Bad dreams

[DrmDoc]

My dreams, that I remember, seem to be an allegory to how I've been feeling recently, especially if I'm stuck on something that's important to me. I've also noticed upon waking, but not fully, that some character I know, is explaining things to me in an internal monologue that is very sensible and coherent; it is very real until I fully awaken. I like those periods because it seems to be my brain reconciling the things that are bothering me; lucid dreaming of an almost auditory nature.

 

As I understand it, sensory data streams hit the brain in a pretty asynchronous fashion and the brain orders and edits it all into a contiguous experience that we understand consciously . Perhaps, the garbled dreams are real-time manifestations of these raw data streams?

 

I hold a number of definitive views about the nature of dreams, how they arise, and what they possibly interpret based on what I believe is empirical evidence. Upon arousal from sleep, as you may know, the experiences and imagery we recall as dreams are how our brain synthesizes those phasic activations it experiences amid sleep as a result of its metabolic requirements. Like echolocation, the neural impulses of those phasic activations radiate from subcortical structure (thalamus) throughout the cortex where reciprocal impulses reverberate in response back to the thalamus where those impulses are integrated and ordered. We know this is empirical because decerebrate study show no brain activation occurs without subcortical neural inputs and no input--other than olfactory--reaches the cortex without first traversing the thalamus. The perception of our dreams order and coherency is produced by the thalamus. When we are able to render a description of our dreams that description is because of thalamic function. Via the thalamus, raw data arrives in the cortex where its elements are refined and then returned to the thalamus for integration and order. This process provides one explanation for the increased number of reciprocal (efferent) neural pathways from the cortex into thalamic structure over those afferent paths from the thalamus to the cortex. Our dreams, whether bad or nonsensical, only seem so because of the physical/material way our brain assimilates and synthesizes experience. Dreams aren't physical/material experiences; therefore, their content references something other than how we would normally process and understand our physical/material experiences. The meaning our dreams might convey resides in this other, non-physical/material reference.

Edited May 19, 2016 by DrmDoc

[Endy0816]

My dreams, that I remember, seem to be an allegory to how I've been feeling recently, especially if I'm stuck on something that's important to me. I've also noticed upon waking, but not fully, that some character I know, is explaining things to me in an internal monologue that is very sensible and coherent; it is very real until I fully awaken. I like those periods because it seems to be my brain reconciling the things that are bothering me; lucid dreaming of an almost auditory nature.

 

I need to borrow your Narrator :/

 

The whole, "Shifting my awareness to different objects and eventually dust; while evading pursuit before venturing into the creepy village." Made zero sense the other night.

 

 

I do feel they sometimes point you to needing to make a change. AI's sometimes get stuck in loops. Brain may have a similar issue that dreaming can help resolve.

[Robittybob1]

 

I need to borrow your Narrator :/

 

The whole, "Shifting my awareness to different objects and eventually dust; while evading pursuit before venturing into the creepy village." Made zero sense the other night.

 

 

I do feel they sometimes point you to needing to make a change. AI's sometimes get stuck in loops. Brain may have a similar issue that dreaming can help resolve.

What is the source of your quote?

 

"Shifting my awareness to different objects and eventually dust; while evading pursuit before venturing into the creepy village."

.

[StringJunky]

 

I need to borrow your Narrator :/

 

The whole, "Shifting my awareness to different objects and eventually dust; while evading pursuit before venturing into the creepy village." Made zero sense the other night.

That might be an example of asynchronous data streams; perhaps the bit's missing that would give it sense were non-verbal; imagine acollage of different media combining to give a coherent message.It's only in the last year or so I've noticed this coherent monologue within me. It's almost like my inner self has finally figured a way to talk to me that I can hear. I am severely deaf and in my younger years I couldn't hear what people were saying in my dreams; now it is all loud and clear. Perhaps my disability forced my brain to adapt this way.

 

I do feel they sometimes point you to needing to make a change. AI's sometimes get stuck in loops. Brain may have a similar issue that dreaming can help resolve.

I feel quite strongly that this is often so. The dreams I actually remember usually seem to have a narrative that suggests I'm trying to reconcile something that troubles me but have not yet acknowledged, or refuse to acknowledge, in my waking life.

What is the source of your quote?

.

He's quoting from a dream of his that puzzles him.

Edited May 29, 2016 by StringJunky

[Ten oz]

The brain is basically a semi conductor. Chemistry changes its conductive traits and in turn impact the way signals fire.Dreams may just be the result of resting pulse rate, blood pressure, temp of our environment, and etc?

[DrmDoc]

One of the pitfalls of determining the actual nature of dreams or whether they are meaningful is self-delusion. After all, we're talking about an experience within an environment that comports with whatever we think or believe and, invariably, what we think or believe isn't always right. Although what follows is what I think and believe, the actual and meaningful nature of dreams reside in reconciling what the brain is actually doing when we dream with how our brain synthesizes information and sensory stimuli. If what we believe about dreams doesn't conform to the researched and accepted nature of brain function, then what we believe is probably false. Our brain becomes active amid sleep because of its evolved, metabolic nature. Our brain synthesizes the neural activations its metabolic processes create during sleep as dream imagery because of the way our brain has evolved to perceive and assimilate those neural activations. Concisely, dreams are meaningful when we understand how they interpret the way our brain synthesize and assimilate it's activations in sleep.

[Endy0816]

That might be an example of asynchronous data streams; perhaps the bit's missing that would give it sense were non-verbal; imagine acollage of different media combining to give a coherent message.It's only in the last year or so I've noticed this coherent monologue within me. It's almost like my inner self has finally figured a way to talk to me that I can hear. I am severely deaf and in my younger years I couldn't hear what people were saying in my dreams; now it is all loud and clear. Perhaps my disability forced my brain to adapt this way.

 

I feel quite strongly that this is often so. The dreams I actually remember usually seem to have a narrative that suggests I'm trying to reconcile something that troubles me but have not yet acknowledged, or refuse to acknowledge, in my waking life.

He's quoting from a dream of his that puzzles him.

 

Interesting how the senses and brain's adaptation to them shapes dreams.

 

I get a few that are problem related. Work, relationships, future self driving car problems, you know, normal stuff...

 

Most are just extreme versions of the everyday with no obvious reason for being so.

Edited June 1, 2016 by Endy0816

[StringJunky]

One of the pitfalls of determining the actual nature of dreams or whether they are meaningful is self-delusion. After all, we're talking about an experience within an environment that comports with whatever we think or believe and, invariably, what we think or believe isn't always right.

Exactly the same neural apparatus are used for dreams as for waking life. Why should dreams automatically be assumed to be self-delusion; are our waking thoughts self-delusion? Is our brain not capable of coherent data streams when we are not consciously active; I think so. I think the mode of operation and internal language(s) may be different in that state though.

 

 

Interesting how the senses and brain's adaptation to them shapes dreams.

 

I get a few that are problem related. Work, relationships, future self driving car problems, you know, normal stuff...

 

Most are just extreme versions of the everyday with no obvious reason for being so.

Yes, it is interesting and I think it's necessary from a survival perspective that the sleeping brain keeps tabs on the external environment via the senses; it is, after all, sharing the same gear to make the dreams and keep tabs. It's not surprising, imo, that sensory data has an effect on dream output.

 

It seems to me that the brain makes caricatures of people or events as a means of emphasis, the degree of grotesqueness or exaggeration depending on how intensely one is disturbed by particular memories, anxieties, fears or people. The net result I think is to attempt to correct or level out emotional disequilibrium. If you are too happy in waking life the dreams could well be bad as well as vice versa when you are unhappy..

Edited June 1, 2016 by StringJunky

[DrmDoc]

Exactly the same neural apparatus are used for dreams as for waking life. Why should dreams automatically be assumed to be self-delusion; are our waking thoughts self-delusion? Is our brain not capable of coherent data streams when we are not consciously active; I think so. I think the mode of operation and internal language(s) may be different in that state though.

You are quite right, dreams are not self-delusion. To clarify, dreams are like a 3-D experience of our unconscious thought and perception processes; therefore, dreams reflect what we think and perceive even about their nature. If what we consciously think or believe about the nature of dreams is delusional, our dreams can reinforce those delusions because they are essentially reflections and extensions of our though and perception processes. For example, if we think or believe our dreams arise from a spiritual source, we might have spiritual dreams we could misconstrue as confirmations rather than as reflections and extensions of our brain's analytical processes. My point here is to be caution about deluding ourselves into a thought or belief because of what our dreams appear to convey or support. The path to certainty I've proposed and supported is one that specifically involves the way our brain universally processes information rather than some individual approach. Although we are individuals and we may not think alike, our brain uses "Exactly the same neural apparatus" and processes to assess its environment and experiences. The science behind all this may seem complex but the approach the science offers is simple--in my opinion.

Edited June 1, 2016 by DrmDoc

[Lyudmilascience]

I agree with stringjunky in his last post, dreams can exist to balance out emotions you experience in life so you wouldn't be too happy or too sad.I would have never thought about it so thank you for the post. I also agree that our brain acts differently in our dreams we would not think that way in life, sorry if I'm using over simplified language its just that i have to read many of these posts many times to understand the full meaning.

[StringJunky]

I agree with stringjunky in his last post, dreams can exist to balance out emotions you experience in life so you wouldn't be too happy or too sad.I would have never thought about it so thank you for the post. I also agree that our brain acts differently in our dreams we would not think that way in life, sorry if I'm using over simplified language its just that i have to read many of these posts many times to understand the full meaning.

I should stress that this is my own opinion. I think it is important not to read so much into the narrative or content of the dreams as much as how it makes you feel having experienced it.

 

Carrying reading and posting as you do, you are doing fine.

[DrmDoc]

I agree with stringjunky in his last post, dreams can exist to balance out emotions you experience in life so you wouldn't be too happy or too sad.I would have never thought about it so thank you for the post. I also agree that our brain acts differently in our dreams we would not think that way in life, sorry if I'm using over simplified language its just that i have to read many of these posts many times to understand the full meaning.

 

I also agree that dreams can be emotionally gratifying and unsettling but that, unfortunately, is not their purpose as the science of the dreaming brain suggests. Subjectively, dreams can make us feel good and not so good about our experience; however, objectively, they provide much more about the nature of our unconscious analytical processes than our emotional satiation.

[StringJunky]

 

Subjectively, dreams can make us feel good and not so good about our experience; however, objectively, they provide much more about the nature of our unconscious analytical processes than our emotional satiation.

Of course, objectively. The same could be said about your objectively measured conscious analytical processes; measuring is not being i.e. subjective. The interpretations from both perspectives will be different. Let's face it, the technology is not there yet.

Edited June 1, 2016 by StringJunky

[DrmDoc]

Of course, objectively. The same could be said about your objectively measured conscious analytical processes; measuring is not being i.e. subjective. The interpretations from both perspectives will be different. Let's face it, the technology is not there yet.

 

Indeed, investigating a hypothesis or assessing research results can be a subjective process. We know that it's incumbent upon an investigator or researcher to adopt and adhere to a process, methodology, or frame of thought consistent with objectively proven results. To that end, a simple algebraic expression (If a = b and b = c, then a = c) has always led my investigation, analysis, and approach to this area of interest and study. If the basis of our thoughts and beliefs about the nature of dreams is invalid, then whatever we build upon that basis is also invalid. Further still, if the basis of our approach to dream content analysis doesn't yield results consistent from dreamer to dreamer (a = b = c), then our approach is also invalid. The basis for my approach involves the brain and brain function. As you alluded, our brain amid dreaming uses the same neural apparatus as our waking state brain, which is the apparatus we all possess. Barring abnormality, our brains engage in the same neural processes that collect, analyze, store, and respond to sensory stimuli. The neural processes that occur in sleep and the distinctions that make our dreams meaningful are the same for us all as well. Although our conscious and dreaming brain share the same neural apparatus, the two are not entirely equal in activation. The cause of that inequality is key to our understanding of what our dreams actually convey. The details of that cause isn't sexy, but I will gladly provide the science in further discussion and why I consider it objective evidence it that is your interest. I tend to get long-winded in these discussion and I find most people aren't as interested as I in the minutia.

Edited June 2, 2016 by DrmDoc

[StringJunky]

 

The details of that cause isn't sexy, but I will gladly provide the science in further discussion and why I consider it objective evidence it that is your interest. I tend to get long-winded in these discussion and I find most people aren't as interested as I in the minutia.

I understand your approach and I normally adhere to it elsewhere but I think the subjective element i.e. correlating the measured signal with what is experienced subjectively, is important in this field. I'm happy for you to chuck the minutiae at me; I am interested in biopsychology* as a passing interest.

 

* Biopsychology is a branch of psychology that analyzes how the brain and neurotransmitters influence our behaviors, thoughts and feelings. This field can be thought of as a combination of basic psychology and neuroscience.

[Moontanman]

 

I think this is more of a psychology question rather than one involving anatomy, physiology or neuroscience. There is no clear research that ties bad dreams or nightmares to our physiology; however, they do seem to occur more frequently in our youth than as we age. That frequency may have to do more with stress in the dreamer's life than with a dreamer's level of insight or knowledge regarding the nature of dreams. There is plenty of info and some research regarding night terrors, which commonly references the sleep disturbances children experience. Try searching the term and I'm sure you'll find the info you seek.

 

 

I have sleep paralysis, when i was a kid it was every night, horrific, I had no idea what was happening, As I have grown older they are once or twice a month now.

[StringJunky]

 

 

I have sleep paralysis, when i was a kid it was every night, horrific, I had no idea what was happening, As I have grown older they are once or twice a month now.

Do you snore or know that you suffer from apnoea (amer, apnea)? I would suspect obstructed breathing.

 

 

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a condition where the walls of the throat relax and narrow during sleep, interrupting normal breathing.

There are two types of breathing interruption characteristic of OSA:

• apnoea – where the muscles and soft tissues in the throat relax and collapse sufficiently to cause a total blockage of the airway; it is called an apnoea when the airflow is blocked for 10 seconds or more
• hypopnoea – a partial blockage of the airway that results in an airflow reduction of greater than 50% for 10 seconds or more
• http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Sleep-apnoea/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Edited June 2, 2016 by StringJunky

[iNow]

Get a CPAP, if so. Many folks I know have used with great success

[StringJunky]

Get a CPAP, if so. Many folks I know have used with great success

That was the solution I came across for it reading around. Glad to hear it works.

Edited June 2, 2016 by StringJunky

[Lyudmilascience]

i do not think that dreams mean anything because whenever I read the meaning behind dreams it docent fit my dreams. if they meant something then one dream should mean the same thing to everyone that has it. so having a drem to balance out emotions makes a lot more sense to me. they cant exist for no reason. it also says here that most dreaming occurs in deep sleep http://psychcentral.com/lib/stages-of-sleep/ i also wonder what makes you remember a dream. I dont remember most of mine, i get one every once in a while but my parents have a dream they remember every night. they love to wake up and tell me what it is. i do remember alot more nightmares when i was younger but my beat friend made e watch all these scary movies like the ring and when a stranger calls and most of my nightmares were about those movies. i bet that if i watched them again i wolud get scary dreams. I also got a nightmare from bugs crawling in real life i was getting a nightmare that the bugs were eating me and when i woke up i had bug bites all over my legs, so they were kind of showing reality. another weird thing is i never had talking in any of my dreams or nightmares, its always either sounds or gestures.

[Robittybob1]

i do not think that dreams mean anything because whenever I read the meaning behind dreams it docent fit my dreams. if they meant something then one dream should mean the same thing to everyone that has it. so having a drem to balance out emotions makes a lot more sense to me. they cant exist for no reason. it also says here that most dreaming occurs in deep sleep http://psychcentral.com/lib/stages-of-sleep/ i also wonder what makes you remember a dream. I dont remember most of mine, i get one every once in a while but my parents have a dream they remember every night. they love to wake up and tell me what it is. i do remember alot more nightmares when i was younger but my beat friend made e watch all these scary movies like the ring and when a stranger calls and most of my nightmares were about those movies. i bet that if i watched them again i wolud get scary dreams. I also got a nightmare from bugs crawling in real life i was getting a nightmare that the bugs were eating me and when i woke up i had bug bites all over my legs, so they were kind of showing reality. another weird thing is i never had talking in any of my dreams or nightmares, its always either sounds or gestures.

Have you ever tried to convert the images in your dreams into colloquial sayings. I found that was the language of my dream interpretation. So it would be like charades, where your subconscious mind was trying to communicate to your conscious mind using pictures (scenes, stories) that expressed these sayings.

[StringJunky]

Have you ever tried to convert the images in your dreams into colloquial sayings. I found that was the language of my dream interpretation. So it would be like charades, where your subconscious mind was trying to communicate to your conscious mind using pictures (scenes, stories) that expressed these sayings.

I have noticed that sometimes my dreams are quite simple visual metaphors:

 

I dreamt I walked through the doors of my local nightclub but nobody was around. Walking through some dark corridors and passing through push doors I found myself in the bright, noisy arena of a cattle auction which had a sunken floor. Men surrounded the edge, peering down, looking at the animals, only that the cattle being led around the perimeter were horse-sized dogs. "Who'll give me 450... 450...475.... Done!" could be heard over the Tannoy I followed the animals out through a shiny steel-lined corridor and ended up in a room with carcasses hanging from the ceiling. End.

 

My interpretation was that nightclubs are cattle markets. In my locality a 'dog', at the time, was a derogatory term for a woman.

Edited June 2, 2016 by StringJunky

[DrmDoc]

Of course, objectively. The same could be said about your objectively measured conscious analytical processes; measuring is not being i.e. subjective. The interpretations from both perspectives will be different. Let's face it, the technology is not there yet.

 

Although my interests have involved the neurochemistry of the dreaming brain, my focus has primarily been its neuropsychology. As you’ve alluded, our waking (conscious) and dreaming (unconscious) brain shares the same neural apparatus; however, that apparatus is active differently between the two. Of the differences, low activation of the prefrontal cortex (transient hypofrontality) is most telling of how the brain perceives the experience of dreaming differently from that of conscious reality. This is important because, as I will further explain, what meaning our dreams hold is predicated on this distinction. To be clear, we all experience hypofrontality amid the dream phase of sleep, which suggests that our brain responds to the experience of dreaming in a way that is distinct, common, and universal. We know, through decerebrate study, that our cortex only becomes active in the presence of a subcortical neural connection; therefore an active prefrontal is primarily a response to subcortical neural stimuli. Conversely, this low prefrontal functional distinction we find amid dreaming suggests a nature of dream stimuli that is incompatible with the active nature of prefrontal function.

 

Prominent among the functions of the prefrontal cortex is its strong correlation with memory formation. As a significant survival advantage, briefly, memory evolved concurrent with experiences that had a real physical/material impact on the survival interests of ancestral animals. Dreams aren’t real physical/material experiences; therefore, our prefrontal function is depressed and we, consequently, experience limited dream recall upon arousal from sleep. Hypofrontality suggests that our brain perceives the nature of dreams as stimuli devoid of real physical/material consequence, content or context. So, what is this stimuli that, universally, our brain unconsciously recognizes as non-physical/material yet interprets as physical/material imagery and experiences? The key word here is interpret because that is essentially what our brain does when it experiences stimuli. The meaning we seek to objectively extract from dream content resides in the commonly shared way in which our brain interprets stimuli. Essentially, our brain has evolved to interpret stimuli through physical/material filters. This perspective is based on where the afferent sensory pathways into brain structure emerge and how they contiguously suggest the evolutional path of our central nervous system. Dreams are products of brain stimuli filtered as physical/material experience.

 

I’m stopping here for your assessment thus far.

 

Apologies for this abbreviated response. As you know, I've had a frustrated day.

Edited June 2, 2016 by DrmDoc

[StringJunky]

 

Although my interests have involved the neurochemistry of the dreaming brain, my focus has primarily been its neuropsychology. As you’ve alluded, our waking (conscious) and dreaming (unconscious) brain shares the same neural apparatus; however, that apparatus is active differently between the two. Of the differences, low activation of the prefrontal cortex (transient hypofrontality) is most telling of how the brain perceives the experience of dreaming differently from that of conscious reality. This is important because, as I will further explain, what meaning our dreams hold is predicated on this distinction. To be clear, we all experience hypofrontality amid the dream phase of sleep, which suggests that our brain responds to the experience of dreaming in a way that is distinct, common, and universal. We know, through decerebrate study, that our cortex only becomes active in the presence of a subcortical neural connection; therefore an active prefrontal is primarily a response to subcortical neural stimuli. Conversely, this low prefrontal functional distinction we find amid dreaming suggests a nature of dream stimuli that is incompatible with the active nature of prefrontal function.

 

Prominent among the functions of the prefrontal cortex is its strong correlation with memory formation. As a significant survival advantage, briefly, memory evolved concurrent with experiences that had a real physical/material impact on the survival interests of ancestral animals. Dreams aren’t real physical/material experiences; therefore, our prefrontal function is depressed and we, consequently, experience limited dream recall upon arousal from sleep. Hypofrontality suggests that our brain perceives the nature of dreams as stimuli devoid of real physical/material consequence, content or context. So, what is this stimuli that, universally, our brain unconsciously recognizes as non-physical/material yet interprets as physical/material imagery and experiences? The key word here is interpret because that is essentially what our brain does when it experiences stimuli. The meaning we seek to objectively extract from dream content resides in the commonly shared way in which our brain interprets stimuli. Essentially, our brain has evolved to interpret stimuli through physical/material filters. This perspective is based on where the afferent sensory pathways into brain structure emerge and how they contiguously suggest the evolutional path of our central nervous system. Dreams are products of brain stimuli filtered as physical/material experience.

 

I’m stopping here for your assessment thus far.

 

Apologies for this abbreviated response. As you know, I've had a frustrated day.

Yes, I'm with you, carry on if you want to.

[DrmDoc]

Yes, I'm with you, carry on if you want to.

Dreams are products of brain stimuli, filtered (interpreted) as physical/material experience. This brain stimulus, which is neither physical nor material, is a byproduct of our brain acting to restore its glycogen reserves rather than a neural relay response to concurrently real sensory stimuli. As afferent byproducts of subcortical brain activity, dream stimuli are exclusively a type of mentation not directly linked to congruent, contemporaneous sensory experience. Therefore, our dream imagery and scenarios are actually a type of mentation interpreted by the brain as physical/material experience. Everything about the nature of our experiences within our dreams describes something mental our brain interprets as physical/material. In our dreams, the houses we explore, the people we meet, the places, the food, everything universally interprets something exclusively mental in nature. When we correctly filter our dream experiences through the lense of the mentation they interpret, their content becomes more relavant as their meaning becomes cogent and clearer. From this point, my thoughts regard how to correctly apply this universal mentation filter to dream content should you still have interest. I welcome your thoughts.

Edited June 3, 2016 by DrmDoc