Why Do We Dream?

Everyone on the planet is familiar with dreaming to someone extent. So why has something as common as dreaming been baffling scientists for centuries? Hypotheses surrounding the purpose of dreams have been forming since societies in Ancient Greece and Egypt started pondering the phenomenon. The truth is that we still do not have any conclusive evidence to support why dreaming occurs.

Before we dive into theories about dreams, here are a few tidbits of information that are currently believed to be factual:

1. Eyes are not necessary for dreaming.

Many people assume that blind people do not dream, but since dreams are made up of emotions, ideas, and sensory perceptions in addition to images, blind people have no issues dreaming.

2. Dreaming is involuntary, but it can be controlled.

Everybody dreams whether they remember it or not. We cannot avoid dreaming, but if we become aware of the fact that we are dreaming, it is possible to control what you dream of. This is called lucid dreaming and it often requires practice.

3. You cannot read or tell time in dreams.

This one is more difficult to prove, but studies show that most people cannot actually read or tell time while they are dreaming, at least not accurately. You can dream that you are reading, but it is more of an appearance than an actual action— similar to how an actor in a movie may appear to be reading, but they are not actually taking in any information from the book.

4. Dreaming does not only occur during Rapid Eye Movement (REM Sleep)

REM is when our most vivid dreams occur, but our minds remain active all throughout our sleep cycles.

5. Television affects our dreams.

In the 1940s, three quarters of Americans hardly if ever saw color in their dreams. Once color was introduced to television, the percentage of people who dream in black and white had dropped to 12 percent.

6. Babies cannot dream about themselves.

Babies lack self awareness and they usually see themselves as an extension of their parents. Babies will not appear in their own dreams until approximately 15-24 months old.

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Now that we have gone over a few facts, let’s explore some theories that attempt to explain why we dream:

1. Dreaming sorts information.

The human brain is taking in mass amounts of information every single second. Some people believe that dreaming is the brain’s method of sorting through information and deciding what to keep.

2. Dreams reflect emotions.

Your emotions have everything to do with how you handle daily life, and many people believe that dreaming helps you cope with and understand your emotions.

3. Dreams are random.

There is a theory that dreams are nothing but chemical reactions that have no purpose at all.

4. Dreams investigate memories.

There is a belief that dreams occur to thoroughly investigate memories of events that you could only pay attention to for a few seconds during your waking hours.

5. Dreaming is supernatural.

The ancient Greeks and Egyptians believed dreaming was a method of supernatural communication with divine spirits.

6. Dreams represent your subconscious self.

This is one of the most popular beliefs about dreams. This theory was popularized by Freud and states that dreams are unaffected by our conscious restrictions which ultimately reveals our primal and unfiltered thoughts and urges.

7. Dreams are symbolic.

This theory combines Freud’s ideas with other psychological experts’. This theory suggests common dreams hold deep symbolism for the dreamer.

Some popular examples include:

⁃ Teeth falling out: you feel a lack of control.

⁃ Death: you desire or are experiencing a new beginning.

⁃ Being chased: you feel threatened.

⁃ Nudity: you feel vulnerable.

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I hope you enjoyed this blog post. I find it to be so crazy that we still don’t have any solid answers as to why dreaming occurs. Personally, I think these theories have their merits, but I don’t 100% believe in one single theory. I think some of the theories go together hand in hand and make more sense that way. Now I want to know what you think. Leave a comment and let me know what your opinions about dreams are.

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Feel free to keep up with me on Twitter: @MegRoylee

Thoughts on Thursday: Gun Control

Before I begin this post, I want to state that I will be writing about very real cases, and I mean absolutely no disrespect to the victims or their families. I pray everyone finds peace and that nothing like these events ever occurs again.

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I am absolutely in favor of gun control. I will never forget the day I realized there was a massive gun issue in the United States. It was December 14th, 2012, a day I am sure most Americans remember as The Sandy Hook shooting.

I was sixteen, and I had heard rumors of a mass shooting in Connecticut. The day progressed without any details, and I eventually sat down with some friends at lunch.

“Did you hear about the shooting?”

“Most of the victims were only kids.”

I lost my appetite.

Eventually, I made my way to my second to last class of the day. Instead of preparing for our English 10 final, our puffy eyed teacher put on a movie, and let us browse the news on our laptops. It was then that I found out that twenty children, six staff members, and the shooter’s mother had been shot and killed. My blood turned to ice, and I kept asking myself, how could something like this have happened?

At the time, I worked with children ages 7 and 8 for an early childhood education class. Immediately, I realized it could have just as easily been them. I don’t think anyone has felt 100% safe at school since.

I have also had close calls when it comes to coming in contact with guns. I have experienced lockdown drills after gun threats, but thankfully, no active shooter has ever made their way into a school I was attending or working at.

I did, however, almost walk into an armed robbery at one point. I had just left Walgreens with my mom when she suddenly remembered she forgot to pick up my over-the-counter allergy medicine. She said we were about to drive past CVS and we could pick it up there if I wanted. I told her I was feeling pretty tired, and I would be fine for one night. When I got home, my Facebook timeline was flooded with statuses about how the police were called after a CVS robbery that happened only minutes before, when I would have been walking into the store. Again, thankfully nobody had been hurt.

The point of those two stories is that gun violence is extremely prevalent, even in small towns like the one I grew up in. Unfortunately, a lot of people in the United States are not as lucky as I was, and many have been and continue to get hurt, and even killed.

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Here are a few Stats to prove just how prevalent gun violence is in the United States:

⁃ For every 1 person killed with a gun, 2 more are injured.

⁃ 62% of firearm deaths are suicides.

⁃ On average, 7 children under 18 years old are shot every day.

⁃ Black men are 13 times more likely to be shot.

⁃ On average, 50 women are shot to death in domestic violence situations every month.

⁃ The gun homicide rate is more than 21 times the average of other developed countries.

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Looking at these stats, I don’t understand how anybody could possibly disagree with gun control. Just to put a little perspective on this, I am only twenty-one, and I have been alive for the top three most deadly mass shootings in United States history.

This is not a petty liberal versus conservative issue. Real lives are at stake, and we need to let our hatred of the other side go, and realize people are actually dying because people are too stubborn to put a stop to it.

Before people say, “it’s my second amendment right to carry a gun,” know that gun control is not about stripping every citizen of their guns, it is about stricter regulations.

I am not going to pretend I know how to completely end gun violence, I’m not even going to pretend I think it’s possible to resolve the issue completely. However, based on the results of other countries, I absolutely believe that stricter regulations will save lives.

For example, after 35 people were killed in a shooting in Tasmania, the Australian government passed a law that very week that would ban all automatic and semiautomatic firearms. If you want to obtain a firearm in Australia, you have to take a safety class and provide a reason for owning a weapon other than safety concerns. Afterwards, you must meet storage requirements that include having the weapon and ammunition stored separately, and you must agree to random inspections. In addition to these strict laws, you also must wait 28 days to receive your firearm.

Since the laws took effect, Australia has not had a deadly mass shooting.

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We are at a crucial point in our history where we have to decide if the lives of our citizens are more important than guns. When it comes to gun control, if it can save even just one life, I think the “inconvenience” is more than worth it.

If you would like to contribute to change, here is how you can contact your representatives about gun control reform.

The Truth About Fairy Tales

Growing up, I was and still am a huge fan of fairy tales. I was enchanted by the idea of a happy ending, and dazzled by all of the protagonists’ extraordinary adventures. Before I could read, I was constantly asking my parents to read fairy tales to me, and I would watch beloved Disney movies on repeat. Fairy tales are such an innocent part of most people’s childhoods, but these well known stories don’t have such squeaky clean origins.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you are endlessly curious and fascinated by history, no matter how disturbing it may be. Here are just a few descriptions of classic fairy tales before they were tweaked to be appropriate for children.

 

The Little Mermaid

This family friendly story of a mermaid seeking adventure and love on land, and finding success despite a few obstacles did not start off so PG.

The original story was written in 1837 by Hans Christian Andersen. In the original story, the little mermaid feared her fate of turning to sea foam after she died. Her ticket to escaping her harsh fate was to obtain a human soul. In order to achieve this goal, she would have to marry a man who loved her more than anything. If the man did not marry her, she would die.

After setting her eyes on a handsome prince, the little mermaid ventured off to make a deal with the sea witch. The sea witch promises the little mermaid will be able to walk, but every step will feel as if she is striding on sharp knives. The little mermaid so desperately wanted to shed her tail that she agreed, and allowed the sea witch cut out her tongue as payment.

Alas, the little mermaid is not loved more than anything by the prince, as he weds another woman. In order to save her own life, the little mermaid must stab the prince. The little mermaid loves the prince too much to kill him, thus ensuring her death on land and in the ocean.

 

Cinderella

The core of Cinderella’s original story is the same: she is abused by a wicked stepmother, she meets a prince who pursues her, and lives happily ever after. The parts in the middle of the early stories are what is disturbing.

In the original story, Cinderella follows her governess’ orders and murders her stepmother by snapping her neck. Her father then marries the governess, who views Cinderella as a slave and banishes her to the kitchens. Cinderella is later granted a wish that lets her attend and fit in to a royal party. While leaving the party, Cinderella loses her slipper and is sought after by the king. The slipper fits, and this unhinged version of Cinderella lives happily ever after.

If that were story was not unsettling enough, other early versions are more persistent on testing their boundaries. In one version, the stepmother cuts off pieces of Cinderella’s stepsisters’ feet in order to ensure they will fit into the slipper. In another version, the sisters cut off pieces of their own feet, and lovely little songbirds peck out the sisters’ eyes.

Charming.

 

Sleeping Beauty

In the original tale, the princess’ eternal slumber is caused by a splinter. Her father is heartbroken when she will not wake up, so he abandons the castle with her still in it. A king from a different kingdom found the castle with the princess’ body still laying unconscious inside of it. The king thinks she is so beautiful that he rapes her, and unknowingly impregnates her with twins. The princess delivers her babies while still slumbering, and one of the babies sucks the splinter out of her finger, causing the princess to awaken.

Later on, the queen finds out about the king’s infidelity, and demands that the twins are cooked and fed to him. The cook secretly hides the children, and serves goat in their place. Thinking the twins are gone, the queen then tries to throw the princess into a fire. The king stops his wife, and burns her alive instead. The king then marries the princess, and lives “happily ever after” in a really twisted kind of way.

Hansel and Gretel

In the original story, Hansel and Gretel are good children who are betrayed and abandoned by their greedy parents who no longer wanted to feed them. The siblings wandered through the woods until they stumbled upon a house. The children knock upon the door and an old lady answers. She allows them to stay with her, but warns them that her husband is a cannibal who will consume them if he discovers them.

The husband comes home and beats his wife after he finds the children. He then makes Gretel his slave and holds Hansel captive in a pig sty while he gets fattened up for the husband’s meal. The husband leaves for a bit, and asks his wife to watch the children. The wife gets drunk, and the children slit her throat and steal her fortunes before escaping.

The husband returns to find his dead wife unaccompanied by the children. He chases them and eventually catches up with the children. Hansel and Gretel trick the husband into falling off of a bridge and drowning.

Eventually, Hansel and Gretel find and forgive their parents, and they live off of stolen fortunes.

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There you have it, those were the origins of just a few fairy tales. I hope your childhood hasn’t been ruined. In all honesty, I think it’s incredible that the creators of the fairy tales we know today were able to make such wholesome things out of pure horror.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you found this topic to be as fascinating as I did.

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Source 1

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Thoughts on Thursday: The Mandela Effect

Before I begin, I want to apologize for posting this a day late. I was having some technical issues, but all is resolved. Today’s subject is truly fascinating, and I hope you enjoy learning about it.

If you do not know what the Mandela Effect is, it is a phenomenon of mass amounts of people collectively having the same false memory pertaining to specific events and facts. This phenomenon is called the “Mandela Effect” because many people remembered Nelson Mandela passing away in the 1980’s, when in reality, he died in 2013.

Some popular examples of the Mandela Effect include:

⁃ The iconic Darth Vader quote, “Luke, I am your father” was never said. The real quote is “No, I am your father.”

⁃ Jiffy peanut butter does not exist. It has always been Jif.

⁃ The Evil Queen in Snow White never said “Mirror, mirror on the wall.” The correct quote is “Magic mirror on the wall.”

⁃ The tip of Pikachu’s tail has never been black.

⁃ Chartreuse is not a pink-ish purple color, it is a shade of green.

⁃ Since 1942, Thanksgiving has always been on the fourth Thursday of November. Many people remember it being celebrating on the third Thursday.

Many of the examples listed above are simple, yet a lot of people become understandably startled to find out a solid memory of theirs has “changed.”

There are many theories that attempt to explain this phenomenon, but there is no one proven explanation for the Mandela Effect.

Here are just a few theories:

⁃ Societal Reinforcement: This theory is a lot like the telephone game on a much larger scale. Basically, one person gets it wrong and it creates a domino effect.

⁃ Alternate Reality: There are many theories about alternate universes, so I will just be sticking to the basics. People believe that these facts and events occurred differently in another universe. One theory is that universes exist as bubbles, so to speak, and these bubbles can bump into each other and change our timeline.

⁃ Time Travel: If you’re into Sci-Fi, you’re probably familiar with the idea that if someone were to go back in time, they could easily change our timeline. The idea is that someone went back and slightly changed something, causing us to misremember events.

My Thoughts:

I was actually flabbergasted when I found out Thanksgiving is not celebrated on the third Thursday of November, and never has been in my lifetime. I have such a clear memory of my mother driving me to school when I was in early elementary school, and telling me Thanksgiving was always celebrated on the third Thursday. I specifically remember being confused on Thanksgiving of 2014 because I didn’t know why it was suddenly being celebrated on the fourth Thursday. I asked my mom about it, and she said she has always remembered it being celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. Looking back at the situation, I think there is a very logical explanation. My mom was probably tired that morning and accidentally told me the wrong week, or being so young, I probably had forgotten what she had said and kind of filled the gap with incorrect information.

I personally believe this phenomenon is caused by psychological and societal elements. To me, the alternate reality theory is too shaky and inconsistent to full heartedly believe. The problem with the time travel theory is that even if it is invented in the future and somebody goes back and changes our timeline, we would all be victims of that change. It just wouldn’t make sense that some people would remember it one way, and others existing on the same timeline would remember it another way.

Our memories are not nearly as reliable as we would like to believe they are. Scientists have actually found that encouraging an eyewitness to remember a lot of details can cause them to remember things that never happened. Our brains do this in order to complete our memories. Your brain simply fills the holes in your memory with borrowed bits from another memory. It is so easy to have two memories get crossed in your brain and the result is a new, incorrect memory.

In my opinion, the limits of the human mind are to blame for false memories. I am in no way saying I don’t think alternate realities exist or that time travel is definitely impossible, I just don’t believe they are the cause of the Mandela Effect.

There you have it, those are my thoughts on the Mandela Effect. I want to hear your opinions. Do you share any of the false memories I listed, or do you have a false memory that I did not list? Tell me what you think about the Mandela Effect in the comments.

As always, thank you so much for reading.

Three old Fashioned Medical Practices That Will Make You Grateful For Modern Science

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another blog post. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I unfortunately ended up getting sick. I think it’s just a cold or a flu bug, but I feel terrible. Nevertheless, the blog must go on!

I thought about writing a sick day survival guide, but I wanted something a bit more interesting. So, I decided to do a bit of research and write about old fashioned medical treatments.

I am very grateful to be alive in the age of modern science and medicine, but our ancestors were not so lucky. From doctors prescribing cocaine, to cannibalism being used as a medical treatment, the history of medicine is bizarre to say the least. Here are a few old fashioned medical treatments to destroy any sense of longing to live in the past that you may currently have.

1.The Great Binge

From roughly 1870 – 1914, narcotics were widely available for a variety of different reasons, but we are just going to look at the medical side of this. This was a period of time when young children were given morphine to soothe their coughs and cocaine drops were used to provide relief to pesky toothaches. In this odd time in history, heroin was used to help with withdrawal symptoms due to other drugs. What a time to be alive! (That was sarcasm, kiddos. Please don’t do drugs.)

2.Cannibalism

I’m going to make this as non-graphic as possible, but it’s still really gross, so maybe don’t read this part if you are particularly queasy.

Cannibalism had been used as medical treatment for thousands of years. Ancient Romans drank the blood of departed gladiators. Blood was drank from victims of sudden departure in sixteenth century Europe, as it was believed that the spirit would stay briefly trapped in the physical body, and the living could draw benefits from it.

Blood was not the only human remain used for medical purposes. In the eighteenth century, a popular medical belief was that human flesh could heal venomous bites or general pain if wrapped around the infected area as a bandage. Human fat was also used by rubbing it on skin to soothe gout and heal cuts and bruises.

If time travel ever becomes a thing, I think I’ll pass on visiting the Victorian era.

3.The Tapeworm Diet

The tapeworm diet is also pretty disgusting, so no hard feelings if you don’t want to read this section, either.

The tapeworm diet became popular in the early 1900s, and consisted of a person swallowing a tapeworm in pill form, and waiting for it to reach full maturity in their stomach so it would eat a portion of whatever its host ate. It somehow gets worse. The tapeworm which can grow up to 30 feet in length eventually has to be excreted. Not only is this beyond disturbing, it is extremely dangerous. Tapeworms can cause illnesses ranging in severity from headaches to dementia.

The sad thing is people still attempt this today in 2017. The possibility (not even backed up by science, I might add) of being thin is not worth all of the very real consequences associated with this “diet.” Eat healthy, exercise, and take care of yourself. Fad diets never work.

Those are a few strange medical practices throughout history, and I hope you are just as grateful for modern times as I am.

Stay tuned for more posts about lifestyle, pop culture, and art. Stay healthy, and as always, thank you so much for reading.

Little Known Facts About Christmas

Before I begin writing the core of this post, I understand that religion is a sensitive subject, and I am not trying to disrespect or discourage anyone’s beliefs. This post is my attempt to share little known information that I find to be fascinating, and does not necessarily contain my personal opinions.

Christmas is a combination of a religious holiday and the secular mass commercialization of modern day culture. Because of its’ wide range of tangled history, there are a lot of myths and buried facts associated with the holiday. Hopefully you have just as much fun as I did learning about the history of Christmas.

Without any further ado, here are a few facts about Christmas you may not know:

1. Pagan Roots:

Many people today know Christmas to be the day Christians celebrate the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ, but many of today’s modern traditions have pagan roots. For example, the Christmas tree is perhaps the most popular Christmas icon, and it has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. During the winter solstice, Pagans would celebrate the worst of winter being over as they anticipated spring. They would often decorate their homes with trees as a reminder of the spring season they were eagerly waiting for.

According to Philip Shaw, a researcher of early Germanic language and Old English at Leicester University, Christians did not approve of Pagans, but they were fascinated by them and wanted to preserve their traditions, which is why we most likely still incorporate their traditions into a religious holiday.

2. Jesus’ Metaphorical Birth:

The Bible never mentions when Jesus was born, and early Christians didn’t really mind. According to Stephen Nissenbaum, author of “The Battle for Christmas” early Christians believed Jesus was a spirit, rather than a physical human being. The morphing of the Pagan celebration and Christian holiday hadn’t occurred until the fourth century. Nissenbaum said “If you want to show that Jesus was a real human being just like every other human being, not just somebody who appeared like a hologram, then what better way to think of him being born in a normal, humble human way than to celebrate his birth?”

Whether or not Jesus existed as a man is still debated upon, but most historians who believe in the physical presence of Jesus believe he was actually born in Spring.

3. The Original Day of Gift Giving:

When you think of Christmas, you most likely think of gift giving. Christmas, however, did not include gifts until the Victorian Era. New Year’s Day was when everyone eagerly awaited gifts given to them as tokens of happiness and blessings for the entire year. The mid 1800s is when Queen Victoria popularized the idea of giving Christmas gifts by presenting them to her family on Christmas Eve.

4. Christmas Music:

The first “Christmas” songs were sung thousands of years ago in Europe, but they were songs to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Later on, Christians adopted the tradition, but made the songs about their faith in Jesus.

Today, Silent Night is the most recorded Christmas carol in history, and White Christmas is the best selling Christmas song of all time. Meanwhile, the ever popular Christmas song, Jingle Bells, was originally meant to be a Thanksgiving Song.

5. A Brief History of Santa Claus:

Santa Claus was originally supposed to be a disciplinary figure, rather than a jolly one. Santa Claus is based off of the legend of a generous man named St. Nicholas. Saint Nicholas is believed to have dedicated his life to giving to the poor. The creation of the modern look of Santa is credited to Fred Mizen, who designed him for a Coca-Cola ad in 1930. In fact, because of their massive popularity, Coca-Cola has been widely credited with modernizing the Santa we know today.

There you have it, those were just a few quick facts about Christmas. I had so much fun researching material for this post, and I hope you learned something new about this joyous holiday. Again, so many things in history have been misinterpreted or distorted, and I am in no way trying to change or disprove anyone’s faith.

Merry Christmas, and thank you so much for reading.

Sources:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.livescience.com/25779-christmas-traditions-history-paganism.html

https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/carols_history.shtml

https://list25.com/25-bizarre-interesting-facts-christmas/

http://www.history.com/topics/christmas/santa-claus

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-santa-claus