DREAMS

                     14 Interesting Psychological Facts About Dreams 

People dream about six years during their lives on average. Imagine! Six years spent absorbed in wondrous, frightening, thrilling and sometimes completely incomprehensible sensations. Your dreams, if you could record them all, would certainly prove just what a creative being you really are. Why we dream what we do might appear to be totally mystifying, but in fact, the disciplines of dream and sleep science have actually discovered quite a lot about dreams. This article will give you some deep insight into dreams. You will discover a lot of information that will truly astonish you!

Let’s get started.

Number 1 - Your Mind Is More Active During A Dream Than When You’re Awake During sleep, the mind and body relax. After all, the primary reason why we sleep is to recover from the day’s stress on the body, repair muscle damage, and freshen up for the next day’s demands. Yet, as paradoxical as it may seem, your mind is a buzz of activity while you are asleep, even more so than when you are awake. Sleep studies - where a brain’s electrical activity is measured - provide solid data documenting brain activity. But why is the brain so active when you are asleep? Well, you experience a lot during a typical day. When you are awake, your brain is so busy taking in everything you see, hear and feel, that it has little time to actually process, categorize and store all this information. When you are asleep, your brain finally has time to make some sense of it all. There is also evidence that your brain becomes even more stimulated when it has to deal with a brand-new experience, or with some major change, you experienced - regardless of whether that change was good or bad.

Number 2 - It All Happens in Your Subconscious Your conscious mind relaxes when you are asleep, but your subconscious never really sleeps. When you sleep, your subconscious is where all that dreaming takes place. You see, your subconscious mind is busy processing your thoughts and concerns - this processing generates dreams. Dreams speak the language of the subconscious mind, and this language is composed of images, metaphors and other symbols that your conscious mind usually has a hard time grasping. This is why most people have trouble making sense of their dreams. But you can be sure that your dreams don’t just come out of nowhere - they come right from your own, personal experiences.

Number 3 - Your Dreams Only See Familiar Faces  What? All those weird events in my dreams? I know all those people? That’s right! Your subconscious can’t invent new faces. That only makes sense, because your subconscious only “remembers” things. So, any face that appears in your dreams is a face you have already encountered. This does not, however, mean that you actually know the person. Well, just think about it. Your eyes see and take in things that your conscious mind doesn’t really pay attention to. Just think of all the people you pass by during the day, maybe faces in a crowd you glanced at. You may not recognize any of those faces, but your subconscious stores all of them. Most of the main actors in your dreams are, however, people you would recognize - simply because they occupy your thoughts more. But sometimes, your dreams can concoct a strange mix of familiar and unfamiliar people. For instance, a friend of yours might appear in one of your dreams. His face and personality might seem to match up with reality. Yet, upon waking, you might realize that a person with a different face actually played the role of that friend.

Number 4 - You Can’t Read In Your Dreams You are typically engaged in a lot of activity in your dreams, but one thing you aren’t doing is reading! Yes, books and signs might pop up, but you aren’t reading any of them because you won’t make out any words or letters. This is because reading is a conscious activity! Remember - your brain is the product of a long period of evolution. However, humans have been reading only for about 5,000 years. Your subconscious is not equipped for this. When you are asleep, your conscious mind is taking a break. You can’t even read a clock in your dreams. And it gets weirder… You can’t see yourself in a mirror! If you look into one in your dreams, the image will be blurred or resolved into another person.

Number 5 - Sensory Incorporation It may seem strange, but it actually should make some sense. In order for you to dream, your body needs to be relaxed. If your body is disturbed by some external sensations such as noise; or internal sensations, such as bladder pressure - your subconscious will be affected by this. Anything like that will bring you out of a dream state. In order to get back to it, your subconscious has to be completely undisturbed. So, you need to shut off the noise, or go to the washroom - before your mind will be able to start dreaming again.

Number 6 - Men And Women Dream Differently Researchers have discovered that women and men dream differently, and they dream about different things! Several studies have documented that men dream about things like - for example, weapons - far more often than women do. Women, on the other hand, dream a lot more about things involving clothes. Furthermore, men’s dreams contain a lot more aggression and physical activity, while women’s dreams more often have to do with emotional themes such as exclusion or rejection. In addition, a lot more conversations are being held in women’s dreams than in men’s. Women’s dreams are also a bit longer and involve more people than men’s dreams. What might seem somewhat surprising, is that in men’s dreams, men appear twice as often as women. Women’s dreams, for some reason, are more balanced: men and women appear roughly as often.

Number 7 - Fifty Percent Of Dreams Are Negative According to research, negative emotions emerge in many of your dreams. Your dreams are, in a sense, fair about this all: about half of them are positive, but half are also negative. Negative dreams tend to involve emotions such as anger, fear, insecurity and sadness.

Number 8 - Dreams Can Be A Sign Of Anxiety Or Underlying Stress Our dreams show that humans everywhere seem to have a lot in common! No matter where we are born or where we grow up, our dreams often involve being chased, attacked or falling. Other common themes are feelings of being frozen or immobilized or arriving late. Sometimes we even dream about appearing naked before others! While the meanings of such dreams can differ depending on a person’s particular circumstances, these dreams can often be connected to feelings of anxiety or stress. If you experience unpleasant dreams, try to pay more attention to taking care of yourself. Also, try to deal with circumstances that are causing you stress.

Number 9 - Premonition Dreams There are some really astounding instances in which people have foreseen things in their dreams that would happen to them. These dreams often turned out to be surprisingly accurate. Were these dreams a glance into the future? Or were they just a matter of circumstance? Well, some pretty strange cases of premonition are recorded in history!

For example:

• Many of the 9/11 victims dreamed about the coming terror attack.

• Mark Twain dreamed about his brother’s death.

• Abraham Lincoln dreamed that he would be assassinated.

• The verified dreams of 19 people foresaw the sinking of the Titanic.

Number 10 - Dreaming In Black And White Your dreams might be very vivid and colourful. A lot of people have such dreams. Yet some people say that their dreams are black and white. Why? Studies have established that ‘age and the media’ one is exposed to, might play a role in what colours occur in people’s dreams. For example, older people grew up with black and white television and photography. Many of them have monochromatic dreams: it’s the way they picture people and events external to themselves. Younger people, on the other hand, have known nothing but colour photography and television.

Number 11 - Dreams Recharge Your Creativity OK, so dreams might contain some subconscious messages, but what use can they really be? Well, dreams can help you in various aspects of your life - every day. Researchers suggest that dreams are especially helpful in developing your creative capabilities. Artists often remark on how useful their dreams are in their creative processes. But dreams can help anyone - by providing creativity toward solving everyday problems. Just as you use your waking imagination when you are trying to be creative, dreams do precisely this while you are asleep. While you sleep, your subconscious is dealing with and working out problems. The process is actually quite similar to the creative process you use when awake. In other words, the creative process continues when you’re asleep, and your dreams actually help improve your creativity. As you may be aware, dreams can even directly provide you with inspiration. Let’s say, for example, that you’ve just dreamed something really amazing, or you experienced something challenging, or you relived some emotional event. These kinds of dreams can help connect you to strong feelings, and thus, help you be more creative.

Number 12 - Dreams Have Changed History So, you now know that dreams serve to refresh and support the creative process. History shows that many dreams directly led to ideas that changed the world!

For example:

• Larry Page came up with his idea for Google.
• Dimitri Mendeleyev came up with the periodic table of elements.
• Elias Howe was inspired to invent the sewing machine.
• James Watson envisioned the DNA double helix.
• Tesla got the idea for an alternating current generator. 

Number 13 - It's Possible To Control Your Dreams Have you ever had a dream while you were sleeping and were aware that you were dreaming at the time? That kind of dream is referred to as a “lucid dream”. It is thought that lucid dreaming arises from a state that combines both consciousness and R.E.M. sleep. While you are in such a state, you can often control the contents of your dreams! About fifty per cent of people remember having a lucid dream at least once in their lives, and some people have lucid dreams over and over again.

Once you’ve recorded your dreams, you can refer to your notes and see whether any themes are recurring. You can even try to identify any messages your subconscious may be communicating to you! So, there you have it! Pretty interesting, don’t you think? These dream facts may just be the tip of a very large iceberg. Psychologists and neuroscientists are still conducting research into the purpose of dreaming and the meanings of dreams. Many are convinced that there is still a lot to learn! Share your thoughts and comments below! And, tell us about some of your most interesting dreams - if you remember any. Thank you very much for reading this article.

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                   My Good Healthy Habits

Good daily habits can make such a big difference to your overall health and your life. In this article, I'm going to share 10 daily habits that have changed my life in many different ways. If you're interested keep reading this article till the end.Welcome to the whole, my happy life readers. Today I'm going to talk about 10 daily habits that have made a really big difference to my life in different areas such as physical health, emotional health and brain health. Before we dive in I wanted to say a few things so you know the context. The first thing is that these daily habits have been the result of gradual habit-forming over the last five years- it's not something that happened overnight. It is difficult to form habits and it does take time. The second thing - although these habits are daily habits I don't put pressure on myself to do them every day especially when things get too busy or things are too overwhelming. Sometimes things slide a little and that's okay. When you're making lifestyle changes it's not about perfection it's about doing what you can and generally, I do try to do these habits at least three to five times a week in the times that I'm really stressed out because I feel that they do help me stay on track and they do help reduce stress. Anyway enough with the introduction let's get into the habits. My first daily habit is that I drink a glass of water as soon as I get up. Well not as soon as I get up -I brush my teeth, I go to the bathroom and then I have a glass of water. I find that this has made a big difference to energy levels in the morning. When we're sleeping we're not taking any water and when we wake up we can be mildly dehydrated and when we're dehydrated our fatigue levels go up. There is some science behind this.So a good thing to do is start your morning by getting enough hydration. I drink a glass of filtered water. If I feel like it, I'll add some lemon to it I don't always do that and it's usually at room temperature but if you like warm water that can work too. It really is about personal preference but drinking some water in the morning is a great thing to do for your energy levels. Number two I meditate for 10 minutes every day. I used to be very sceptical about meditation when I first started. I didn't really believe in it I didn't think that there was science behind it but there is actually quite a bit of science. It can do things like reducing anxiety, it can help improve your immune function, and it can help reduce pain. There's a lot that it can do I have a few links in the description box but for me, the biggest change is mental clarity and I feel much calmer. I am not naturally a calm person I may appear calm at work but I am not naturally a calm person. Meditation - years of meditation has gotten me to this point and I really do think that there are a lot of benefits to trying it out. Now if you're a beginner, meditation can seem very daunting and I have two tips to provide. So the first one is to try to just be very open about meditation in the beginning. The first 10 to 15 sessions for me were very difficult. I didn't know what I was doing and I felt overwhelmed and I felt like I was doing it the wrong way. It wasn't until the 15th or 16th sessions that I really got into it and I started to see the benefit. So give it time. The second thing is if you are starting out try guided meditation versus meditation where you're just doing it on your own. Guided meditation can really help you stay on track and can really guide you through the process. I use an app called Calm - I highly recommend it. I love it. There is also another app called Headspace which you could try out. Number three I go for a brisk walk outdoors every day. Now I have to say that I live in a city so a brisk walk outdoors every day does not happen year-round! It doesn't happen in the winter but for the rest of the year, I do try to get outside because I find it's such a mood booster to get some fresh air.. get some sunlight and be out in the greenery and some studies show that exposure to greenery is good for your health. As usual, everything's in the fresh mind. Now for me, the brisk walk is not just a mood booster - it's also the way I get exercise. I am not a gym person I have never been in gym person I just don't enjoy it who knows who the people who enjoy the gym I would love to do that but I just can't I don't like it so for me getting exercise has to be something that's part of my lifestyle and I love going up the walk so I started to make my walks my exercise now the World Health Organization recommends that we get about 150 minutes of moderate cardiovascular activity week or 75 minutes of cardiovascular activity a walk can count if your heart rate is high enough so when I'm walking I test my heart rate I have an app on my phone Samsung health is the app that I use and my heart rates usually between the moderate and thicker zone so my walk actually counts as a workout it counts as water and activity so that's how I get my 150 minutes of exercise per week through my walk number four in addition to the walk ayuh exercise so the walk is great for cardiovascular activity if you're doing a brisk walk or if they're jogging or running but a well-rounded exercise regimen should include morethan just cardio, I like to include some weight training and yoga but I specifically wanted to talk about weeds there's a lot of women shy away from it especially because they think they're going to look a certain way if they train with weights the World Health Organization recommends at the average adult do at least two sessions a week why is it so important as we age we tend to lose muscle mass it's a normal part of Aging another normal part of ageing islosing bone density it happens but we can slow that process down with one thing and that one thing is weight training so it doesn't matter what age you are it could be in your 20s or 30s it's never too early to start preserving your muscle mass and preserving your bone density if you're a beginner you should always speak to a professional learn the proper moves you could do body weights or free weights but always speak to someone who knows what they're doing so you don't get injured and then eventually when you know what you're doing you could always work at a home that's what I do I am not a gym person as I mentioned earlier so I don't go to the gym but I will use free weights and bodyweight exercises at home if you're interested in the exercise you can start it sooner number five I try to eat something green every day it's rather embarrassing but I will admit that even as a nutritionist, I find it hard to eat greens I did not grow up eating greens so it's a very foreign concept for me but I do understand that they are very nutrient-dense and it's a good idea to get some greens on a daily basis especially a variety of greens you are getting a variety of vitamins and minerals  now if you're a beginner the easiest way to add greens to your diet really is smoothies I find that that was the best gateway for me to get into the habit of eating greens number six I eat at least two to three servings of brightly coloured fruits and veggies every day this is my bare minimum of two to three I usually try to eat more why is it important to eat brightly coloured fruits and veggies well you may have heard of the term eat the rainbow eat the rainbow basically suggests eating fruits and veggies from different colours but different colours mean they have different phytochemicals which mean they have different health properties some phytochemicals can help with cancer prevention some can help with liver some can help with metabolism there's different reasons to have those phytochemicals and it's a good idea to get a variety so I do try to cut at least two to three servings of fruits and veggies from those different groups number seven I listen to relaxing music every evening as a way to wind down so music has many different health benefits the science is still emerging but what I found very interesting is that nature sounds and relaxing music can help reduce stress it can help reduce the stress hormone called cortisol so I do try to listen to something that's very relaxing flutes maybe some nature sounds rustling with leaves things like that a waterfall those are all really nice to listen to at the end of the day as a way to wind down and just relax number eight I try to read or learn something new every day and I love to do this because it's something that I truly enjoy but there are other benefits to it especially when it comes to brain health so as we age there is that natural decline in our memories it happens but mental stimulation can slow down that decline so for me it's reading I will like to learn new things for you it could be whatever works for you if you're a reading person read a book fiction and nonfiction both have their benefits if you're not into reading learning a new language on an app such as duolingo could work or you could watch something every day like short snippets on Ted Ed to learn something new it's all about keeping your brain engaged and stimulated number-9 I try to spend quality time with loved ones every day and I want to underline the word quality time because a lot of us end up spending time with our loved ones but we're on our phones and we're not properly engaged with them they're not really talking to them it's not good communication and this happens to everybody it's just the digital age that we live in I used to scroll on my phone next my husband and I felt like I was spending time with him but that wasn't really spending time so now no phones properly talked to him I spent time with my cats - I find that cuddling a pet or a human - can help you release oxytocin which is known as the cuddle hormone or the love hormone and it can help reduce stress number 10 I avoid phones in the one hour before bed so I used to be on my phone right before bed and I found it very difficult to fall asleep because my brain was all over the place it was very mentally stimulated and phones also emit something is known as blue light and that blue light is something that your brain thinks is they like so when you're on your phone and that blue light is going to your brain, your brain thinks it's not time to sleep so it won't produce melatonin very well and it becomes harder to sleep but what I tried to do is I switched my phone off an hour or an hour and a half before bed like flight mode so I don't look at any notifications I don't look at anything and that way I'm actually able to sleep better I hope you. and before you go let me know in the comment box below what is the one habit that has changed your life. Thank you very much for being with me on this article.

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LOVE

                                IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE

Ah, romantic love - 

beautiful and intoxicating, heartbreaking and soul-crushing, often all at the same time. Why do we choose to put ourselves through its emotional wringer? Does love make our lives meaningful, or is it an escape from our loneliness and suffering? Is love a disguise for our sexual desire, or a trick of biology to make us procreate? Is it all we need? Do we need it at all? If romantic love has a purpose, neither science nor psychology has discovered it yet. But over the course of history, some of our most respected philosophers have put forward some intriguing theories. Love makes us whole, again. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato explored the idea that we love in order to become complete. In his "Symposium", he wrote about a dinner party, at which Aristophanes, a comic playwright, regales the guests with the following story: humans were once creatures with four arms, four legs, and two faces. One day, they angered the gods, and Zeus sliced them all in two. Since then, every person has been missing half of him or herself. Love is the longing to find a soulmate who'll make us feel whole again, or, at least, that's what Plato believed a drunken comedian would say at a party. Love tricks us into having babies. Much, much later, German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauermaintained that love based on sexual desire was a voluptuous illusion. He suggested that we love because our desires lead us to believe that another person will make us happy, but we are sorely mistaken. Nature is tricking us into procreating, and the loving fusion we seek is consummated in our children. When our sexual desires are satisfied, we are thrown back into our tormented existences, and we succeed only in maintaining the species and perpetuating the cycle of human drudgery. Sounds like somebody needs a hug. Love is an escape from our loneliness. According to the Nobel Prize-winning British philosopher Bertrand Russell, we love in order to quench our physical and psychological desires. Humans are designed to procreate, but without the ecstasy of passionate love, sex is unsatisfying. Our fear of the cold, cruel world tempts us to build hard shells to protect and isolate ourselves. Love's delight, intimacy, and warmth help us overcome our fear of the world, escape our lonely shells, and engage more abundantly in life. Love enriches our whole being, making it the best thing in life. Love is a misleading affliction. Siddhārtha Gautama, who became known as the Buddha, or the Enlightened One, probably would have had some interesting arguments with Russell. Buddha proposed that we love because we are trying to satisfy our base desires. Yet, our passionate cravings are defects, and attachments, even romantic love, are a great source of suffering. Luckily, Buddha discovered the eight-fold path, a sort of program for extinguishing the fires of desire so that we can reach Nirvana, an enlightened state of peace, clarity, wisdom, and compassion. The novelist Cao Xueqin illustrated this Buddhist sentiment that romantic love is folly in one of China's greatest classical novels, "Dream of the Red Chamber."In a subplot, Jia Rui falls in love with Xi-Feng who tricks and humiliates him. Conflicting emotions of love and hate tear him apart, so a Taoist gives him a magic mirror that can cure him as long as he doesn't look at the front of it. But of course, he looks at the front of it. He sees Xi-Feng. His soul enters the mirror and he is dragged away in iron chains to die. Not all Buddhists think this way about romantic and erotic love, but the moral of this story is that such attachments spell tragedy, and should, along with magic mirrors, be avoided. Love lets us reach beyond ourselves. Let's end on a slightly more positive note. The French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir proposed that love is the desire to integrate with another and that it infuses our lives with meaning. However, she was less concerned with why we love and more interested in how we can love better. She saw that the problem with traditional romantic love is it can be so captivating, that we are tempted to make it our only reason for being. Yet, dependence on another to justify our existence easily leads to boredom and power games. To avoid this trap, Beauvoir advised loving authentically, which is more like a great friendship. Lovers support each other in discovering themselves, reaching beyond themselves, and enriching their lives and the world together. Though we might never know why we fall in love, we can be certain that it will be an emotional rollercoaster ride. It's scary and exhilarating. It makes us suffer and makes us soar. Maybe we lose ourselves. Maybe we find ourselves. It might be heartbreaking, or it might just be the best thing in life. Will you dare to find out?  

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