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The surprising health benefits of dreaming | Sleeping with Science

Every night when you fall asleep and start dreaming, you’re actually doing very important work! According to sleep scientist Matt Walker, dreams act like a form of “overnight therapy.” In fact, your dreams may even boost your ability to solve problems and process tough emotions that affect your waking life. Sleep — we spend one-third…

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Every night when you fall asleep and start dreaming, you’re actually doing very important work! According to sleep scientist Matt Walker, dreams act like a form of “overnight therapy.” In fact, your dreams may even boost your ability to solve problems and process tough emotions that affect your waking life.

Sleep — we spend one-third of our lives doing it, but what exactly do we get out of it? And how can we do it better? In this TED series, sleep scientist Matt Walker uncovers the facts and secrets behind our nightly slumber. (Made possible with the support of Oura) Check out more episodes on TED.com:

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64 Comments

64 Comments

  1. MARLEY & CAM tv 🌈

    November 24, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    I’ve healed emotions, negative thinking, lack of confidence and heartbreak through dreaming. I don’t usually cry in reality but I let my sobs out in my dreams! They help me navigate in the real world so many times 😴 🛌 💤

  2. C.T 111

    November 24, 2021 at 9:37 pm

    Why is it when I have to go to the toilet whole I’m asleep I actually dream about going to the toilet and I can never find a private place, there’s always people around and I can’t go🤔

  3. Rafael 47

    November 24, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    Nice quick video, fresh Ted!

  4. Grey Gamut

    November 24, 2021 at 9:46 pm

    What about when you only have horrible traumatizing nightmares every time for years on end?…

  5. Rictheanon ymouser

    November 24, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    Im an acute insomniac and i haven’t had a dream in years….
    (i should note ive been described as emotionally detatched by many people)
    when i do occasionally (every few years) i always wake up in a great mood.

    i noticed the connection along time ago. great video.

  6. No one star

    November 24, 2021 at 9:52 pm

    Even my book (and the characters in it) expresses how important dreams, rest, and sleep all are.

    Personally, I’ve had sleep issues since I was around 10. Nothing helps.

    *”Time is the only resource for which no creature may bargain.”*

    🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
    “Before I start, I must see my end.
    Destination known, my mind’s journey now begins.
    Upon my chariot, heart & soul’s fate revealed.
    In Time, all points converge–hope’s strength re-steeled.
    But to earn final peace at the Universe’s endless refrain,
    We must see all in nothingness…
    …before we start again.”
    🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
    — Diamond Dragons (book 1)

  7. Enlightened_One ॐ

    November 24, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    I smoke too much weed to have dreams

  8. Lighty

    November 24, 2021 at 10:05 pm

    god I love it when Im having a dream and suddenly wake up at say 8 am, then decide that I want to go back, put my head down again and literally continue seeing it again

  9. Verena Satriani

    November 24, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    Sometimes I forget the dream I had right after I wake up.

    • Letícia B.

      November 24, 2021 at 10:55 pm

      Me too, but one thing I do is think “how was my dream?” over and over again so the dream content come to me in details, it’s really fun actually! 😆

  10. Ash G.

    November 24, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    I don’t dream. Probably haven’t remembered a dream since I was a teenager.

  11. Mio

    November 24, 2021 at 10:32 pm

    I never know my dreams can actually solve my problems.
    *All I know is that I don’t remember anything when I wake up.*

  12. HEL POETRY

    November 24, 2021 at 10:41 pm

    wow, now I only have to find real life Fred Flintstone

  13. Mr Max

    November 24, 2021 at 10:42 pm

    If you enjoy this, I highly recommend you watching Matthew Walker kb the Joe Rogan podcast. Very interesting

  14. Rita Evergreen

    November 24, 2021 at 11:04 pm

    This would make sense why bodywork with trauma ends up having lot of dreams being created in order to finish the response and have closure.

    • Loan Truong

      November 25, 2021 at 1:25 am

      Và….. những giấc mơ do nhóm người điều khiển từ xa có thể sai khiến người mơ thực hiện công việc của Họ ( với người mơ biết mình đang trong cuộc ), ( với người mơ không biết mình bị sử dụng: người bị mơ sẽ rơi vào tâm thần hoảng loạn ). Công nghệ điều khiển tâm trí có thể làm người hạnh phúc hay giải sầu, nhưng đại phần là xấu: nó có thể sai khiến người làm việc nguy hiểm hiến mạng và cái chết đó chỉ là kẻ vô danh.

  15. reasonably cubic bumblebee

    November 24, 2021 at 11:07 pm

    sources?

  16. Your Mom

    November 24, 2021 at 11:08 pm

    Not my dreams. They make me angry and sad. It’s not therapeutic to wake up in a rage.

  17. DigitalXrisXross

    November 24, 2021 at 11:16 pm

    i will tell this to my teachers after my class nap.

  18. Caleb Henry

    November 24, 2021 at 11:37 pm

    I read this guy’s book on sleep. It’s pretty easily read and informative

  19. 🎯Motivation Bay Channel

    November 24, 2021 at 11:48 pm

    DO JUST ONCE what others say you can’t do and you’ll never pay attention to their limitations again

  20. Nomthi Xulu

    November 25, 2021 at 12:06 am

    Interesting

  21. hdmat101

    November 25, 2021 at 12:10 am

    Dream stans

  22. vinnie moag

    November 25, 2021 at 12:39 am

    Everything he said was thrown out by his last sentence!!

  23. FirstName LastName

    November 25, 2021 at 12:39 am

    I just experienced this “emotional first aid” recently. My cat had to be put to sleep and it hit me, hard. Harder than friends or grandparents that I’ve lost for some strange reason.
    For about a week it was kind of like a stabbing pain in my chest, but it would be fine in the morning and then it would get worse as the day went on, and it was worst at night. Then it would be fine again the next morning.
    It was pretty weird, like the pain would pop up when my brain was predicting I was going to have a sad thought, but sometimes it would get it wrong and give me the pain at the wrong times, like when I was opening the fridge, or thinking about doing the dishes or something. But I definitely noticed that the pain was almost non-existent in the mornings after some sleep.
    I wonder if this is the same for people with depression, since it seems that most suicides happen at night..

    • Rita Evergreen

      November 25, 2021 at 6:27 am

      I think what you’re expirencing is Grief and the pain in the chest mirrors that. Those are probably waves and you’re body hasn’t fully processed it because it was overwhelming

  24. Eli Nope

    November 25, 2021 at 1:24 am

    I wish I could control what I dreamed and make it resolve some of my issues.

  25. Shakil Ahmed Nirob

    November 25, 2021 at 1:41 am

    Love from.Bangladesh

  26. eric liu

    November 25, 2021 at 2:01 am

    Taking melatonin gives me some wild dreams. Good to know it’s a good thing.

  27. Angela Starnes Harris

    November 25, 2021 at 3:57 am

    I take meds so I don’t dream or rather I don’t wake up when I’m dreaming, I have chronic PTSD

  28. s diggly

    November 25, 2021 at 4:09 am

    Matt’s the best!

  29. J

    November 25, 2021 at 4:48 am

    Sounds like psychedelics could work the same way…

  30. Miklo

    November 25, 2021 at 5:16 am

    Dreams arent real. Is it like a movie where theres scenes?

  31. Aks Human

    November 25, 2021 at 5:29 am

    From ancient times indian scriptures have defines dreams and their impact on dreamer.

  32. Believe

    November 25, 2021 at 5:53 am

    this guy sells snake oil

  33. returnofbhavar99

    November 25, 2021 at 8:26 am

    Who did the animation in this video? It’s beautiful.

  34. Azimbek

    November 25, 2021 at 10:40 am

    Sometimes dreams comes very shameful 🧚‍♀️

  35. Eagle Claw

    November 25, 2021 at 11:31 am

    In my dream, I Could Jump 5 Miters, But In Real I cant! how can My dream convert Into Real?? Tell me

  36. Justin Spencer

    November 25, 2021 at 11:36 am

    Sleep is of utmost importance, I never knew how important sleep was to success, but now I do, so I make sure that I get an adequate amount daily. May these quotes inspire you to make sleep a priority in your life so that you may be in the best of health. I remembered sleeping all day back in 2020 in my day job, and that made me lost so much motivation because i was not making enough for my family, but i was never reliant to give up because my sleep turned to dreams when i met Dion Savenije, a Top analyst and Author, who showed me how to use the blockchain finance and cryptocurrency system, from a day job of $5 per hour, i rose my portfolio to $75,000 with his insight and motivation, i am highly grateful to myself not giving up and i know everyone can do this also.

    • Nate Kent

      November 25, 2021 at 10:53 pm

      How do i get contact him please?

  37. Nobody

    November 25, 2021 at 12:39 pm

    It’s always a great day when there is a new episode of Sleeping with Science series. Thanks TED! You guys make my day

  38. Vlad Kiperman

    November 25, 2021 at 12:51 pm

    The morning is wiser than the evening

  39. michael gatobu

    November 25, 2021 at 12:52 pm

    When I dream , I don’t snore , when I don’t dream I snore 🤔

  40. Horence

    November 25, 2021 at 1:30 pm

    It’s strange, when I didn’t knew what to do with my life I occasionally dreamed about a specific point in a time of day, that I would experience whether it was the day after the dream or months. Deja Vu, they called it. The moment I started writing, discovered that I loved it, and considered doing it for the rest of my life; those dreams stopped, and the occasional dreams start to become too convoluted to consider keeping into mind.

    The feeling of detachment from subconsciously knowing: “Your life has been laid out for you”
    –and the feeling of fulfillment from losing those dreams, affront newly gained sense of agency to “Want” for something,

    Felt very liberating from that existential dread.
    I don’t want to put all my cards into prospects of the subconscious that haven’t yet been fully explained, but I am optimistic that dreams can be a reflection of who you are, depending on how you make out of what you see.

  41. Be a better You

    November 25, 2021 at 1:32 pm

    I dream every single day.. And i remember most part of it.. Somedays there are more than one dream.. Only issue is i wake up sometimes after a dream.

  42. Nicole

    November 25, 2021 at 2:07 pm

    Taking a class on this next semester and now I’m extra excited

  43. Marc-André Lacroix

    November 25, 2021 at 6:15 pm

    My REM sleep score always range under 15 % I cant seem to find anything that would help me to get more of that cycle…. does anybody has any tips or things I could try that has worked for them that had made a change in his/her REM sleep ?

  44. Mala Fanai

    November 25, 2021 at 8:24 pm

    I’m glad i read his book “Why we sleep” A good read.

  45. Nadia Haywood

    November 25, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    His voice and the background music is very soothing though…..nice video

  46. Ana Isabel

    November 25, 2021 at 11:02 pm

    Ok so the recurring nightmares I have about zombies are a good thing then?

  47. BLACK SWAN

    November 26, 2021 at 2:21 am

    Am i the only who doesn’t want to dream? I just want to sleep without any of these inner voices. Its been so long, since i had a peaceful sleep damn. I just hate dreaming.

  48. Curious Nerdy

    November 26, 2021 at 3:47 am

    This video is a literal gem!
    Love yaallll!!!

  49. Chris

    November 26, 2021 at 4:16 am

    Every time I see him on Joe Rogan I think it’s a young Chuck Norris 😂

  50. Justin Spencer

    November 26, 2021 at 12:12 pm

    Sleep is of utmost importance, I never knew how important sleep was to success, but now I do, so I make sure that I get an adequate amount daily. May these quotes inspire you to make sleep a priority in your life so that you may be in the best of health. I remembered sleeping all day back in 2020 in my day job, and that made me lost so much motivation because i was not making enough for my family, but i was never reliant to give up because my sleep turned to dreams when i met Dion Savenije, a Top analyst and Author, who showed me how to use the blockchain finance and cryptocurrency system, from a day job of $5 per hour, i rose my portfolio to $75,000 with his insight and motivation, i am highly grateful to myself not giving up and i know everyone can do this also. His secured cntact is T📱E📱L📱E📱G📱R📱A📱M📲 DIONSAVENIJE

    • Max Harvey

      November 26, 2021 at 12:26 pm

      The entire system and portfolio management tactics dion uses is very motivational, that is why his community and establishment are growing bigger daily, good yo be part of it

  51. sidewinder2057

    November 26, 2021 at 10:16 pm

    Love Matthew Walker, read his book a while ago “Why we sleep”, he also had one of the best podcasts with Joe Rogan.

  52. Kongolox

    November 27, 2021 at 3:43 am

    this the health benefits of deep sleep.. not dreams.. u can have dreams in all stats of sleep but the big benefit only happens at the deep sleep status.

  53. Donald Auguston

    November 27, 2021 at 5:09 am

    Is it possible to dictate what we are going to dream or does it happen by magic? Are there things we do that prevent us from dreaming, i.e., drugs, alcohol, etc.???

  54. Michaela Skarbova

    November 27, 2021 at 9:46 am

    I dream every single night, sometimes several dreams a night and I remember all of them sometimes years after. Would love to see more scientific videos like this about dreaming ❤️

  55. Bamboo

    November 27, 2021 at 10:30 am

    I dreamed that I could go to study abroad. Today, I trust that I can do it ✨✨✨

  56. Chanel Guillory

    November 27, 2021 at 2:43 pm

    This is great. I’ve always felt like my dreams were somewhat giving me a better understanding of the issues I was struggling with in my daily life.

  57. 32 .xxAlsalem

    November 28, 2021 at 7:45 pm

    What is Him Name?

  58. ____

    November 28, 2021 at 11:13 pm

    Well my dreams were crushed years ago

  59. BG GAMINGR YT

    November 30, 2021 at 2:05 pm

    Opi

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