own vicinity. And I'm talking about life forms that may need similar conditions for survival like ours. But this may not be the case. Life may and can find ways to grow in extreme conditions. For example right here on Earth, The Tardigrade

 

 

can survive in the most extreme conditions and even in space (visit below link for more info on it)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade

 

There can be life forms which may have grown intelligent or there can also be life forms like the Tardigrade populating planets entirely. There is also a possibility that somewhere somehow another life form is on a similar forum discussing the same topic, Or there can be life forms that actually Govern the Universe, (and probably have wars for that power).

 

And all this in one universe.

There are theories of many universes, Or multiverses.

One even going to an extent saying that our universe may just be a drop in an immensely huge,continuous waterfall.

 

So basically There are possibilities.

 

Or maybe we are alone...and its up to us to colonize the universe.

 

Like I said, the possibilities are many.

 

Hope your hunger is satisfied...which it shouldn't cause if mankind's hunger for knowledge stops, then probably our race would too.

[Tom O'Neil]

This is for a school project and I am in Year 7.

I would like to know anything to do with these questions because I would be very interested to find out

We dream, because it allows us to visit other dimensions and places in our universe to work out our deepest problems of hopes, questions and fears?

[DrmDoc]

We dream, because it allows us to visit other dimensions and places in our universe to work out our deepest problems of hopes, questions and fears?

 

That's an inspiring notion but not one support by any real evidence or legitimate research, in my opinion. After four decades of study, I can confidently say that dreaming is indeed an altered state of consciousness produced by the metabolic processes our brain engages amid sleep. Our dreaming brain is equally as active as our waking brain. As I stated in my prior comments, our brain is the single largest consumer of our body's energy uptake and it arouses during sleep to increase the delivery of that energy (glycogen) via increased blood flow. If not for the energy needs of our brain in sleep, it would remain in a slow-wave state and we would not dream. The perceptual imagery we experience as dreams are byproducts of this metabolic process in the brain during sleep. During the arousal this process causes, our brain's subtle sensory perceptions within our sleep environment combine with its latent or lingering mental activity to produce perceptual scenarios we perceive as dream content and experience.

Edited March 13, 2017 by DrmDoc