David Kahn, PhD
Harvard University Medical School

We dream five dreams a night, on average. Sometimes dreams are exciting, sometimes troubling or confusing — and most of the time they’re forgotten when we wake up.

Despite the considerable amount of time we all spend dreaming during our lives, dreams aren’t well-understood. Bottom Line/Personal asked David Kahn, PhD, a dream researcher at Harvard Medical School, to answer some of the most common questions about dreams…
Why do we dream?
This is still under debate. At one extreme, there are researchers who will argue that dreaming is simply an epiphenomenon, or a side effect, of chemical changes that occur in the brain during sleep. At the other extreme, some believe that dreaming is a mechanism that allows us to reconsider what’s going on in our lives without the constraints that we impose on our thoughts when we’re awake.
A theory known as the threat simulation hypothesis proposes that the purpose of dreams is to make us respond to artificial threats so that were better able to cope with threats that come up in real life. Another theory suggests that our dreams help us interpret what other people are thinking, a useful skill for social beings.
I can only speculate on the purpose of dreaming. I think that dreams provide us with new ways to see ourselves and our relationships with people and the world — to think outside the box.
What does it mean if I don’t dream?
You almost certainly do dream, but you don’t remember that you do. The part of the brain that remembers what we’ve just said or done is essentially off-line when we sleep, so the vast majority of dreams are forgotten.
If you keep a pad or a tape recorder by your bed and jot down your dreams before they disappear, you are more likely to remember them.
There’s also evidence that we can will ourselves to retain more dreams. Before you go to sleep and after you wake up, tell yourself you want to remember.
The only people who might not dream are those with stroke damage or who have lesions on specific parts of the brain. Even in these extreme cases, it isn’t clear whether these people don’t dream or whether they are just incapable of remembering dreams.
Is there any way to control our dreams or trigger good dreams?
The only way to control dreams is through something called lucid dreaming. In a lucid dream, the dreamer is aware that he/she is dreaming. Once armed with this awareness, it might be possible to take control of the dream — for example, by changing a frightening dream into something more pleasant. Perhaps the knife in a pursuer’s hand becomes a piece of cake.
Lucid dreaming isn’t easy, but it seems anyone can accomplish it with effort. If you’d like to try, think about the situations common in your dreams but impossible or unlikely in real life, such as flying without a plane or being chased by killers. Every night before you go to sleep, remind yourself, “If I’m flying, I must be dreaming.” It could take weeks or months, but eventually you may achieve a lucid dream. Some who have mastered lucid dreaming say it becomes easier once you get the hang of it.
Can we use our dreams to improve our lives?
The things that appear in our dreams often carry an emotional tug for us during our waking lives. Since the dreaming mind is unconstrained, we might think of these things in different ways when we’re asleep than we do when we’re awake, potentially helping us gain some insight into ourselves.
For example, a woman dreamed that she missed her highway exit while driving to meet her boyfriend. In the dream, she was so concerned about being late that she put her car in reverse and backed up to the exit despite the dangers. When asked, “What does this dream mean to you?” the woman answered that she didn’t want to disappoint her boyfriend by being late. She hadn’t previously realized how concerned she was about this boyfriend’s opinion of her. What we should not do is let others tell us what our dreams represent. Such interpretations tend to be projections of the person doing the analysis, not the dreamer.
Are nightmares normal? Should I wake someone who is having a bad dream?
Nightmares are very normal. They usually don’t suggest any mental or physical problem, though occasionally they might be related to stress.
Science really has no answer as to whether it’s better to wake someone who is having a nightmare or let him sleep. My personal feeling is that it’s best to let the person sleep because when we’re dreaming, we’re in the rapid eye movement (REM) stage. You don’t want to deprive people of REM sleep, which is an important stage in our sleep cycle. If you’re a parent and just can’t stand to see your child upset during a nightmare, it’s okay to wake him gently.
Why do some dreams recur? Is there any way to stop a recurring dream?
The content of recurring dreams frequently seems to be related to issues in our lives that lack closure or resolution. If you address the underlying issue, the dream is likely to go away.
For example, if you feel that you are not in control of your life, you might have recurring dreams of driving a car without brakes or rowing a boat that’s being swept toward a waterfall. (The dream’s details are likely to vary from night to night.) If you start to feel more in control of your life, you will probably have these dreams less often.
What is sleep paralysis?
Sleep paralysis while dreaming is perfectly normal. In fact, we would be at risk if we didn’t experience it. Our bodies become paralyzed during the dream stages of sleep to prevent us from physically acting out whatever we’re doing in our dreams. Without sleep paralysis, we might sleepwalk out a window or punch our spouse as we fight off a dream attacker. Medications are available for those who don’t always experience sleep paralysis naturally.
Occasionally, sleep paralysis will continue momentarily after we wake up. This can be scary, but it generally lasts only a few seconds.
Why do dreams blend realistic and nonsensical images?
When we sleep, some areas of our brain become more active while others become inactive. Thus, we’re able to access certain realistic memories and images, but we can’t always make the logical associations that go along with them. The nonsensical images in our dreams are our brain’s attempts to fill in these missing pieces.
Interestingly, a dreaming brain is not all that different from a brain on hallucinogenic drugs. There even are similarities between dreaming brains and psychotic brains. The parallels are compelling enough that some scientists have begun researching dreaming brains to better understand psychotic brains.
Why does it feel in some dreams that the person you’re dreaming about is actually present?
We don’t really know why. Our best explanation is that the dreaming brain lacks the ability to say, “This doesn’t make much sense.” If the person appears to be there in a dream, your brain simply might assume that he really is there.
Why do certain common themes occur in most people’s dreams?
There do seem to be some universal dream themes. Among the most common are not being prepared, such as for a test… being chased or attacked… and not being in control. The details of these dreams differ from culture to culture — the out-of-control car in your dream might be a runaway horse in a part of the world without cars — but the themes appear everywhere.
Perhaps these dreams reflect something basic about the human condition. We all worry about being unprepared, being attacked and lacking control.

Yes, I and a few other will profit enormously by helping to push this wind grid thing. A few of us are tired of giving 70% of the profits made every year in the oil markets to the arabs. So we have set about trying to change the mind set of the American people. That takes advertising dollars. Without moving the people, the crooked politicians will not move on this issue. The energy industry has too big a hold on them. They will continue to push more exploration of oil as the solution on the American people.

As much as I hate to say it the average American is too dumb to understand the simple fact that it is best to pay a large single sum once, than to continue to pay ever increasing smaller sums forever. So we need to pick a spokesman that will impress to get the average American’s attention. Pickens is the man because every American male can get a hard on dreaming he could be him.

Pickens comes with the credentials that say he knows what he is talking about. This should enable us to thwart or at least argue successfully with the pundits, crooked politicians, and, declared experts that the energy industry will throw at us to confuse and divide the American people on the issue of spending 2 to 4 trillion dollars on wind and solar power.

I also agree that is is foolish to allow people to amass sums of a billion or more and not have a mechanism to insure that it is tempered by an inheritance tax. The government could leave the first 500 million alone and heavily tax the rest. Any children who couldn’t make it with a 500 million head start don’t deserve to make it.

The problem is this will never happen. All the crooked politicians need to do is to tell the average American that this would affect his ability to leave his paltry millions or less to his family. Again I hate to say it but the average American is too dumb to understand the simple fact that he will never make the kind of money the government is tempering with an inheritance tax. The crooked pols know this and use the term “Death Tax” to addle his already dim brain. So he votes for a reduction in the inheritance tax that will insure that his children and 98% of the rest of America’s will work for that 2%.

My point is: If the average American is too dumb to do what’s best for himself much less the country then, I should stay with the con men and work to help my country from within. To do that one needs “fuck you money.” Unfortunately, what it means to have “fuck you money” gets bigger every year.

The American people have allowed the crooked pols to manipulate the tax laws to enable the rich to get richer at their and their country’s expense. So to have “fuck you money” becomes more expensive yearly.

Sheikh, I needed hundreds of millions to play with the big boys when that was the standard of “FYM.” I needed billions when it became the standard. In a few years “FYM” will be Trillions. I will need Trillions to have “FYM” then. There is no time like now to start amassing it.

I had suspected that I was being betrayed by some of my “friends.” It is disappointing to discover that all have abandoned me. I will discuss what I have learned about America’s implication in world genocide as soon as I peruse and check the information Madaline sent me at a later date.

Thank you Zen Lill for giving me the benefit of the doubt. I assure you that I have long since come to the belief that I had made enough money. It’s just that the bar kept rising as to the requirements to play this power game. If a man believes that he can buy and sell you, you get no respect from him. I was once told, that if anyone is to have all the money and/or power in the world, trust no one with it but yourself.

It seems that sheikh’s argument against me having trillions is the best argument for me to have Trillions. Who else would I trust with that kind of money and the power it would bring with it? Not your government, or some other living human being. Apparently I trusted my government and they sent me out into the desert to be slaughtered with hundreds of defenseless Darfuris.

Anonz

Dini M. Miller, PhD
Virginia Tech

Bedbugs — small nocturnal insects that feed on human and animal blood — are a growing problem in hotels in the US and abroad, as well as in apartment houses, dormitories, sleep-away camps and other places. Unlike mosquitoes, bedbugs don’t transmit disease — but their bites can cause irritation and discomfort. They do not attach themselves to people. They move from place to place via luggage, clothing and other items. To protect yourself…

When staying in hotels, motels and other facilities: Pull back the bed sheets, and check the mattress seams and tufts. Look for live bugs that are about one-quarter to one-half-inch long and vary in color from reddish brown to nearly transparent. Also check for light brown, translucent molted skins and pin-sized black spots (excrement). If possible, pull back the fabric headboard and inspect it, too. If signs are present, ask for another room. Also: Keep your luggage in the bathroom until you have checked the bed.
When you return home: Leave luggage outside until you have inspected each item.
At home: If you find bedbugs on an article of clothing, comforters or other linens, wash them in 150° F water. You may also want to call an exterminator. Do not bring used furniture or mattresses into your home.