what influences dreams? Help me analyze

[JohnChops]

What do you guys think/know influences your dreams. Ive been having some wild a$$ dreams lately and its been the weirdest thing ever. They all involve a girl in some way, escaping/rescuing, and /or running away from a killer (guess ive been watching to much TV/Halloween sh1t haha ). But seriously, what do you guys think or know influences dreams ?

Hmm found some cool stuff

"Killer

To see a killer in your dream suggests that an essential aspect of your emotions have been cut off. You feel that you are losing your identity and your individuality. Alternatively, this dream may represent purification and the healing process. You are standing up for yourself and putting a dramatic end to something."

 

[Deep Dish]

Dream interpretation is pseudoscience.

Dreams occur in REM sleep. Your brain basically defragments your memories at random, somehow reassembling it together into a dream, and it's not much more than electrical activity of the brain. Changes in your physical environment as you sleep, such as the air conditioner turning on, can become incorporated into your dreams. The reason why an element appears in a dream or a recurring theme persists may remain esoteric but there is not much of power of interpretation, because there is no justification to give symbolic meaning. It would be complete bullshït to say, for instance, a spider symbolically represents betrayal. Pareidolia is the scientific word for finding meaningful patterns in random stimulus and vagueness.

It’s nothing.

 

[JohnChops]

Dream interpretation is pseudoscience.

Dreams occur in REM sleep. Your brain basically defragments your memories at random, somehow reassembling it together into a dream, and it's not much more than electrical activity of the brain. Changes in your physical environment as you sleep, such as the air conditioner turning on, can become incorporated into your dreams. The reason why an element appears in a dream or a recurring theme persists may remain esoteric but there is not much of power of interpretation, because there is no justification to give symbolic meaning. It would be complete bullshït to say, for instance, a spider symbolically represents betrayal. Pareidolia is the scientific word for finding meaningful patterns in random stimulus and vagueness.

It’s nothing.

Thanks for the scientific input deep dish, you really believe that its nothing ? Then why is it when you eat certain foods, stressed or study before bed you have odd dreams ?

 

[Deep Dish]

The interpretation part is nothing.

To be sure, things like stress can influence your dreams. One out of four people (including myself) experience either hypnagogic (falling asleep) or hypnopompic (waking up) hallucinations, which is caused by either stress or sleep deprivation, and basically is dreaming while you’re awake.

 

[Poonani Maker]

I will say this...that I, can dream almost always when I use a particular pillow, a memory foam pillow (2), that came with my $4000 bed from 3 years ago. For some strange reason, when I lay my head on this particular pillow, I am almost certain to dream, and dream Hard deeply, wildly. Take away that pillow, For Me, and no more dreams. It could be that that particular pillow (small, kinda stiff, but nonetheless memory foam, and not the most comfortable, but not UNcomfortable either, just above average) causes me to sleep lightly, like half-away, and with like eye-open almost, or it could be that it causes me Deep sleep, don't know, but it puts my head which cases my brain in a subliminal state somehow, and therefore, to Dream always. Also, I have Wamsutta (sp?) 500 thread count sheets.

 

[Bible_Belt]

I've seen a lot of people become habitual users of various substances, because using that substance was the only way they could sleep without nightmares.

Nightmares are an obvious effect of PTSD. Soldiers returning from war have always had them. One of the ways that the subconscious mind will deal with trauma is to drive the consciousness to re-live that trauma. That's why you see some women constantly seek out abusive relationships. The essence of BPD is a drive to re-experience childhood abandonment.

I'm just guessing, but I think dreams are the same. Whatever your mind thinks you need to get worked out, it will show up in your dreams. A lot of times it's pretty simple. If you're horny, you'll dream about sex. But other times, the issues are not so easy to see.