Author runs blog http://riyaongenetics.blogspot.com
Last night, I was
dreaming about a chocolate river and peppermint grass surrounding me. I was
having the time of my life consuming these wonderful flavors. I was in the
middle of this chocolate dream and alas the alarm went off. Then, I realized it
was all because of the movie I watched the previous night, Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory Dreams. Now for those who are not aware of this movie, it is
an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where
a poor boy Charlie Bucket gets an opportunity to visit Willie Wonka’s famous
chocolate factory and all these wonders relating to chocolate. Dreams are an
interesting component of anyone’s sleep because they seem so unreal. It is
common for people to wake up suddenly after encountering a nightmare or
it is possible that many people wish to stay in their perfect dreams. There
are instances where people have reported that they have seen dreams which are
not closely related to their real-life. How and why do we see dreams?
Let us talk about why we see dreams? Dreams are
seen when we are in the REM stage of sleep. REM or Rapid Eye Movement is the
stage of sleep where the body is resting, however, the brain is still active.
Now, what happens when the brain is active? The brain thinks, rather it can be
said the emotional center of the brain stimulates those weird things we
perceive in the dreams. But believe it or not, our brains are recollecting the
daily-scenarios we encounter and plays it to us. It is like watching the same
movie again but with a different perspective. Isn’t it interesting? So those
completely unrelated things we see are actually connected to our real-life.
That is why many artists rely on dreams to get a different perspective on their
idea. Hence, sometimes considering to sleep is a good idea to get brilliant
ideas! Because our brain does a lot of work for us when it is actually resting.
Many theories have been developed to explain why we dream. One of the theory is
that sometimes the brain presents us dreams to escape reality through making connections
of emotions and narrating a completely different story. Sometimes, we see
nightmares because of excessive stress and anxiety. Perhaps the brain is trying
to indicate through a nightmare that we need to go a little easy in the matters
of stress.
Now let us talk about how we see dreams. One
recent study discovered the role of the Chrm1 and Chrm2 genes in making our
transition from the non-REM sleep to REM sleep mode. In simple words,
non-REM sleep is a “dreamless stage of sleep” contrasting the REM stage of
sleep where we normally perceive a dream. The Chrm1 and Chrm2 genes help us to
transition from the non-REM stage to the REM stage. This research is important
as physiatric disorders and sleep-disorders are linked. So further research in
the topic matter can help us in treating the sleep disorders to help
psychological disorders.
Next time when you dream about good things, thank your
Chrm1 and Chrm2 genes which facilitated the transfer from the non-dreamy state
to the dream state where you can actually escape the reality. But, if you
happen to encounter a nightmare, do not be mad at these genes, just thank them
to alert you that your stress levels are high.
Works Cited:
Pappas,
Stephanie. “Your Dreams May Come from These Two Genes”. LiveScience. Com. August
29, 2018. Date Accessed: 11 April 2019. https://www.livescience.com/63459-dream-genes-rem-sleep.html
Nierenberg, Cari. “REM
vs. Non-REM Sleep: The Stages of Sleep”. LiveScience. Com. July 19,
2017. Date Accessed: 11 April 2019. https://www.livescience.com/59872-stages-of-sleep.html
Roland, James. “Why Do We Dream?” Healthline. Com. Date
Accessed: 11 April 2019. https://www.healthline.com/health/why-do-we-dream
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