Why we dream: Looking at the theories behind dreaming
Dreaming is a part of sleep, but no one fully understands why it happens. There are some interesting theories, though.
“Dreams happen in both REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM [non-REM] sleep, but it is the vivid ones during REM sleep that we most likely remember,” explains Monisha Bhanote, MD, FCAP, a triple board-certified physician and Yoga Medicine® teacher.
“Scientists are still trying to determine why we dream,” she says, but there are a few theories.
One theory is the dream rebound theory.
“In this theory research suggests that a dream results from suppression of something,” Bhanote says. “Dreams may also be a processing of our emotions of the day. This is linked to an early activation-synthesis model of dreaming, where certain parts of the brain including the limbic system, which includes the amygdala and hippocampus, create electrical brain impulses. This theory suggests that the impulses are signals that the brain interprets and we experience as dreams.”