Why do we dream? - Amy Adkins

In the 3rd millennium BCE, Mesopotamian kings recorded and interpreted their dreams on wax tablets. In the years since, we haven't paused in our quest to understand why we dream. And while we still don’t have any definitive answers, we have some theories. Amy Adkins reveals the top seven reasons why we might dream.

Lesson by Amy Adkins, animation by Clamanne Studio.

[overdramaticloser]

Don’t u hate it when u are in the middle of a perfect dream then u wake up and try to close ur eyes but still can’t find the dream?

[michaeltnk]

Do you ever forget a dream, and just randomly remember it in the middle of the day

[leoniehart]

Does anyone else have a dream so realistic that when you wake up you feel sad it wasn't reality

[sumanpurohith]

Sometimes I just can't differentiate whether the things I have said were in dream or in real life....

[apeking]

It's strange how you can't imagine a face yet when you dream your brain has perfect detail..

[lolagubler]

what if someone finds out the answer to why we dream, in their dreams? that would be pretty rad.

[sankalanyadav]

“We dream to solve problems” — This is one of the best explanations as to why we dream and I’ve experienced it quite a few times. I work in Technology sector. During peak working days I would come back home from work with some unsolved issues in my mind. I tend to think so much of it that I even dream about the problem in a weird and unrelated way. As a result of this I often wake up and find vague ideas hitting me randomly in the morning. I somehow remember them and returning back to the office, I apply those ideas to the unsolved problems and it actually works. Well this could totally be a coincidence but so many coincidences indicate towards a fair possibility of this theory being correct!


Love Ted-ed videos ❤️

[nickynoodles]

When you feel yourself falling in a dream, in the pit of your stomach, right before waking up. That feeling is so real. The fact that dreams can be inages as well as physical sensations is both amazing and terrifying.

[charmainethompson]

One thing i learn from dreaming
Is dont use the toilet in your dream its a trap 🤣😂

[jinghay]

Has anybody ever had a dream where they know they're having a dream?

[Jess-zfbm]

Anyone ever cried in their dreams and when u woke up, u actually felt tears

[skynotaname]

When I was 8 I noticed that my dreams were very different from those of my parents or other kids around me, so I started keeping a dream journal. 20 years later and I'm really thankful I did, because it's given me a lot of creative ideas and I've even learned how to re-visit my old dreams, though it doesn't feel the same. From taking a submarine through the planet, staring in a Disney musical that doesn't exist, or breaking out of a maximum security prison on an alien planet I've had a lot of adventures.

[zro]

what if deja vu's are forgotten dreams that happens in real life and when it happens, we remember it?

[alanncsu]

A couple of times after someone close passed away, I was blessed to have dreams in both cases inwhich I was able to see and talk to them again - and tell them how much everyone missed them. In my last one, the person even told me they had to leave now - so we got to say goodbye... it was wonderful to see them again, and know that I was being able to see them in the dream. :)

[Jenny_]

To keep in my notes :

1. History of dream
- Mesopotamian recored their dreams in wax tablet
- Ancient Egyptians recorded in dream book

2. Why we dream
- Dream to fulfill our wishes
- Dream to remember
- Dream to forget : reverse learning
- keep our brains working : continual activation theory, random screen saver
- Dream to rehearse : Primitive instinct rehearsal theory
- Dream to heal : lack of dreaming may be contributing factor for mental disease
- Dream to solve problems

[davlor]

You know your life is boring when sleeping is the funniest part of your day

[rim]

*dreams about death*
"images that relate to the fulfillment of our subconscious wishes"

[lakshmitungala]

Do you ever just "dream" before you go to sleep or like imagine something weird(or good)and create it into some kind of dream right before you go to sleep?

[nethbt]

There was that one unforgettable dream during my teens where the chain of events felt like it happened for several years and the timelapse felt so realistic, I woke up in shock and awe thinking "how could that possibly happen in just several hours of sleep?"

[asadahmad]

When I was a kid I couldn't figure out how to clear a level in prince of persia I dreamed the solution and it worked