Good morning honorable jurors, ladies and gentlemen in this selected audience.
Have you ever wondered where dreams come from? Why do they happen? Or why you are not able to remember them? Well, we did.
We are Maria J. Reyes and Juan Sebastián Mengual from ninth grade and we want to immerse you in the waters of knowledge on this topic.
Dreams, the experiences we all live but most of us can’t remember, these hallucinations can be described as a state of consciousness characterized by sensory, cognitive and emotional occurrences during sleep.
You are probably wondering, why do these occur? Are dreams merely part of the sleep cycle, or do they serve some other purpose? Well, a possible explanation could be that when you’re awake, your thoughts have a certain logic to them. When you sleep, your brain is still active, but your thoughts or dreams often make little or no sense. This may be because the emotional centers of the brain trigger dreams, rather than the logical regions. Though there’s no definitive proof, dreams are usually autobiographical thoughts based on your recent activities, conversations, or issues in your life. However, there are some popular theories about their meanings, for example; dreams as therapists, memory aides, predictors, fight-or-flight trainers, among others.
The time when you are most likely to dream is during REM sleep. During this stage you are paralysed to prevent you from acting out your dreams, but it is during the much deeper sleep that sleepwalking takes place. The brain is active enough for you to move, but not so active that you wake up. A recent study conducted at Niguarda Hospital in Milan, Italy examined the brain waves of people prone to sleepwalking and found that some parts of the brain are awake, while others are found asleep, suggesting sleepwalking is caused by an imbalance between these two states.
So what should you do if you find your relative sleepwalking? waking a sleepwalker will not cause them to have a heart attack or put them into a coma, but the kindest thing to do is not to try to wake them at all. Lead them gently back to bed so that they do not hurt themselves. They will remain deeply asleep, and it is likely that they will not remember a thing in the morning.
In the majority of the cases, dreams tend to occur during the rapid eye movement (REM) cycle of sleep. Experts say that while most of us have between four to six dreams every night, we forget most of them, but are likely to remember the one we experience immediately before waking up. REM-sleep occurs at several intervals throughout the night, but lasts longer towards the morning. Prior to recovering consciousness, if there is a transition from REM-sleep to any other state of sleep, the dreams are often forgotten. Research shows that people who experience deeper, heavier with fewer interruptions, are less likely to remember their dreams compared to those who tend to wake up frequently . perhaps, during one of the REM-phases. The better and deeper you sleep, the lesser you remember.
And, what are nightmares really? Are they real? Nightmares are defined as dreams that bring out strong feelings of fear, terror, distress or anxiety. Nightmares occur generally during the rapid movement eye sleep. Its major causes are anxiety and stress. Other causes include a bad sleep schedule, lack of sleep, jet lag, illness and fever. Nightmares feel more vivid or intense than a bad dream, they can cause the sleeper to actually wake up and experience intense feelings upon waking. That is why you should not wake someone during a nightmare. You may think you're rescuing the person, but waking them simply means they will need time to calm down and get back to sleep, which may never happen.
Have you thought about controlling your dreams?
Well, you can. It is called lucid dreaming. It is an experience that most people have lived or will live, but only approximately 20% of the population have mastered the ability of doing it consciously.
You are lucid dreaming when you know that you’re dreaming and that the events flashing through your brain aren't really happening. You may even be able to control how the action unfolds.
It is generally considered safe, but there are some risks for people with mental health disorders or sleep problems like insomnia. Lucid dreaming can bring less sleep quality and it often wakes you up and you might not be able to go back to sleep.
Have you ever wondered how it feels like not being able to move?
Sleep paralysis is a feeling of being conscious but without the ability to control your motor skills. It occurs when a person passes between stages of wakefulness and sleep. During these transitions, you may be unable to move or speak for a few seconds up to a few minutes. Some people may also feel pressure or a sense of choking.
There are two types of sleep paralysis: Hypnagogic (predormital) and Hypnopompic (predormital).
In hypnagogic sleep paralysis you are falling asleep, thus you usually would become less aware of things gradually, but if you stay aware, you will notice that you can’t move or speak.
In hypnopompic sleep paralysis your body is going through REM sleep, the last part, your muscles are turned off during this stage, so if you wake up before REM sleep is done, you won’t be able to control your body.
The major reasons that cause sleep paralysis are: sleep deprivation, bad sleep schedule, substance abuse and stress.
I have always asked myself, does my dog dream? And if so, what does he dream about?
Even though animals sometimes look as if they are in the middle of a dream when they move around, we can’t know if they are dreaming.
Some scientists say it’s very probable that they dream because most of them go through the same stages as us.
Almost all mammals and birds go through this stage of REM sleep. Cold-blooded animals don’t appear to go through this stage, though.
REM sleep is when dreaming usually begins. Because of this, some scientists think that if animals dream, it should be in this stage.
Through this investigation we can conclude that there are a lot of things that we don’t know about dreams and quite a few things that scientists have not studied yet, but, we are joyful because through this persuasive speech we wanted to inform you and also ourselves about this important and interesting topic that does not have the recognition that it should.
Thanks for your close attention.
