The surprising health benefits of dreaming Sleeping with Science
Transcriber:
Why do we dream?
[Sleeping with Science]
Well, we dream for at least
several different reasons.
One key benefit is creativity.
Sleep, including dream sleep,
is associated with an enhanced ability
to solve next-day problems.
It’s almost as though we go to sleep
with the pieces of the jigsaw,
but we wake up with the puzzle complete.
The second benefit of REM-sleep dreaming
is emotional first aid.
REM sleep takes the painful sting
out of difficult emotional experiences
so that when we come back the next day,
we feel better about those painful events.
You can almost think of dreaming
as a form of overnight therapy.
It’s not time that heals all wounds,
but it’s time during dream sleep
that provides emotional convalescence.
Now, it’s not just that you dream.
It’s also what you dream about
that seems to make a difference.
Scientists have discovered
that after learning
a virtual maze, for example,
those individuals who slept
but critically also dreamed about the maze
were the only ones who ended up being
better at navigating the maze
when they woke up.
And this same principle is true
for our mental health.
For example, people going through
a difficult or traumatic experience
such as a divorce,
and who are dreaming about that event,
go on to gain resolution
to their depression
relative to those who were dreaming
but not dreaming
about the events themselves.
All of which means that sleep
and the very act of dreaming itself
appears to be an essential ingredient
to so much of our waking lives.
We dream,
therefore we are.