An Attempt at Understanding Dreams

In conclusion, I think that in spite of all the scientific material available on the process of dreaming, it is far from being unraveled. Such an attempt was made as early as 350 B.C. by Aristotle. He stated that "the dream is a sort of presentation which occurs in sleep" and that "not every presentation which occurs in sleep necessarily a dream. For in the first place. some persons when asleep actually, in a certain way, perceive sounds, light, savour, and contact; feebly, however, remotely. Nor should the true thoughts, as distinct from the mere presentations, which occur in sleep be called dreams. The dream proper is a presentation based on the movement of sense impressions, when such presentation occurs during sleep" (Aristotle 'On Dreams' ).This ingenious paper by Aristotle managed to define dreams and to distinguish the thoughtlike dreams that we encounter during NREM sleep from the real dreams that we experience in REM sleep.…