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.