Studies

​Many scientists have come together in order to find the answer for the questions "What is a dream?", "How do they work?", "Why do they happen?", and more.

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Sigmund Freud, a famous psychologist believed that dreams were a window to their subconsciousness that reveals their unconscious desires, thoughts, and motivations. He claimed that dreams were a way of people satisfieing their urges they didn’t/don't have a chance to fulfill.

There have been reports of amnesiacs having dreams of activities they did the night before, although they have no memory of doing said activities, they unconsciously have remembered which, in a way, is supporting what Freud believed.

His theories included that the reason why we don’t remember our dreams is because they contain things we don’t want to remember as well.

Carl Jung worked under Freud but his thoughts were different. Instead of thinking that dreams were only a desire, he thought they were abilities that allowed us to reflect on ourselves and solve our problems/issues

On a different approach, William Dement, now at Stanford University School of medicine did a study in 1960. A subject was woken up every time they entered REM sleep, the results showed they showed psychological disturbances such as anxiety, inability/difficulty concentrating, and increase in appetite. This study, however, became more and more unsupported as more studies were done.

Many scientists have tried to connect difficulty recalling things with lack of REM sleep but they were all disproven as many experiments were progressed. The theory was brought up because a man experienced a brain injury resulting in him being unable to experience REM sleep but it was proven that this was not a problem for him living a normal life.

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A lack of REM sleep seems to have an effects on learning (usually physical skills instead of memory). This seems accurate as infants and toddlers experience more REM sleep than adults do.