Most people forgets more than 90% of their dreams

According to many research, Everybody dreams at night, but how comes we forget what we dream? There must be a scientific reason behind or myths related to. Most people forget more than 90% of their dreams, The following explanations may reveals something behind this matter. Let's first understand what dream means and how does it occurs.

A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not fully understood, although they have been a topic of scientific, philosophical and religious interest throughout recorded history. Dream interpretation is the attempt at drawing meaning from dreams and searching for an underlying message. The scientific study of dreams is called oneirology.

Dreams mainly occur in the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep when brain activity is high and resembles that of being awake. REM sleep is revealed by continuous movements of the eyes during sleep. At times, dreams may occur during other stages of sleep. However, these dreams tend to be much less vivid or memorable.

The length of a dream can vary from few seconds to approximately 20–30 minutes. People are more likely to remember the dream if they are awakened during the REM phase. The average person has three to five dreams per night, and some may have up to seven, however, most dreams are immediately or quickly forgotten. Dreams tend to last longer as the night progresses. During a full eight-hour night sleep, most dreams occur in the typical two hours of REM. Dreams related to waking-life experiences are associated with REM theta activity, which suggests that emotional memory processing takes place in REM sleep.

SO, WHY WE FORGET OUR DREAMS?

Our forgetfulness is generally attributed to neurochemical conditions in the brain that occur during rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep, a phase of sleep characterized by rapid eye movements and dreaming. But that may not be the whole story.

According to the study published in 2002 in the American Journal of Psychiatry supports the theory that the presence of norepinephrine enhances memory in humans, although its role in learning and recall remains controversial. Also the study suggest that we forget things because of the absence of the hormone norepinephrine in the cerebral cortex, a brain region that plays a key role in memory, thought, language and consciousness.

The problem of lacking norepinephrine does not completely explain why we forget dreams so easily. The dreaming end involves some of the most creative and “far out” material. This type of less consciously directed thinking, however, is not easy to remember.

Recent research suggests that dreaming lies on a continuum with other forms of mental functioning, which are all characterized by activitby in the cerebral cortex. On the one side of this continuum is concentrated, focused thought dreaming and mind wandering lie on the other, with some overlap among the types.

There are several established theories that help to explain the evanescence of dreams. Two theories actually describe dream forgetfulness as desirable from an evolutionary standpoint; 

The first theory explains this desirability in terms of learning and survival, and stated that "For early cave man, dreams of escaping lions by leaping from a cliff would not play out well when chased by a real lion not a good learning experience if dreams had the same memory imprint as real life".

The second evolutionary theory of dream of forgetfulness was developed by Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA. Crick maintained that "since the function of dreams is to weed out unneeded memory connections that accumulate over time in the brain, dream recall defeats this primary evolutionary goal of dreaming. Remembering dreams can leave the brain cluttered with useless information. Dreams are, in essence, an 'unlearning' process of junk memories."

One of the biggest challenges to dream recall is our usual method of waking recall of past events. We are accustomed to remembering the past chronologically, linearly, and in terms of cause and effect. Dreams, however, are not always neatly arranged in time and effect they meander, they drift through memory associations and emotional connections.

Another challenge of dreams remembering is its concerns and stressors. For many of us, the first thing we think of upon awakening is, "What do I need to worry about? What do I need to do today?" and the dream recedes like a wisp of the will.

The lastly challenge in dream remembering is body movement and orientation, since the dream itself unfolds with the dreamer normally at rest and horizontal. Upon waking, too much movement can disrupt the mind's memory orientation of the dream scene.

CONCLUSION

In general, we are very good at forgetting nonessentials. In fact, many of our thoughts, not just those we have while dreaming, are lost. We tend to recall only things that we think about often or that have emotional significance like a problem, a date, a meeting or any other event. Mulling over important thoughts activates our dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a brain region that facilitates memory.

Although most dreams vanish, certain ones tend to remain. These dreams were so beautiful or bizarre, they captured our attention and increased activity in our DLPFC. Thus, the more impressive your dream or thought, the more likely you are to remember it.

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Posted by: Lusubilo A. Mwaijengo