Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. If you've ever discussed said dream with other people, there's a good chance someone else chimed in saying, "I've had that dream, too!". Although dream psychoanalysis may have only begun in the last century or two, people have studied dreams for far longer: Aristotle wrote about dreams as early as 325 B.C., according to Dr. Kryger. Additionally, neuroscience tends to focus on the function of dreaming (like memory retention) rather than the "comparative analysis between the imagery in dreams and the content of the previous day, which is how I approach dream analysis," Loewenberg says.
Unfortunately -- but not surprisingly -- scientists can't attach particular meanings to every dream. Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Among the scientific community, he continues, there are two main trains of thought: One is that every part of a dream has a specific meaning, and the other is that dreams are entirely spontaneous and mean nothing. That said, certain dreams do have meanings attached to them, if for no reason other than holding significance for many people. Some dreams are straight-up weird -- and it's up to you to interpret them.Since, as mentioned before, there's no solid body of evidence about the meanings of dreams, you have to interpret your dreams in ways that make sense to you. Getty Images Part of this is biological, Kuras says, as neurotransmitters forming memory are less active during sleep, and dream forgetfulness also appears to be related to the level of electrical activity in the brain during dreams.Additionally, it could have something to do with the content of your dreams, Kuras says: Early psychoanalytic theory suggested that difficult or traumatic information in dreams is suppressed, and the dreamer is less likely to retrieve or analyze it.Dream meanings are mostly speculation, but what matters is how your dreams relate to your own life. "Our dreams, those strange little stories we experience every night while we sleep, are actually our subconscious thoughts," she says. It's up to the dreamer to determine what their sleepy, subconscious mini-movies mean, and you can start dissecting yours with the help of three sleep experts in this guide to dreams. For instance, muddy water can represent sadness, tidal waves can represent overwhelm and clear water can represent emotional clarity. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep.an involuntary vision occurring to a person when awake.something of an unreal beauty, charm, or excellence.He dreamed about vacation plans when he should have been working.to think or conceive of something in a very remote way (usually followed by to pass or spend (time) in dreaming (often followed by mental activity, usually in the form of an imagined series of events, occurring during certain phases of sleepa sequence of imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake; daydream; fantasya person or thing that is as pleasant, or seemingly unreal, as a dreamto have an image (of) or fantasy (about) in or as if in a dreamA series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. But if you typically dream in dark settings and suddenly have dreams set in daytime, it could signify that an issue was resolved or that you've come out of a period of sadness. Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Dream Moods is the number one free online source you need to discover the meanings to your dreams.
Loewenberg says dreaming about death can signify the end of something in real life, and that doesn't necessarily mean the end of a life. "They appear to assist in memory formation, integration, problem solving and consolidation of ideas both about ourselves and the world," adding that neuroscientists have discovered that dreams help with information processing and mood regulation, too.If you're one of those people who "doesn't dream," you probably just forget them.
According to Kuras, "this all depends on what these images mean to the dreamer in the context of their life and challenges. Fire most often equates to anger or distress, Loewenberg says, while wind can represent imminent changes or changes that you're currently going through. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Check out our ever expanding dream dictionary, fascinating discussion forums, and other interesting topics related to dreaming Getty Images