In one of her most unforgettable dreams, fourth-year psychology student Tatiana Vardanyan said everything seemed to be happening in quick frames, like pictures jumping around on a computer screen and flashing uncontrollably before her sleeping eyes.
“In the dream, I arrived at the airport, and suddenly everything seemed to change in a flash, and I was surrounded by dozens of birds flying all around me,” Vardanyan said. “As it progressed, the plane crashed and plunged uncontrollably through the sky, but it somehow happened that I survived.”
Though it was just a dream, it disturbed her mind for days as Vardanyan continuously tried to understand what it all meant.
It is in this way that our dreams can seem real while we are sleeping and even affect the mind when we are awake, said adjunct professor of psychology Dennis McGinty.
This relates to the biology of the dreaming brain and the awake brain, McGinty said. They look almost identical when studied using brain imaging techniques. The only differences appear to be the lack of control and regulation between certain brain regions.
“As bodily sensations come in to the brain, they are not separated into the proper contexts,” said Ronald Harper, a professor of neurobiology at UCLA.
“Since the brain is continuously active, thoughts and processes continue to be generated but are allowed to run wild without the same constraints as those present during the day,” he said.
Thoughts are randomly generated all the time during waking life, but the brain tells you to get back to work and concentrate. When you dream, the brakes are gone, Harper said.
“There may be someone whom you feel anger and hatred for, but these feelings are suppressed in ordinary life,” Harper said. “Dreams often allow you to express these feelings during the night and can transform that person into a monster.”
All of these events can occur during the night because different regions of the brain take over and burn with action while others that are pivotal for daily functioning rest. While we dream, the limbic system, the center for emotion processing, is working on overdrive while the prefrontal cortex, the seat of rational thought and critical reasoning, is resting, Harper said.
With emotions blazing and rationality gone, it is no wonder we have such imaginative dreams that, in many cases, have no basis in reality, Harper said.
But, understanding why we dream and what dreams really are has remained a mystery in the world of science, leaving room for a wide range of interpretation.
Dreams are like paintings since they are largely comprised of images and symbols, McGinty said.
There are even some recurring images, such as flying and drowning, that represent different states of each individual’s psyche, he said.
Metaphysical explanations present a different perspective on dreaming.
“The first step to understanding why we dream is to realize that we have invisible bodies as well as visible,” said Jean de Galzain, teacher and lecturer of astrology and esoteric philosophy at the International Headquarters of the Rosicrucian Fellowship.
“When each person goes to bed, they put their car into the garage to sleep and they exit the car itself, therefore they can no longer be sensitive to stimulation from the outside world,” Galzain said. “The body is only an instrument like a car in this life; the true person is the driver.”
The different levels of our being then travel through deeper levels of consciousness and reconnect to our bodies in the morning or at differing parts of the night, scientifically known as REM sleep, the stage during which the eyes move rapidly behind the lids, he added.
It is that moment when the mind reconnects to the brain that dreams occur for a fraction of a second, Galzain said.
Dreams are our brain’s best attempt to interpret the depths of the unconscious mind that are revealed to us while we sleep, Galzain said. Often the interpretations take the form of our current worries or thoughts, he added.
Dreaming can also be the product of the complex circuitry of the brain and also biological arousal of the body, McGinty said.
For example, nightmares are known to occur more often in times of high stress, he added.
Dreams integrate the various inputs provided by feelings of stress and anxiety, which affect heart rate and digestion. These signals reach the brain, which in turn prepares the body for action, possibly manifesting as a nightmare, McGinty said.
Multiple explanations can exist, and for that reason dreams and consciousness remain mysteries that are questioned by multiple fields of study, Harper said.
For those like Vardanyan who are hungry for answers about why they dream what they dream, it may take a while for science to be able to satisfy these curiosities, experts say.