Dreaming and sleeping are not mutually exclusive, so to embark on the journey of understanding why you are dreaming you must also explore the science or phenomena of sleep.
As Human Beings we live our lives in cycles, with around two thirds of our day filled with waking activity and one third of our day spent in a state of rest. We use sleep to cast aside our daily struggles, both mental and physical, and while our internal systems go about repairing and restoring our muscles and soothing our aches and pains, our brains take us to imaginary landscapes, or dreamscapes, to escape the mental stresses of day to day life. With proper sleep we awake feeling revitalized and rejuvenated.
Everyone needs sleep and dreaming to function properly and successfully carry out daily tasks. When we do not sleep properly, we become physically run down and mentally incapable of coping with situations and problems favorably, lacking the means to flourish as a Human Being. If you go without sleep and without dreaming, it soon becomes apparent that these two functions are an essential part of being Human.
Even without knowing what it is that your dreams mean – in fact most people do not – you still benefit from having them. There have been scientific studies of sleep deprivation that suggest your brain will increase your level of dreaming to compensate for those you have missed by skipping sleep. You may have noticed this yourself when, during periods of stress and heavy workloads, you have stayed up too late and woken up too early for extended periods, and your body has taken over and made you sleep longer during the weekend, when you wake up having experienced tremendous amounts of vivid dreaming – almost as if your brain was filled to bursting with subconscious thoughts. In fact, if you go for long enough without sleep you may notice your subconscious leaking surreal thoughts into your waking life in the form of what one might call hallucinations – seeing things and hearing voices that will often make you feel paranoid, as if you are losing your mind. But, unlike real paranoid illnesses, all the symptoms will thankfully disappear after a prolonged period of restful sleep that compensates for the dreaming deficit.
It is widely believed that dreaming is the mind’s way of sorting through our waking thoughts, dealing with some of the harder to face issues in an abstract way that is less stressful and time-consuming than facing them while we are awake. After all, we would never get anything done if we spent all day worrying about our thoughts, relationships and childhood traumas. With this in mind, it is easy to see why we can breakdown mentally and physically without sleeping and dreaming.