Power of your dreams Discover what your nightly thoughts mean

Think all those funny thoughts you have in your sleep don’t mean anything? Get ready to be surprised at just what dreaming can do for you!

Whether we remember or not, everyone dreams. According to Naturalmat sleep expert Christabel Majendie, ‘Dreams occur during a type of sleep call rapid eye movement

(REM). As we dream, our eyeballs move quickly, while all other muscles (except those for breathing) are paralysed so we don’t act out the dream. Up to a quarter of our sleep is spent in REM.’ Silentnight’s sleep expert Dr Nerina Ramlakhan says a good night’s sleep and wellbeing is achieved by getting the right amount of ‘dreaming sleep’ and ‘deep sleep’. ‘A good indicator is waking up feeling optimistic,’ she says.

Why do we dream?

According to Majendie, dreaming is connected to memory consolidation and organisation, learning, problem solving and creative thinking. ‘During dreaming sleep, brain scans indicate similar activity to the areas that process emotions and visual imagery while awake – which is why dreams tend to be vivid and emotionally charged,’ she explains. ‘However, there’s reduced activity in the part that deals with self-awareness, which is why we generally can’t control our dreams. They also appear to play a role in sorting meaningful information from unimportant events.’

Dr Ramlakhan adds, ‘Dreaming helps us make sense of past experiences so that we can integrate them into our future. They strengthen our memory and ability to learn, as well as give insight into deep-seated inner-worries and the issues we need to pay attention to in our waking lives. Dreams can be reassuring, comforting and help us heal – for example, when we dream of loved ones who have passed away.’