The neuroscience of sleep and dreams teaches us that there are three basic brain states: waking, REM (rapid eye movement), and non-REM (NREM) sleep.
We have our most vivid dreams in REM while physiologically restorative sleep occurs in association with slow waves of NREM. What determines or creates and maintains each of these three states is a differing mixture or profile of brainstem-generated neurotransmitter (aminergic and cholinergic modulation) activity levels as well as differing forebrain activation and deactivation patterns. The three different brain activity profiles that give rise to the three different brain states must be thought of as probabilistic profiles.
Each brain state’s profile can be fully engaged or only partially engaged. The transitions between the brain states can also be only partial. Because the mechanisms that control brain states are probabilistic, transitions between states are virtually always partial and incomplete. When transitions between states are partial, we get a hybrid brain state—for example, a mixture of REM and waking, a mixture of NREM and waking, or REM with NREM. When these hybrid states occur, we tend to get uncanny, weird, and bizarre experiences.
For example, sleep paralysis represents a hybrid of REM and waking.
The patient is conscious and awake but he is paralyzed and cannot move because the muscle atonia associated with REM is persisting into the waking state. In addition, the patient hallucinates an intruder possibly because many REM dreams are about potential threats and so on. But what about the closely-related false awakening experience?
Presumably, when we falsely believe we have woken up (but are in fact still dreaming), the brain is moving towards the awake state and for some reason thinks it has arrived. If some degree of activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is the standard physiological cue that the brain uses to think it is awake, then it seems reasonable to argue that that clue can sometimes be used incorrectly. But the dream within a dream phenomenon is not only about being fooled that you are awake because there is still full-on dreaming happening. The dream within a dream requires some other explanation than its mere re-description as a partial waking.
Perhaps the dream within a dream is more like lucid dreaming, which results from a hybrid of REM and waking states because the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is partially activated. When the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is activated during REM, the individual gains some awareness of self and so becomes aware that he is dreaming. A false awakening would involve skipping the awareness of self as a dreaming step that occurs with lucid dreaming, and that is associated with moving toward the waking state. Instead, the awakening process would discontinue and the individual who was anticipating an awakening would continue dreaming. But why dream about normal morning rituals and awake activities? We do not know the answer to this question.
FAQs
Dreams within dreams are often thought to be caused by anxiety from waking life, especially when the content of the second dream involves getting up and going about your day. The inner dream is sometimes considered a message from the spiritual plane.
What is the main message of A Dream Within a Dream? ›
“A Dream Within a Dream” was first published on March 31, 1849, in the Boston periodical The Flag of Our Union. The theme of the poem is the cyclical nature of life and death, and feelings of loss, grief, and reconciliation.
What is it called when you dream in a dream? ›
Answer and Explanation: There is no term in psychology or neuroscience that refers to a dream within a dream. Most experts will just call that a dream about dreaming. That being said, there is a term called false-awakening that is closely related to a dream within a dream.
What does the sand symbolize in A Dream Within a Dream? ›
The Ephemerality of Human Experience
For them, the sand symbolizes the much more disturbing fact that their life is slipping through their fingers. Like the grains of sand, they have no sure way of holding on to any of their life experiences or saving them from “the pitiless wave” of forgetfulness.
Can you get stuck in a dream within a dream? ›
It is possible to get the sensation that you are stuck in a lucid dream, if you have many dreams back-to-back, or try to go back to your body and keep waking up into a new dream. However, you will always wake up, so you are never actually stuck.
What is the irony in A Dream Within a Dream? ›
Irony. The purpose of the poem is to explain to the woman and others that he does agree that life is all a dream. It is ironic that the speaker is in a dream, which has a happy connotation, but he is weeping and can't hold on to anything. Rather than the speaker being upset with reality, he is upset with fantasy.
What not to do in a lucid dream? ›
Let's get started;
- ##1 Don't think about your body while in a lucid dream. ...
- ##2 Do not dream of real-life memories. ...
- ##3 Don't look in mirrors in lucid dreams. ...
- ##4 Do not doubt yourself in lucid dreams. ...
- ##5 Don't get excited. ...
- ##6 Don't kill people in lucid dreams. ...
- ##7 Don't close your eyes. ...
- ##8 Don't second-guess yourself.
Another report suggested that “a shift in brain activity in the direction of waking” during REM sleep dreaming causes the move towards lucid dreaming, creating a “hybrid” situation involving “features of both REM sleep and waking.”
How rare is lucid dreaming? ›
Generally, lucid dreaming is quite rare. Only one half of the general population know the phenomenon from personal experience, approximately 20% have lucid dreams on a monthly basis, and only a minority of approximately 1% have lucid dreams several times a week.
Why did Edgar Allan Poe write A Dream Within a Dream? ›
Like many of his other poems, the narrator of "A Dream Within a Dream" is suffering an existential crisis. "A Dream Within a Dream" was published near the end of Poe's life, at a time when his alcoholism was believed to be interfering with his day-to-day functioning.
I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand-- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep--while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave?
What is the lesson of the poem dreams? ›
The poem 'Dreams' by Langston Hughes is about the importance of dreams and their ability to empower, strengthen and sustain an individual's life. In the poem, Hughes implores the reader to “hold fast to dreams” because life without dreams is like a “broken winged bird that cannot fly.”
Which sentence best describes the theme of A Dream Within a Dream? ›
Expert-Verified Answer. The sentence that best describes a theme of the poem is: B Nothing in life is permanent.
