• Question: Why do we dream?

    Asked by rameez786 to Heather, Helen, Hugh, Jane, Julian on 7 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 7 Nov 2014:

      I don’t think anyone really knows. The best answer I’ve heard is that its the brains way of sorting out all the things you’ve done in the day, putting them in pigeon holes and editing out things that aren’t worth saving.
      It seems quite a common thing, dogs cats and other animals all do it, and evolution tends to get rid of things that don’t have a purpose, so we must assume its pretty important.
      People who go without sleep for long periods of time tend to find funny effects, such as hallucinations and odd behaviour, so sleep and dreams do seem to be needed.
      I think we’re still a way away from understanding why though.

    • Photo: Jane MacArthur

      Jane MacArthur answered on 7 Nov 2014:

      Although enormous progress has been made on understanding the human body, the brain is probably still the biggest mystery. Our ability to now examine things down to the size and structure of atoms, and perform scans is constantly pushing back the barriers, but dreaming remains one of those mysteries. Some studies show that when you have spent the day absorbing new information or learning a new activity, people tend to dream more, and have suggested this could be some sort of way of reinforcing learning and memory.

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 9 Nov 2014:

      I think it must be what our brain does to make sense of what we’ve done in the day, to figure out what’s important to remember it and learn from it. Most of the time my dreams have something to do with what I’ve been doing/thinking about in the daytime… but other times I’ve got no idea where those ideas came from! That said, I like a bit of mystery in science. What’s the fun if we know everything for sure? It’s good to keep questioning and learning.

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