• Question: why do we dream

    Asked by ilovejoy to Claire, Kate, Matt, Rob, Sam on 21 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Sam Geen

      Sam Geen answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      No-one really knows, although it seems very important – not being allowed to enter REM (rapid eye movement) sleep can even be fatal. The current theory is that dreaming is the brain sorting itself out – shuffling memories around, throwing out junk. But we don’t really know for sure.

    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 22 Jun 2013:

      Here’s a bit of an answer to another question I think answers this one as well:
      Dreams can be explained by our brain processing away while we are asleep – think of it as de-fragging a hard drive on your computer (cleaning it up and organising it). So whatever goes into your head, is called upon while you sleep, and this can be where the images come from -often in weird and wonderful contexts. Have you heard of the phrase “sleep on it” when you’ve got an important decision? It means give yourself time to process the options thoroughly, and a lot of that can happen sub-consciously, and we are sub-conscious when we sleep, and dream.

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