我们为什么做梦这个问题没有明确的答案，但有不同的理论。这些理论包括记忆储存、日常情绪的处理以及帮助我们为日常压力情境进行演练。

 

There are no clear answers to the question of why we dream, but there are different theories. Dreaming is extraordinary and strange: you hallucinate, believe impossible things, and people you know may merge¹ into one another. And then, to top it off, you will likely forget all about it.

 

Memory storage could be one reason for why we dream. When you are asleep, the brain decides what information you should move to your long-term memory and what should be unlearnt. In a TED² Talk, psychologist Amy Adkins described a 2010 experiment involving participants studying how to get out of a complex 3D maze³. It was found that they were much better at attempting it if they had had a nap and dreamt of the maze.

 

Another purpose of dreams could be the processing of our daily emotions, which may add to emotional memory consolidation⁴. In 2003, the Journal of Cognitive⁵ Neuroscience published research that experimented with the idea of dreams being a replication of our daily lives. Diary entries and dream journals of 29 healthy young adults over a two-week period were compared, and it was discovered that emotional themes from the day were replicated⁶ in dreams 35-55% of the time.

 

Antti Revonsuo, a Finnish scientist, has suggested that dreaming helps us to prepare for and deal with stressful situations. He studied children’s nightmares, giving an example of being continuously chased by wolves. He believes dreams like this stem from our ancestors and could be a rehearsal⁷ for daily struggle and survival. In modern times, dreams and nightmares may be preparing us for social situations such as having a fight with a friend, going on a date or having a job interview.

 

With such a variety of theories on why we dream, it seems that more research is needed before we can completely understand their purpose.

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