Dreams: Night School, by Jay Dixit

“A dream researcher at the University of Turku, in Finland, Antti Revonsuo believes that dreams are a sort of nighttime theater in which our brains screen realistic scenarios. This virtual reality simulates emergency situations and provides an arena for safe training. As Revonsuo puts it, ‘The primary function of negative dreams is rehearsal for similar real events, so that threat recognition and avoidance happens faster and more automatically in comparable real situations.’ Revonsuo believes that by providing rehearsal, dreaming helps us recognize dangers more quickly and respond more efficiently. We don’t need to be aware of this rehearsal, just as you don’t have to recall exactly where you practiced your tennis serve in order to reap the rewards.

Sleep provides practice. People given brainteasers before bed dream about the answers. Math students are all too familiar with dreams about algebra problems. Anyone who’s ever played too much Tetris knows you can start having Tetris dreams.”

Oh god, don’t remind me of the dreaded Tetris dreams. The threat theory makes sense but of course dreaming doesn’t serve a single purpose. One dream I still remember from high school: a girl I had a crush on gave birth to a handgun. What was that a rehearsal for, Antti?