The Dream Catcher Reflection

Image via Free Extras 

The Dream Catcher was originally created for a Journalism project, but it has evolved into something more; it has become a discovery project. I have learned so much about dreaming in this short span of time because of the research I have completed for these various posts. From the stages of sleep to random facts about dreaming I feel like a miniature expert on the subject and the true scientist in me has emerged. 

I have absorbed a lot during this process. Some of the research I have done was pretty extensive for a class project but completely necessary for a discovery project. I have been hogging up the internet in my household lately and I even watched a documentary on Sigmund Freud yesterday (see my post "Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams Documentary Review"). I am now knowledgeable on various topics of dreaming, some of which I haven't been able to share with you viewers quite yet. I now have my own dream journal and I plan on working towards lucid dreaming (when one is fully in control of their dreams) in my sleep, one of the most compelling aspects of dreaming that  I unfortunately haven't gotten a chance to acquaint you with yet.    


Not only have I learned about dreams and the fascinating science behind them, but I have also learned a lot about being a responsible blogger. Engraved in my mind now is the importance of crediting sources and how easy it is to do that. Finding a credible source may be tricky but once you've got a keeper and you've credited that babe (either by hyperlinking or using a works cited), you feel like a better person. Stealing the ideas of others is plagiarism, a disrespectful and punishable act, and although it goes on constantly over the internet - especially on blogs, that does not make it acceptable. Other than citing sources, I also learned how to have a blog (this is my first that has actually been successful), which is pretty nifty and exciting as you can inform others who share the same common interest as you even more about that same common interest. 

Overall, the blog was a breeze to make and maintain because I truly enjoy the topic of dreaming. I would love to shove all the knowledge that is out there on dreams into my head but since there is so much I haven't been able to really satisfy my ravenous mind, which was the main challenge I found with running the blog. I wanted to learn so much and be able to share it all as well but I didn't have all that time or all the resources to be doing so. This is why I plan on continuing the blog past the point of being a class project. I still have much to learn about dreaming and although I will not be posting as frequently, I will most definitely keep on sharing as much as I find as often as I find it. 

Ten Interesting Facts on Dreaming

Here are ten quick and interesting facts about dreaming that you may not know and may be surprised to hear.  

Image via Glimpses via viewimages

10. If you are snoring, you are not dreaming.


9. The average person has at least four to seven dreams each night.


8. Animals dream too. [For more on animals sleeping patterns visit here]


7. Smokers who quit have more vivid dreams. (Source) 


6. We only dream what we know, faces of strangers in dreams are based on people we have seen before. 


5. Men and women dream differently. From dream recall abilities to men dreaming about other men more than they dream about women. [For more detail on the matter visit here] 


4. Not all people dream in color. A study has shown that a small percentage of people dream in black in white. Surprisingly this percentage has decreased over the years, most likely due to the switch from black and white television to colored. 


3. Within 10 minutes of waking up usually 90% of your dreams of that night have been forgotten. 


2. Everyone dreams, people who say they don't either just forget or may have an extreme psychological disorder. 

1. The most common emotion people experience in dreams is anxiety. 

Deirdre Barrett Interview

Deirdre Barrett, author and psychologist, well-known for her dream studies, talks to novelist Amy Tan in a fascinating interview on dreaming. 

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Interview via Youtube via Rubin Museum of Art on blip

"Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams" Documentary Review

Sigmund Freud: Image via Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (For more on Freud)

Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, was an excellent short documentary film on the The Interpretation of Dreams, a book written by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and published in 1899. The documentary touched upon Freud's theories in the book and how he was both, "damned and praised" for these thoughts. 


Freud's emphasis on sexuality in daily life and dreaming was highly criticized and Freud's view of women is considered unacceptable and offensive by today's standards. Despite these qualities that some may argue ruin his credibility, he is still considered to be very influential in the field of psychoanalysis and dreams.   


Throughout the documentary not only do we follow the life of Freud and his various ideas, we hear the thought-provoking dreams of different people as well. This allows for the viewer to not get bogged down by all the somewhat heavy information, not that the dreams these people are sharing are light, but these little anecdotes are needed to break up the stream of hard knowledge pouring into the brain.   


One of my favorite parts of the documentary was the discussion on the id, ego, and superego. The id being the primitive side of us, the ego being the rational, and the superego thoughts mirroring the pressures of society, almost an extreme rationality. These according to Freud are always in constant conflict with each other. One of Freud's concerns being that if the ego and/or superego became too powerful compared to the id that emotional feeling would be repressed, which he believed was extremely detrimental to the human being. I found this all terribly fascinating along with the general line of Freud's life and his influential ideas. Freud had a massive cultural impact and I encourage everyone to take a bit of time to watch this short documentary and just absorb everything for your mind to process. 


I highly recommend this documentary to anyone. I did not have a whole lot of prior knowledge of Freud before watching this but being interested in dreaming and the theories behind dreaming, Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams was highly enlightening. 


You can watch the documentary in four parts on Youtube. Here's the first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lig53eW2ptg&feature=related


Works Cited: 
Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams. Dir. Clark Bunting. Discovery Communications, Inc. Film. 

Science on the Body's Internal Clock

This is a very interesting video, check it out: The science of sleep: Jessa Gamble on TED.com

Keeping A Dream Journal: A How To

Keeping a dream journal is very easy. Dedicating some time to write down dreams and experiences you have in them is crucial in discovering both more about yourself and more about dreaming in general. You may be able to link certain things or people within a dream to a deeper meaning or you may just end up chuckling at what you have dreamt up. Dream journaling also serves as a great practice for your memory. I recently began a dream journal and although I find this to be a great and enjoyable technique, it may vary for others. 

Image via The Lucid Dream Guide

Key Steps:

-       Pick a journal or notebook that you will solely dedicate to the recording of your dreaming experiences and put it next to your bed along with a pen.

-       Write down your dreams in the morning right after you wake up, otherwise you will most likely forget them as dreams tend to fade quickly from our memories. 

-       Try to add lots of detail. Even if you don’t remember anything concrete, abstract feelings like ‘oh, it was light’ or ‘I remember it was pretty,’ should be written down. They could unlock the rest of the dream and even if they don’t, those feelings you have can often be very telling. Write as much as you can remember and jot the date down as well.

-       Don’t be embarrassed by your dreams, they “have a habit of being socially unacceptable.” And that is perfectly okay, dreams may express some inner desires but don’t freak out, they are just dreams.

-       Take special note of recurring dreams, events, people, and themes within them.

-       Doodle! Make a quick drawing of something that you remember well from your dream. You do not have to be Picasso; a quick sketch that will jog your memory later on is perfect.

-       Be aware of and write down your emotional feelings you had during the dream.

-       Think about things that are going on in your life and see if you can make any connections between those events and your dreams.  

-       Title your dream. This sums up the dream and makes it easier to remember when looking back at it. 


Hopefully not too long after starting, you will wake up and easily be able to "dash out" your dreams bombarded with lovely details. I encourage you to give it a shot, good luck! 

Works Cited:

“Keeping a Dream Diary.” Oracle ThinkQuest Education Foundation. ThinkQuest Team C005545, 2000. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. <http://library.thinkquest.org/C005545/english/activities/diary.htm>.

Ryan Hurd. “How to Keep a Dream Journal.” dream studies. dream studies portal, 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. < http://dreamstudies.org/2009/07/30/how-to-keep-a-dream-journal/ >.

The Stages of Sleep

A resource from the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School said, “…although everyone sleeps, most people would be hard-pressed to precisely define sleep.” Thinking that sleep is simply a shut down time for our bodies is inaccurate, it is much more complex. There are two main types of sleep, rapid eye movement sleep (REM, also called paradoxical sleep), which is approximately 25% of a normal night’s sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM), which is approximately 75% of a normal night’s sleep. Together, these two contain five main stages of sleep. These stages have various distinctions and purposes. That’s right, at night our body doesn’t simply shut off and rest up it goes through a cyclical pattern essential for our health and sanity.


Stage One: This is the relatively light stage of sleep in which one is shifting from being awake to being asleep. Muscle activity begins to slow but one could be woken up easily. This stage is very short, lasting only a few minutes. During this period unexpected muscle contractions are common (this often happens after one experiences a falling sensation).


Stage Two: Stage two is when the sleeper becomes disconnected from their surrounding environment and their body temperature drops. This stage lasts about 20 minutes.


Stage Three and Stage Four: Both stages three and four are considered the deepest stages of sleep and they are often grouped together because of their similar characteristics. It is very hard to wake someone from these stages of sleep. No muscle movement or eye motion occurs during stages three and four. Blood pressure drops, breathing and heart rate slows, hormones are discharged, and energy is replenished. Delta waves, the slowest brain waves, are associated with these stages. They are present in stage three but almost the only waves produced during stage four. This sleep, also known as delta sleep, is comparable to a coma; except, of course, one wakes up.


Stage Five: This is the stage of REM sleep (stages one through four fall under NREM). It is called rapid eye movement sleep because the eyes dart about; one can see this if they watch someone in this stage. The eyes are moving back and forth like this because dreaming occurs in stage five and the brain is highly active. Along with the higher brain activity, both heart rate and breathing accelerate. This stage is also called paradoxical sleep because ironically, our body is totally immobile, while our mind and other organs are super active. The body is essentially paralyzed during stage five. Muscles are motionless due to the amino acid glycine, which is released in this stage. Luckily this paralysis occurs, or else we would most likely act out our dreams and probably get injured and/or injure others and/or property quite often.

Above is an electroencephalograph (EEG) that shows the differences in brain frequencies during the various stages of sleep. (Image via The University of Alabama's States of Consciousness: Sleep and Dreams)

Works Cited:

“Stages of Sleep.” National Sleep Foundation. Sleepdex – Resources for Better Sleep. n.p. n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2012.  <http://www.sleepdex.org/stages.htm>.

“Different Stages of Sleep.” Oracle ThinkQuest Education Foundation. ThinkQuest Team C005545, 2000. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://library.thinkquest.org/C005545/english/sleep/stage.htm>.

“What Happens When You Sleep?” National Sleep Foundation. National Sleep Foundation, 2011. Web. 24 Jan. 2012. <http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/how-sleep-works/what-happens-when-you-sleep>.

Dreams: the Oceans of Our Minds

Dreams are like oceans: vast, unknown subjects that are challenging to explore. Despite the fascinating nature of both dreaming and oceans, it seems that most people take these for granted or give up on investigating them because of their complexity. Dreams aren’t reality and we don’t live in the ocean, so why should we waste time on examining them in depth? Human curiosity should be a sufficient answer, at least it is for me, but if it isn’t (back to dreams exclusively because oceans do get more attention and this is of course a blog about dreaming) dreaming is both beneficial to the physical body, to the mind, and it is just plain intriguing!

I’ve always been interested in dreaming. Some things your subconscious whips up are just hilarious, seemingly impossible, or uncannily accurate. I have been inspired by and often confused by dreams and the science behind them is very exciting. I think they are much more important than we give them credit for, so that’s why I am starting here with this blog.

We must attempt to learn as much as we possibly can about dreaming and I hope to help with that by sharing what I find (science, interpretations, stories, even history of dreams) and discussing what I already know and have experienced with you. So welcome to The Dream Catcher!