Dare to Dream
The first thing I remember is sprinting away from an unrecognizable stranger. His face seemed familiar, but I couldn’t recall who this man was and I definitely didn’t know why he was chasing me. As I ran through my hometown’s streets, danger felt imminent and I was terrified for my life. I passed by familiar storefronts and yelled for assistance, but no one even turned their heads to look at me. I couldn’t understand why no one would help. Luckily, the next thing I knew, I was back in my comfortable bed at home, sweaty and scared but safe from any sprinting strangers. Did I teleport home to save myself from this person? No. I simply woke up from a recurring dream that I experienced throughout my childhood. I never understood what this dream meant, but the second I saw this stranger in my dreams, I knew I needed to run.
Few things are scarier than reliving the same terrifying dream that you have experienced before. The process of dreaming, why we have dreams, and what occurs in our brains as we dream is largely unknown. Scholars suggest that we dream to consolidate our memories, understand our emotions, or process events, including traumatic ones, but no one knows why this occurs. According to Brescia University, our brains continuously run through five different stages as we sleep. The last stage is known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and it consists of less than about 25% of adult sleep. Here, we experience dreams, which can last as long as 30 minutes or end in just a few seconds. Many individuals struggle to recall their dreams after awakening, but people dream about four to six times in a night. To recall one’s dream, however boring it is, you must wake up during REM sleep. The dream one remembers is typically the last dream that occurs in REM sleep.
Picture this: you stand in front of your entire school ready to present a huge project. You open your mouth, and suddenly forget your entire presentation! When you wake up from this strange dream, the first thing you do is tell your friends, who all reassure you that this won’t actually happen. Dr. Michelle Drerup, a behavioral sleep medicine expert at the Cleveland Clinic, states that sharing our weird dreams with others causes us to rehearse the dream, reinforce our neural pathways, and develop a memory of the dream, making it more likely that the dream will reoccur.
My experience of recurring dreams is not unique. As referenced by the Sleep Foundation, 60% to 75% of American adults experience recurring dreams. According to Amerisleep, popular recurring dreams involve falling, being chased, school-related stress, and being unprepared for a significant life event. These events indicate that recurring dreams are often anxiety-fueled. Sleep Foundation states that people with a significant amount of psychological stress experience recurring dreams, especially anxiety-related dreams. Recurrent dreams are also correlated with the presence of psychological issues including anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. It could be helpful for individuals experiencing recurring dreams to discuss them with a psychologist, especially if they are anxiety-provoking. While they may not be able to tell you what these dreams mean, they can help you work through any emotional distress causing stressful dreams.
While Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and other psychologists have posited different ways to interpret dreams, no singular method has been supported by significant scientific evidence. As a result, we have no way to truly understand our dreams. Dreams are believed to be filled with symbolism, and different cultures attempt to interpret dreams in varying ways. The opposite is also true: cultural background influence our dreams. As studied by Neuroscience News, forager communities in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo experienced dreams that involved greater threats but were resolved with more social and community support than Western dreams (Europe and North America). This likely stems from differences of living in a collectivist rather than individualist culture.
Dreaming is a natural part of healthy sleeping and non-nightmare dreams typically do not have negative impacts. To reduce the number of recurrent dreams you experience, experts suggest limiting caffeine intake past a certain hour, a healthy diet, and getting enough sleep every night. These habits are essential to maintaining a healthy sleep schedule and limiting anxiety-ridden dreams. If you find yourself back in the setting of a recurring dream, know that there are unique, special processes your brain is undergoing, and be sure to appreciate all that it took to get you there. The next time I see the bald man chasing me in my dreams, I’ll make sure to enjoy the run, as a mysterious and wonderful neural event goes on in my brain.
Emily Gordon ‘25 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. She can be reached at emily.gordon@wustl.edu.