A psychologist named Sigmund Freud was responsible for founding the school of psychology called “psychoanalysis.” Psychoanalysis is the study of the subconscious mind (things our brain does that we are not aware of). A big part of what Sigmund Freud did was analyze dreams. Sigmund Freud was not very scientific in the way that he worked, so most of what he believed has been proven incorrect, but he did get us thinking about the subconscious mind and we have learned a lot more since he was alive!
If you want to have some fun you can take a look in a dream dictionary like this one and see what your dreams are “supposed” to mean. Just remember that these dream interpretations are not scientific, they are just for fun!
So what is going on when we dream? Scientists now know that the brain doesn’t just shut off when we sleep, the whole brain is actually active! Scientists still have a lot to learn about why our subconscious mind is busy having a party while our conscious mind slumbers. What they do know is that sleep is important to help our brain store memories, grow new neural connections, and function properly.
A theory known as the Activation-Synthesis theory says that dreams are created because our mind is trying to make sense of all of that subconscious activity! Our mind likes to interpret things. If there are a whole bunch of nerve cells sending random messages around our brain, it wants to string them together to create a story. It is just like when you look up at the clouds and see different shapes in them!
Read more about the brain and other interesting topics just for kids!
Sources
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/why-do-we-sleep
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