Dreams Benefit of Health

Never has there been a subject that has aroused as much discussion as the one of dreams. It is commonly known that dreams are often discussed for their meaning and interpreted as being an internal therapist. Most people try to understand their dreams in order to use them to have a better understanding of themselves. Others use hypnosis therapy with the intention of translating their dreams which are considered as messages from subconscious. But dreams are not reduced to these functions.

An in-depth analysis of the evidence leads us to think that dreams are not only the emergence and the expression of the subconscious, but also the indication of the shape of our physical and psychological health. In fact, dreams allow us to deal with emotions and stress, enhance memories and unravel conflicts within ourselves or others. Doubtlessly, dreams are beneficial for health. Even if people do not often remember their dreams, dreams have a strong impact on our mood and shape our mental state.

This said, we must take into consideration that this view will not meet with universal approval. Indeed, there will be many who will reject the idea that dreams are good for health. It is true that we must not disregard the fact that dreams, or rather nightmares, can be hurtful for health. Nightmares cause intense fear or anxiety. They lead to sleep deprivation which is really bad for health and generates in the short term a decrease in everyday performance, memory disturbance and stress. In the long term it might cause heart attack, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity and many other health disorder. So dreams are not always considered as an advantage for health. But we cannot have a categorical vision of this topic. Indeed, dreams and nightmares are not predictable; so we cannot control them. Their recurrence differs according to the person; consequently we cannot generalize their impact on health. As dreams reflect and help to get a proper health, nightmares evince any disorder. Nightmares can be helpful to locate the problem in order to solve and cure it.

This paper will demonstrate first of all that dreams help to deal with emotion, before turning to the reduction of internal or external conflicts. Here we hope to demonstrate that dreams can generate a reduction of anxiety, stress and depression. Finally, we shall examine the paper in the improvement of memory and learning during the period of dreaming.

Given the many reviews toward the benefits of dreams, many would argue that bad dreams, otherwise nightmares, are hurtful for health and they lead to many complications. Nightmares are not random and accident, they are the result of stress and anxiety, and in other cases they might occur because of alcoholism, illness, drug consumption and breathing disorders. However, nightmares frequently awake dreamers and they cannot fall asleep just after a bad dream. Indeed, nightmares can generate sleep disorder. Sleep disorder is not only the fact to be awake during our slumber, but it also includes more or less serious effects on our health. First of all a court term of sleep deprivation generates a deterioration of our everyday performances and alertness. It could be dangerous if for example people are distracted while driving and have fewer reflexes. It might cause a serious accident. Then, we can have blackouts and be more stressed than usual. These are only the minimal effects of sleep deprivation. Finally, if the recurrence of nightmares does not decrease and is untreated, it can lead to long term symptom and serious disease. The fact of sleeping may seems banal, but it is one of the most important need of the human being. To disregard it might be fatal for our health. Indeed a long term of sleep deprivation caused by nightmares generates serious diseases such as stroke, high blood pressure, heart attack and obesity. In addition to having an impact on our health, it has an impact on our mental health and can lead to psychiatric problems. So we have to take into consideration that sleep is not something to overlook and we have to take care of the recurrence of our dreams in order to improve our sleep.

Nightmares can be a problem for our health. In fact, it can generate many serious health complications. But basically nightmares are just signs of stress, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder and unhealthy lifestyle. Nightmares reflect health disorders that can be treated. These bad dreams appear most often just after a stressful, significant or traumatic experience. In most cases, people recover in a very short time without any medication. Maybe a psychological monitoring will be helpful for recurrent nightmares but nothing else. Indeed, nightmares are not as hurtful as they were described before; they are just annoying and unpleasant.

Turning from nightmares arguments to more open-minded ones, we are immediately struck by the emotional benefits of sleep.

Dreams happen most often during the second part of the night and the rapid eye movement sleep. The rapid eye movement is when the muscles are almost completely immobile contrary to the brain which is intensely active. During the rapid eye movement sleep stage, dreams are very intense and we can much more feel the emotions. These emotions come directly from our subconscious. Indeed, dreams are a kind of translation of our subconscious and it can help us in our daily life. Dreams, by dealing with emotion and recent stressful experiences, can contribute to the difficult decision-making of life. In fact, we always dream about emotional situations which have been not well cleared up and dreams help up us to make it a little clearer. Sometimes, we wake up in the morning and we know exactly how to manage a situation, hence the sentence "night brings advice''. Therefore, as dreams help to manage emotional situations, it is a stress reliever. In fact, it is proved that by dreaming we can relief stress. People who does not dream about a delicate situation of their lives, will be more stressed and in a bad mood than the others. "The purpose of dreaming is to integrate information that is important to our lives, even when we don't remember our dreams" (Hamui, 1). Indeed, by reflecting our stress, dreams highlight what really worry us. Human brain is really well trained to eradicate these fears that invade us. When awake, we will automatically replay the dream in a better way than the previous one. The new version will reduce the fears and stress by means of self-reassurance. After having put in perspective the situation of our fear, we will be calm down, relax and without any anxiety anymore. Dreams are a sort of internal therapy and can appease stress by apprehending some delicate situations.

Having dealt with the emotional argument, we will now turn our attention to the impact that dreams