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Why do I dream and what purpose does it serve?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The research of dreaming, known as oneirology, was first introduced by renowned psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud. His theory centered around dreams as a mechanism to process repressed feelings thus allowing people to sort through problems. But it was only a theory. There was no objective evidence to show for it. But now there is.

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Scientists at the University of Rome published a paper in the Journal of Neuroscience. They found dreams are a way to activate the brain while sleeping. In the study, researchers asked participants to write down their dreams (if they remembered them) upon waking. Using brain wave technology, they discovered certain parts of the brain are activated while dreaming–the frontal lobes. This affects what’s called episodic memory which is characterized as recalling and reexperiencing specific events from one’s past. Essentially, when a person dreams they are reconstructing things that happened to them in the past yet in a chaotic manner.