Research paper on Dreams

Essay by SlobbyCheeksCollege, UndergraduateA, April 2012

download word file, 6 pages 0.0

Caleb Sobczak

Research Paper

2:00

Dreams

Dreams are one of the mysteries still left for humankind to discover. They have been contemplated and interpreted over the ages in many different ways and have fascinated mankind for centuries, maybe even millennia's. "The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind." (Sigmund Freud) The studying of dreams has been going on for a very long time and we have learned many amazing facts about them. In this paper I will be revisiting some of these facts that we have discovered, and tell you what I learned about the science and study behind dreams.

The human body does not have one state of sleep; it in fact goes through multiple stages multiple times in a sleep cycle. There are two main types of sleep, Non-Rapid Eye Movement or NREM, also known as quiet sleep, and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) also called active sleep or paradoxical sleep.

We begin sleep by going into NREM in which our body slows down motor functions and brain activity and begins to enter into REM sleep. It usually takes about 90 minutes to enter into REM sleep, where brain activity and motor functions increase and where most dreams occur. Our body does not just stay in REM sleep, it goes through multiple cycles. You will reenter NREM sleep multiple times in a night and then revert back to REM sleep, which will last longer after every cycle back into NREM sleep. I mentioned before that REM sleep is the stage of sleep where most dreaming occurs, and that is because of the increased brain activity in this stage of sleep. Our brain has an increased amount of electrical activity in REM sleep and this they believe...