No one really understands why we dream. Perhaps dreams represent signs that are happening to us that our conscious minds cannot decipher but the subconscious mind can. That is why dreams are full of signs and symbols and that can be interpreted by dream interpreters where we realize how much sense things make after the fact. Dreams can also be a way to express fears and anxieties.
However, regardless of why dreams happen, we are limited as far as what we can actually do in our dreams. And psychologists say that we cannot do the following six things as we dream:
Write And Speaking
When we are sleeping, our language centers of the brain are not very active. Therefore, it is impossible to write and speak in dreams. Expressing any type of language is too much of a task because of the fact that that area of the brain is almost shut down. Could you dream about writing a note? It is possible but do you know what you are really writing? Chances are you do not.
You may dream about yelling something, and if you actually do yell something in real life as you dream, then you are close to waking up and your language center is becoming more active.
Talking in your sleep is not the same as there are other causes for that.
Reading
As you know the area of your brain that is responsible for language is not active. You cannot write in your dream and you also cannot read. Now, it is possible to dream about seeing numbers or letters or even words. But that is the extent of it. They would represent something to you.
But reading text in your dream? It would require your language center of your brain to be active in order for you to do that.
Meeting Strangers
There’s a theory that our brains can’t “invent” new people, and all the strangers we see in our dreams are either people we’ve already encountered somewhere or their faces are a combination of features we’ve already seen.
If you dream about the faces of others in dreams that you have never seen before, you actually cannot invest faces you have never seen in dreams. You have somewhere met someone with the face you are dreaming about, somewhere or features anyway. The face could have been in a picture of the individual that you see. The face could be in your subconscious which is why you are dreaming about it.
Doing Physical Activities
We all have probably been there — you try to run, fight, or jump high, but it feels like you’re doing everything in slow motion no matter how hard you try. Researchers suggest that we may perceive time differently while sleeping, both faster and slower.
When you are in REM state, your brain releases a hormone to cause temporary paralysis of your muscles so you cannot act out your dreams. Those who do sleepwalk or sleep drive, or even become violent in their sleep are lacking this hormone and need treatment for it. And if you wake up while you are still in REM state before the hormone clears up, you feel stuck, frozen, and you could see a dark figure pinning you down which is sleep paralysis. When you wake up properly, your hormone clears up and you can move again.
See Yourself In The Mirror
When it comes to seeing your own reflection, that all boils down to physics. And because dreams result from memories or the subconscious, anything that involves physics will not apply. Therefore, you cannot see yourself in the mirror.
However, if you do see yourself in the mirror in a dream, it is symbolic of something else that is happening in your life and will only relate to things happening in your life. It is not the same type of reflection that you would see in real life.
Taste Food
Eating food is a physical experience and you can never feel full in your dreams. However, occasionally during lucid dreams when you are hyperaware as you dream, you can actually dream about the texture of food and the taste of it as long as it is a food you have already eaten and had a memory of it. That is the only exception.
If you wonder why you cannot do certain things in your dreams that you can do only in real life, that is because your brain cannot process it in your sleep or dreaming state. It is fascinating, isn’t it?
