Bryan Cano Professor Gordon ONeal Composition/Rhetoric 1301 12 October 2011 Somnium At least once a day every person

participates in an activity and rarely does he or she remember what exactly took place during the activity. Since birth we experience this activity and unconsciously dismiss most traces of it in our memory. Dreams, according to MerriamWebster dictionary, are a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep. Mysterious and disregarded in our memory, dreams have been a scientific wonder as scientists and psychologists struggle for the answer on why dreams occur. Although the reason behind dreaming has yet to be uncovered, many researchers have categorized different dreams to better understand the significance behind each one. Most dreams occur during sleep cycles that last for about 90 to 120 minutes. Each cycle consists of four stages that are organized by the brain activity. Stage one is a light sleep stage that is characterized by relaxation of muscles, while brain activity is fairly high. Stage two follows as the bodys muscles relax even more and body temperature begins to drop. Unlike the first stage, the body is completely asleep and hormones begin to pump through the body to repair muscle damage and fatigue. Stage three consists of the same characteristics as the body enters an even deeper sleep. Lastly at stage four brain activity spikes to high activity even though the body is in deep sleep. Stage four is often referred to as REM sleep, which means rapid eye movement, since the eyeballs begin to move eccentrically. Stage four is where most dreams occur since brain activity is as active as when the body is fully awake. During the first cycle REM sleep

Cano 2 usually lasts about ten minutes, but increases in time as the cycles repeat themselves through sleep. Daydreams are often disregarded as a type of dream since they do not occur during sleep, and usually consist of random thoughts and visions. However many patterns which are found in sleep dreams often occur in daydreams. Daydreams may occur when the mind seeks to recreate a remembered event from a sleep dream. They may also occur when the mind wants to recreate an event from the past, or create a wishful thought for the future. Daydreams can be used as tools to envision success, as people anticipate a positive outcome. For example, before a game a basketball player may envision himself making all his or her shots and winning the game. This positive form of daydreaming may transfer over to success as the basketball player focuses on a positive situation. Nightmares are unpleasant dreams that are distinguished by the emotional distress that is caused. Most nightmares cause disturbing emotions such as anger, guilt, sadness, anxiety, or most commonly, fear. These dreams are most common in children, as research has proven that they are a part of normal development. As the child ages and becomes an adult nightmares become less frequent. However adults may have nightmares due to traumatic experiences from the past. Most war veterans who suffer from post-traumatic-stress disorder often experience severe nightmares due to an emotional upset from the past. These traumatic nightmares are often recurring and will not stop until the dreamer has overcome the mental disturbance. People may also experience nightmares due to stressful situations such as going through a divorce, or being fired from a job. Unlike trauma nightmares, these nightmares only occur until the dreamer overcomes stress.

Cano 3 Lucid dreams are a rare form of dreaming in which the dreamer becomes aware that he or she is dreaming and is capable of voluntarily controlling and manipulating the dream. Most adults have involuntarily had a lucid dream at least once. Since lucid dreaming may vary in levels of awareness, most people do not realize they have had a lucid dream. Low awareness limits the control of the dream or will simply wake the dreamer up. However people can train themselves to willingly enter a lucid state while dreaming and take control of their dreams. Lucid dreaming has been proposed as a cure by psychologists for nightmares and other sleep disorders since the dreamer becomes capable of controlling their dreams and is able to confront problems within the dreams. Lucid dreaming may sound like a fantasy, but it has been scientifically proven by scientist Stephen LaBerge. Since this mystical dream state has been proven, many techniques and training methods have been proposed to achieve lucid dreaming. Dreams may be valuable tools for insight as well as a destructive state that cause mental disturbance. They occur since the beginning of birth until the last moments near death. However little is still known about dreams as scientists and researchers have only constructed theories on why we have them. While their proposals are still theories and little is known about dreams, it does not change the fact that everyone dreams.

Cano 4 Works Cited "Dreams." Wutsamada. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. <http://www.wutsamada.com/phlmind/dreams.htm>.Glanville, John, and Mariette Glanville. "Dream Interpretation Dictionary." Dream Interpretation Dictionary. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. <http://www.dreaminterpretation-dictionary.com/index.html>. "An Online Guide To Dream Interpretation." An Online Guide To Dream Interpretation. Dream Moods Inc. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. <http://www.dreammoods.com/>.