Why We Have Been Having Strange Dreams
- Reagan Anderson
- May 5, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: May 20, 2020
A couple of days ago, I had a dream in which I was in the desert and could talk to penguins through smell. These penguins and I were on a mission to find a pregnant lady who stole their flowers. Unfortunately, I woke up before we found the evil pregnant lady. However, I woke up with an utter sense of confusion and slight concern. While I am somewhat notorious for having strange dreams, they have been more intense than usual lately. After some good Twitter research, I saw that other people have also been having weird dreams as well. There are a variety of reasons for this strange phenomenon. Currently, many people are under a higher amount of stress than they normally would be. According to the TIME article, “The Science Behind Your Weird Coronavirus Dreams (And Nightmares),” stress and anxiety cause us to remember our dreams more. This is because of the sleep cycle. The sleep cycle takes place over a 90 minute period in which you go through five
stages. The fifth and final stage (Rapid Eye Movement- R.E.M.) is where your most vivid dreams take place. Stress, anxiety, and our new free time causes us to have longer and deeper periods of REM. Stress also disturbs our sleep. At the end of the 90 minute period, everyone wakes up. Most of the time, we stay awake for such an insignificant amount of time that none of us remember it. However, stress causes us to stay awake longer during these periods of time. This gives our brains more time to process and remember the most recent dream we had. The country is also going through a time of shared trauma. In the New York Times article, “Why Am I Having Weird Dreams Lately?”, Dr. Deirdre Barrett talks about how with an almost story-like pandemic, we are all living in a state of constant haziness. Every outfit, every meal, and every day have been bleeding together into a hazy block of time. Along with the constant isolation, we all feel that our dreams are changing and therefore becoming more memorable. They relate to our current lives in metaphorical ways. These relationships cause us to remember these dreams more because they directly relate to our lives. Isolation has also caused the actual content of our dreams to change. Dr. Barennett says that a dream diary from a collective group of war prisoners during WWII showed that while isolated, they had fewer people and contact in their dreams. Their dreams also showed things that they wanted, many reports having dreams of food and freedom. These dreams were abnormal for them and, therefore, more memorable. So, why are we having strange dreams? It’s because life is in a current state of chaos and change. Dreams are fun, in my opinion, and I think that we should embrace this time of crazy dreaming. However, if it truly does bother you, there are ways to control your dreams, and I’ll leave some links. Otherwise, dream away because it is the only escape into the world that we’ll have for a while.
LINKS-
PROGRAMMING DREAMS-
LUCID DREAMING- *DO NOT LUCID DREAM IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH YOUR MENTAL
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