How the brain works during sleep

Importance of dreams for the brain

To dream, how wonderful. I'm talking about the dreams we have during sleep, which today is much more fragile in the compulsion of the continuous present, a dream activity that has many positive signs. For our health, for the body's balance, and even for our creativity. A precious effort, which we should all learn not to waste.

Why it is important to dream

On average, during his life, a man sleeps something like 230 thousand hours, equal to 26 years. Of these, well 6 are years of dreamsImagine a child, ready to go to school, and reconstruct his life from the moment of his first cry: that is the piece of our existence enclosed in the energy of dreams.

Scientists, advancing in their studies of the brain, are increasingly placing importance on the function of dreams for the psycho-physical well-being of man. It is thanks to dreams that the brain's engine does not shut down, and the brain then has less difficulty reactivating. The muscles are paralyzed, but the brain remains awake. It is dreams that help us clear our heads, clogged with thoughts that often accumulate in a disorderly and compulsive way. It is dreaming that allows for true hygiene of the entire cerebral apparatus.

Brain activity while sleeping

Until ten years ago it was thought that during the sonno Almost nothing happened. And it was all science fiction, even novels that told of fantastic human activities while asleep. Science, however, in recent years has made great strides in focusing on the intense activity of the brain and understanding how it works when we sleep. Discovering that memories are strengthened, associations are formed, and fears are overcome. In short, here's the news: our brain is extremely active during sleep. Which is not just rest, but also production of new knowledge.

Neuroscientist Anat Arzi, along with her colleagues at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, conducted a test on volunteers. They linked a sound to a smell during sleep. They discovered that humans, without realizing it, inhale deeply when they smell a scent and breathe lightly when the smell is unpleasant. The volunteers were put to sleep by a sound accompanied by a perfume (deodorant or shampoo) or a second sound associated with a bad smell (rotten fish or meat). Upon awakening, the former breathed deeply, the latter more feebly.

Another experiment was conducted in a successful attempt to classify words during sleep, and it was discovered that while we sleep, the brain is able to process new information. It is in full activity. All reasons that lead researchers to recommend indulge in sleep, not to disturb him, also because it is a necessity. If we don't sleep we get depressed, we are more nervous, we tend to forget more easily and we are subject to ictus, heart disease, and premature death. So: sweet dreams, and to do so, turn off all the electrical and electronic devices you use during the day.

Brain and dreams

But if we go beyond the medical aspects, then we discover that dreams expand, and sometimes illuminate, solutions that we are unable to even approach during waking life. It leads us to understand ourselves better, and almost taking us by the hand leads us towards the Eden of creativity. The most striking cases are endless. Paul McCartney (Beatles) dreamed the music and lyrics of Yesterday, before it became one of the most celebrated songs in the history of music; Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) was no exception, and thanks to a dream he composed the immortal Satisfaction. Even the very popular writer Stephen King owes his success to a dream: during a night spent in plane, created the plot of Misery, a best-selling novel, and then a blockbuster film. Not to mention Larry Page, who dreamed of an engine with exactly the same features as Google, and before him, Otto Loewi, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery that information is processed by the brain chemically, not electronically. A dreamed-up discovery, before being later etched into text.

Conclusion: close your eyes, sleep (maybe if you can't sleep, let our advice help you), look for dreams, go meet their mystery. And don't waste them.

Which part of the brain makes you dream?