The scientific definition of a dream is when there is a very small amount of brain activity and there is no sense of self-awareness. Most dreaming occurs in the REM (rapid eye movement) stage. This is the stage during which accelerated respiration and heart rate, muscle relaxation, and increased brain activity occurs. This stage is also called paradoxical sleep. During a dream, the dreamer experiences an incredibly lifelike ordeal, and the shutting down of the self-awareness causes them to encounter the dream in a first person point of view, generally without the knowledge of who they are and being unable to control the circumstances, and is also almost never aware that they are even dreaming. Dreams can last from five minutes …show more content…
it comes from the word ‘oneiron’, meaning ‘dream’, and ‘logia’, meaning ‘the study of’. This word was first used in 1653, by Marquis d’Hervey de Saint Denys. The early Egyptians, not long before Christ’s birth, were incredibly analytical and curious as to the meanings of their dreams. They strongly believed in the prophecies from their gods, and were certain they were sent in the form of dreams. They believed in three bodies, the Shat, the corpse, the Ka, the living, and the Ba, the soul. It is thought that Ba may actually represent lucid dreaming, as he was shown in the picture writing of the Egyptians, hieroglyphics, as the dreamer in another …show more content…
A study conducted by Brighton Town University showed that eating food, especially unhealthy foods, too soon before sleeping almost always triggers nightmare-inducing brain waves. The researchers took 10 individuals of varying genders and weight and had each of them on the same sleep schedules, and consuming the exact same foods every single day for eight weeks, and gave each of them an unhealthy food just before bed. Not only did the subjects report rather vivid nightmares, but uncommonly rapid weight gain. After the eight weeks were over, the snacking on junk foods before bed was cut off. Suddenly, the extra weight dropped off in just a week or two, depending on the individual, and four saw a vast decrease in