Processing traumatic events

• One theory is that dreaming helps with sleep's memory-processing function. During sleep, the brain sorts through information gathered during the day, then decides what to keep and what connections to make between new information.
• Another theory is that drea...

• Stress neurotransmitters in the brain are much less active during the REM stage of sleep even during dreams of traumatic experiences.
• This made some scientists to think that one purpose of dreaming is to take the edge off painful experiences to allow for psychological healing.
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Daily life experiences don’t always present themselves in dreams immediately. Sometimes an experience from life will filter through to a dream after several days or even a week. This delay is what’s known as dream lag.