I have always woken up feeling rejuvenated if I could remember what I had dreamt vividly. I asked some of my friends if it's the same with them also, but they said it's the opposite.
Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
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Re: Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
#62Hmmm somehow I’m a bit skeptical. The article itself includes an example that is not easily reconcilable with their theory: What about the people like the boy who became blind they mention in the beginning? Shouldn’t they have extreme visual dreams even at day to protect their visual area, at least if this theory was true? But instead the brain area was rewired.
It explained this with the example of the blindfolded braille readers. Over 5 days their sense of touch was enhanced, presumably at the expense of their visual senses. Over time, the visual cortex would be completely taken over if the brain was not receiving signal from the eyes.
But if the theory were true, they would begin to see hallucinations while awake as a way of protecting the brain from changes.
Re: Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
#63The article says that "dreams are primarily visual". That might be true for most people (and for the researchers), but I'm aphantasic and I don't think I've ever had a visual dream. My visual cortex seems to work perfectly fine on waking (though I do find a sunrise alarm clock useful in winter). If this is typical among aphantasics then I don't see how the theory can possibly be correct.
The theory could be correct in general (dreams are a result of a evolutionary trait that keeps visual circuits active at night) while not apply to you specifically, especially if you are different than most people when it comes to vision/visualizing.
But the prediction of the their theory is that without visual dreams his visual cortex would be overtaken by other senses.
Since this doesn’t happen, it’s an important datapoint towards a falsehood of the theory.
Re: Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
#64To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never dreamed (I’m almost 50 years old). I’ve always wondered what that means about my brain. Is there a medical or psychological label for people who don’t dream?
Healthy people dream several times a night and don't remember most of their dreams upon waking.
Have someone monitor your sleep and wake you up when observing REM. There's a good chance you'll remember the dream you're currently in, and feel the disappointment of not knowing how it ends...
Re: Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's so much information about Sleep in Matthew Walker's "Why we sleep". I strongly recommend it. <3
You may be interested to know that the book has come in for strong criticism, including an accusation of deliberate manipulation of data. See: ‘Matthew Walker's "Why We Sleep" Is Riddled with Scientific and Factual Errors’ https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/
Walker's response to the criticism can be found here: https://sleepdiplomat.wordpress.com/2019/12/19/why-we-sleep-...
Re: Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
#66My wife is having really bad sleep problems which she attributes to dreaming too much too intensely. She just doesn't seem to get rested doing this.
This article sadly does not give a clue what could be her problem.
Re: Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
#67In this article, there is a mention of "constant battle going on inside our brains between different sets of neurons, fighting over who gets control of certain parts of the brain." Because of which visual cortex always gets activated (even in sleep)so that it's neurons are not repurposed for other activities. Hence we dream. http://m.nautil.us/issue/91/the-amazing-brain/your-brain-mak...
This!
Predatory neuron phenomena goes along with this theory.
Re: Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
#68Well. I don’t (or very rarely) remember my dreams. Hope I get the protection anyway.
Out of curiosity, are you a frequent cannabis user? I found I didn't remember my dreams when I smoked cannabis, however after a long break I started to remember dreams vividly.
I can confirm dreamless nights on cannabis and vice-versa.
Re: Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
#69My wife is having really bad sleep problems which she attributes to dreaming too much too intensely. She just doesn't seem to get rested doing this. This article sadly does not give a clue what could be her problem.
What do you mean by "too intensely"? Is she having nightmares? Does she often wake up, only to later fall asleep and having nightmares again?
Re: Why do we dream? A new theory on how it protects our brains
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
and? Still total bullshit.
Their theory says nothing about sleep, except that your visual cortex isn't receiving any input. You're making a mistake in conflating dreams and sleep.
You and they making a mistake saying that blind people should not see dreams. I wonder how such an idiotic idea reached the HN at all. It's Daily Mail level.
People see dreams not every time they sleep, not every night, sometimes we can have multiple nights without dreams. By this moronic theory our “visual cortex” should be modified to “blind mode” just in the first night of sleep without dreams.
Articles containing words “Mother Nature” are only good for religious organizations, homeopathy lovers and other imbeciles.