Dreams are extensions of our daytime activity. We keep on pursuing the goals set during the day as we sleep. Many working women complain they are not able to forget about their job even at night as they have dreams about their offices and co-workers. It has emerged that our brain is searching efficient solutions subconsciously as we sleep. Experts at the Harvard Medical School recruited 98 female volunteers for the study. They were shown labyrinth on a computer and asked to find the way out of it.
The participants were stopped in the middle of the task. One half of participants went to sleep for 90 minutes. The other half stayed awake. Sleepers were awakened during the REM sleep phase when visions come and asked to describe their dreams. Many of them said they saw the labyrinth. Some people heard the music from the game. The experiment was resumed 5 hours later. The sleepers were 10 times faster at finding the way out of the labyrinth. Before the break, the participants progressed roughly with the same efficiency. The labyrinth dreams were seen by those women who were way too serious about their task.
Those participants who were indifferent to the result saw nothing. Researchers say this is the way how significant events can be recognized. The findings substantiate the crucial role of dream interpretation in psychoanalytic therapy. The author of study, Robert Stickgold says that our mind continues to be active at night. The brain stays switched off for just a brief period of deep relaxation while for the rest of time it keep on analyzing and differentiating recollections.
Source of the image: photl.com.
