• Question: Why do we dream?

    Asked by Júlia to Eoin, Ester, Ildiko, Natasha, Paul, Tom on 6 Nov 2017. This question was also asked by A. Viscarri, Júlia, danielallobet.
    • Photo: Eoin McKinney

      Eoin McKinney answered on 6 Nov 2017:

      No-one really knows for sure. Some people think its a means of getting rid of unwanted memories, others think its a means of helping memories to get embedded. Its very hard to study dreams which is partly why we still don’t know too much.

    • Photo: Natasha Myhill

      Natasha Myhill answered on 7 Nov 2017:

      Very cool question. I think it might be something to do with what sleep cycle you are in? In order to repair the body, get rest and be ready for the day ahead, while we sleep the body has to keep pumping blood around the body. This is also linked to different sleep cycles – Deep, REM (rapid eye movement) and Light sleep – REM sleep is known as dream sleep, and while you are in this phase, your brain is more active, even though your body cannot move (you are temporarily paralysed in this state, so its as if your brain is making up for this by being more active!). Your heart rate and breathing is also higher in this state. As Eoin said, it is thought that this part of the sleep cycle is important for retaining memories.

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