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Hey everyone, and welcome back 
to the Easy English Podcast. 

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I'm your host Oliver, and today 
we are going to explore a 

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fascinating topic. 
Why do we dream? 

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Dreaming is something that we 
all experience at least once. 

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Some people say they never dream
and others dream every single 

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night. 
But the truth is, we all do 

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dream, even if we remember them 
or not. 

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So have you ever wondered what's
going on in your mind while you 

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sleep? 
Well in this episode, while 

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learning some English, we are 
going to dive into the science 

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of dreams and we're going to 
look at some of the theories 

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behind why we dream and how our 
dreams might even help us when 

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we are awake. 
Let's get started. 

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So what exactly are dreams? 
At their core, dreams are a 

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series of thoughts, images and 
sensations that occur in your 

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brain, in your mind during 
sleep. 

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Most of our dreams happen during
a stage of sleep called R.E.M or

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this stands for rapid eye 
movement when our brains are 

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very active, almost as if we are
awake. 

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Interestingly enough, dreams can
be so vivid and detailed just 

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like real life. 
They can feel very real or they 

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can be very vague, so very 
unclear and hard to remember. 

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Some dreams can feel joyful and 
happy, while others can be very 

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strange or even a bit scary or 
sad. 

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But why does our brain create 
these night time stories, these 

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night time dreams? 
And to be honest, even from 

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reading online, because it's 
something I'm interested in, 

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I've always thought that dreams 
are quite strange. 

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There is no single answer as to 
why we dream, but there are 

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several fascinating theories and
let's take a little look at a 

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few of them. 
The number one or one popular 

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theory is the brain's processing
system. 

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So 1 popular theory is that the 
dreams that we have help us to 

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process emotions and 
experiences. 

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In this case, you can think of 
your brain like a computer that 

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needs to sort and organize 
information. 

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Dreams could be a way for your 
mind to process the events of 

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your day. 
So really, dreams could be a way

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for your mind, just like a 
computer, to process the events 

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of your day, to make sense of 
them and to store important 

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memories. 
For example, if you've been 

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learning English, practicing new
vocabulary, your dreams might 

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include some strange scenes when
you're speaking English or even 

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studying. 
This could be your brain's way 

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of reinforcing what you've 
learned. 

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And the next theory that we'll 
look at is problem solving. 

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So have you ever had perhaps a a
situation where you've went to 

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bed with a problem and you've 
woken up with a solution? 

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Well, some scientists actually 
believe that dreams are a space 

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for creative problem solving. 
So while you sleep, your brain 

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can explore ideas and solutions 
without having to, like, think 

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about things, without having to 
direct your thoughts. 

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It's a way of your brain working
things out with the information 

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that it has on its own. 
So maybe this is an option too. 

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But we still have two more 
interesting theories. 

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And the next is called emotional
regulation. 

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So another idea that some 
scientists have put forward is 

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that dreams help us manage our 
emotions. 

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If you've had quite a stressful 
day, your dreams might act like 

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a therapy and that helps to 
process those feelings in a 

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Safeway. 
And this is an interesting one. 

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I think particularly people that
maybe are not good at dealing 

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and expressing emotions, perhaps
our dreams can be a good way of 

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working all of that stuff out. 
And the final theory is just 

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that it is random brain 
activity. 

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Some researchers or scientists 
actually think that dreams could

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just be completely random. 
And during that R.E.M. sleep 

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that we talked about, your brain
creates signals that create 

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images and sensations, and your 
mind tries to make sense of 

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them. 
It tries to understand these 

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signals and it creates a story. 
But whatever the reason, dreams 

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do appear to play an important 
role in keeping our minds 

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healthy. 
So now that we have talked about

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these main theories, let's look 
at some fun facts about dreams. 

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So we actually forget most of 
our dreams. 

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And did you know that within 5 
minutes of waking up, you've 

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forgotten about half of your 
dreams? 

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And after about 10 minutes, most
people have likely forgotten 

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almost all of them. 
I have this quite often. 

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Sometimes I will wake up and 
think wow that was an intense 

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dream. 
I maybe have some strong 

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emotions from that dream, some 
very strong memories in my head 

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and after about 5 or 10 minutes 
I can't remember any of my 

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dream. 
And as the harder I try to 

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remember, the harder it is to 
recall or remember what actually

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happened. 
And the next fun fact is that 

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not everyone actually dream in 
colour. 

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Some people dream in black and 
white while other people see 

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vivid colours. 
And scientists believe that this

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could be influenced by the media
that you consume, like black and

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white TV shows for example. 
Our final fun fact is that 

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dreams can actually be 
universal. 

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So they can be all over the 
world, people have the same 

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dream or very similar dreams. 
For example, people all over the

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World Report or record dreams 
about falling, about being 

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chased or turning up to an exam 
or to school without 

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preparation. 
And these dreams, in my opinion,

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seem to reflect emotions or 
stress and different ways that 

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we try to express these in our 
dreams and experiences that 

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everyone have. 
For example, I often have a 

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dream about turning up for a 
mathematics exam. 

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So I go into school and I 
realize, oh, my goodness, I 

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haven't prepared for this. 
I haven't went to the classes 

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for a year. 
And I don't know what's going 

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on. 
And then I wake up in my bed and

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I think, oh, thank goodness, 
it's been about 10 years since I

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was at school. 
And I'm sure you have had a 

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similar dream to that. 
So the next part I want to talk 

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about how our dreams impact or 
affect our life so when we are 

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awake. 
But first, I just want to remind

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you if you haven't checked it 
out already to check out the 

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Patreon. 
It's in the link in the 

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description below the episode. 
And on Patreon there is lots of 

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bonus content, podcasts, extra 
series transcripts as well. 

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So you can read along with the 
episodes and look at the 

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difficult words and higher 
quality audio episodes too. 

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And it helps support this 
channel, this project, and me as

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well personally. 
So thank you very much if you 

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are a Patreon member. 
So how did dreams impact our 

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waking life? 
For one, they can inspire 

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creativity. 
Many ideas and works of art were

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actually inspired by dreams. 
Can you believe that? 

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Did you know that, for example, 
the book I heard about this, So 

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the book Frankenstein by Mary 
Shelley, it was actually 

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inspired by a dream that she 
had. 

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And there's lots of other famous
things for history where great 

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scientists have said that the 
answer to their question came in

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a dream. 
And dreams can also provide us 

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with useful insights into our 
emotions and our mental health. 

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If you're frequently dreaming 
about stress or anxiety, it can 

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be a great sign that we are 
dealing with that in our 

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everyday life. 
And perhaps then it can be a 

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good sign to take a much closer 
look at your daily life, what 

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you're doing and how you can 
reduce that stress, for example.

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And finally, paying attention to
your dreams can really help even

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with language learning 
sometimes. 

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If you're dreaming in English, 
for example, it could mean that 

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your brain is working hard to 
process and work for what you're

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learning. 
So with these random appearing 

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dreams, can we actually 
sometimes control our dreams? 

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And I think that this is a very 
interesting topic and concept 

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and it's called lucid dreaming. 
And this is when you're awake, 

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that or sorry, when you're aware
that you're dreaming and can 

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even control what happens in 
your dream. 

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And some people practice 
techniques or methods to 

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actually achieve this condition 
or this type of dream. 

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And that can be like keeping a 
dream journal or performing 

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little checks during the day to 
see if you're awake or asleep. 

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And while it can take a lot of 
practice, lucid dreaming can be 

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an interesting way to explore 
your imagination. 

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Many people say this in the past
I have actually went through a 

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little bit of a phase of trying 
to do this. 

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It was said that in the past 
some even great scientists and 

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other famous figures in history 
have used lucid dreams as a way 

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to explore their minds. 
And I thought that it is such an

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interesting idea because we 
spend so much time sleeping. 

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And I tried some of these 
techniques myself, I even tried 

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specialties and other habits to 
try to help my dreams become 

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more vivid, more intense, more 
clear. 

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And I did a couple of times have
lucid dreams, but it was very 

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hard to control them. 
So I think it must take a lot of

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practice. 
Often when I became aware or I 

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realized that I was in a dream, 
I would kind of panic, maybe get

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a little bit too excited and 
wake myself up. 

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So it seemed to me that they 
never really lasted for a very 

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long time. 
But in doing all of this, in 

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trying to write down my dreams 
and spend time focusing on my 

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dreams, one big thing that I did
notice was that my dreams became

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more clear and more intense the 
longer I did it. 

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But as a result of this, in the 
morning time especially, I felt 

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really tired. 
I felt like I had almost been 

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working during the night and I 
didn't like the feeling. 

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So after a while I went back to 
just going to sleep normally and

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my dreams became less intense, 
less clear, and it felt like I 

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was asleep. 
And I fall asleep and wake up 

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and it's like a little black 
space. 

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And for some people, including 
me, I think it's nice and I feel

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much more well rested. 
But it's up to everyone, and I 

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think that lucid dreaming can be
a very interesting and exciting 

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experience. 
So I would be curious to hear 

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your thoughts. 
Do you lucid dream? 

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Have you ever tried it? 
What do you think about lucid 

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dreaming? 
I'm very interested to hear what

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you think about that. 
But for me, it's not something I

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am going to keep doing or trying
to do. 

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I just want to get a better 
sleep routine, to have healthy 

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sleep and feel very well rested 
in the morning. 

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That's my number one goal. 
So in conclusion, I think that 

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dreams are probably one of the 
most mysterious aspects of our 

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lives. 
We spend so much time sleeping 

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and having these dreams, but no 
one really knows for sure what 

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they are for, why we have them. 
And I think that's pretty cool. 

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It's pretty interesting. 
Whether they're helping us 

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process emotions or solve our 
problems, or even just to 

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entertain us when we sleep, I 
think it really shows us the 

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incredible, amazing power of the
human mind. 

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So tonight, when you are going 
to sleep, think about the dreams

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that you might have. 
And who knows, maybe you could 

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wake up in the morning with a 
fantastic new idea or an insight

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into your life. 
So thank you so much for 

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listening. 
I hope this was an interesting 

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00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,839
episode. 
It was a very interesting topic 

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for me and if you enjoyed it, 
make sure to rate the podcast. 

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So give it a good five stars or 
a thumbs up on YouTube and 

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follow along for more. 
Follow or subscribe. 

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Thank you so much and have an 
amazing day. 

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Goodbye.