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Answering your questions about life, Earth and the universe

We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.

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CrowdScience: What are dreams for?

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

What Are Dreams For?

05/04/2019 GMT

What are dreams for?

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, What are dreams for?

Do we actually need to dream? Is there an evolutionary reason for it?

Marnie Chesterton asks what purpose do dreams serve. Is there an evolutionary reason for them?

There are very good reasons to sleep: to regulate the body’s metabolism, blood pressure and other aspects of health. But do we actually need to dream? Is there an evolutionary reason for it?

Marnie Chesterton takes her dream diary to a dream lab to explore this very popular preoccupation of many CrowdScience listeners.

What would happen if we didn’t dream? What purpose do dreams serve? Can we really interpret them meaningfully, or are they merely random signals from the brain? The latest research says talking about them could be more important than we realise.

And what about controlling our dreams? Marnie finds herself a willing participant in a study on lucid dreaming – of which sleep scientists are only just starting to understand the psychological benefits.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton 
Producer: Dominic Byrne

(Image: Woman dreaming on a cloud up in the sky. Credit: Getty Images)

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