Your brain can dream while you’re AWAKE, study finds,
You might think that dreams are confined to the realms of deep sleep – but we can also experience them while awake, according to a new study.
Researchers have found that people report vivid, bizarre, dream–like occurrences shortly before nodding off.
They discovered four distinct mental states that seem to float freely between wakefulness and sleep, which they defined as fleeting, alert, bizarre and voluntary.
And these appear to be linked to brain activity patterns, rather than whether a person is technically awake or asleep.
‘The mental states traditionally associated with dreaming can arise just as well when we are asleep as when we are awake,’ said first author Nicolas Decat, from the Paris Brain Institute.
‘In other words, the content of our thoughts does not follow the boundaries between waking and sleep.
‘One of our participants, while awake, reported seeing ants crawling on her body against a backdrop of crossword puzzles.
‘Conversely, another participant mentally went through his schedule for the next day while he was fully asleep.’
Researchers have found that people report vivid, bizarre, dream–like occurrences while still awake
For their study, researchers recruited 92 participants who were accustomed to napping.
Their naps were interrupted at different time points and participants were asked to describe their mental experience of the previous 10 seconds.
Throughout the study, their brain activity was continuously recorded with an EEG cap.
Analysis revealed there were not just the two mental states – dreaming and awake – that might be expected.
Instead the findings, published in the journal Cell Reports, showed there were four in total.
The fleeting state was characterised by momentary recollections and the alert state defined by a high level of connection to the surrounding environment.
The third state was characterised by bizarreness while the last, voluntary, was defined by a high level of control over what they were thinking.
Each of these mental states appeared across wakefulness, the onset of sleep and light sleep, the team found.
They discovered four distinct mental states that seem to float freely between wakefulness and sleep, which they defined as fleeting, alert, bizarre and voluntary
The third state was characterised by bizarreness while the last, voluntary, was defined by a high level of control over what they were thinking
‘Sleep onset allows us to capture, within a very short time span, fluctuations in our state of vigilance, from wakefulness to sleep, and to observe the mental experiences associated with them,’ Mr Decat said.
‘As we drift toward sleep, sensations, visions, and snippets of speech unfold—what are commonly called hypnagogic experiences.
‘Tracing the evolution from ordinary thought to dream–like narrative can help us understand how a dream emerges.’
The researchers said most people are under the impression that extravagant mental content only occurs in the depths of the night.
‘This preconception probably stems from a memory bias,’ Mr Decat added.
‘We mainly remember dreams that come with strong emotions or those to which we attach particular meaning.
‘Yet it is just as common to dream that we are working. Conversely, some people report that fanciful daytime thoughts, like fragments of a dream, sometimes surface during their everyday activities.
‘Because these thoughts are seen as incongruous, they may well be more frequent than we imagine, but we tend to dismiss them.’
Participants reported the different mental states across wakefulness, the onset of sleep (N1) and light sleep (N2)
A separate study recently found that dreams are actually preparing you for the challenges of day–to–day life.
Researchers have found that rather than just processing emotions or memories, your nighttime visons might behave more like a simulation.
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They discovered that dreams tend to reflect everyday goals that shape human life – including staying safe, building relationships and caring for family.
And by experiencing them in our sleep, we are training ourselves to deal with them in the real world, the experts said.
‘The findings suggest that dreams may act like a kind of mental ‘practice space,’ where the mind works through real–life social challenges—helping us prepare for situations involving relationships, reputation, survival, and caregiving,’ author Frederick Thomas, an assistant professor of psychology at Coker University, said.
‘In this way, dreaming may play a broader role in helping us navigate the social world than previously thought.’
