The classic enigma "dream or am I awake?" it is resolved with a pinch that tests our state of adherence to reality. But how do you answer if the question becomes: "Was it a dream or am I really sick?"
Can there be a connection between dream and illness? We investigate further, even going back a long way, in the second century AD, to then bring us back a long way, where research neurologists are trying to arrive.
The human body in dreams
When the human body penetrates dreams, when it takes over the dream dimension, it brings with it a whole series of symbolic meanings that fill many psychology manuals. The knees mean solidity ; dreaming of them is a sign of a well-structured, dignified and humble personality. Beards and mustaches express manhood, are connected to the male archetypes of power and strength. Dreaming of being overweight or being excessively thin is connected to feelings like shame, to the physical and mental perception that the dreamer has of himself in real life, within society.
Beyond the emotional valences of which human anatomy is charged in the dream, the basic question of this article is: can dreams be alarm bells for one's health? Be precursors or indicators of a latent malaise?
The dream and the disease in the classical era
It is attributed to Galen of Pergamo, a Greek physician of the 2nd century AD, the story focused on the story of a man who, after seeing his own leg transformed into stone in a dream, was seized with paralysis. Let us not forget that, in that same historical period, nearly three hundred temples dedicated to Asclepius, the god of medicine, still reigned and in these temples the incubation of dreams was practiced.
How did it happen? The patient was prepared through a precise rite following which he fell asleep inside the temple rooms. Upon awakening, the person, after the god had shown it to him in a dream, had clear within himself the symbolic or practical action to be taken to get back on the path of cure.
An anthropological clarification: for the Greeks the dream had very little unreal and intangible; rather, it was a sacred event that was a harbinger of a revelatory nature and therefore required the preparation of particular conditions that would make it possible.
Dreams as alarm bells on health status
Oliver Sacks, a prolific author and respected neurologist, argues that neurological disorders are always accompanied by quantitative or qualitative changes in sleep . In many patients the onset of the disease presents itself to the dreaming mind in the form of sleep disorders, before manifesting itself in reality. The non-alert mind can also produce dreams that precede the actual regression of the disease .
"In some cases dreams can be like X-rays, " explains Robert Van de Castle, authority in the world of dreams and sleep, responsible for the Our dreaming mind site, reporting a woman's clinical case and her recurring nightmare in where a nurse examined her leg and held a candle near the shin whose red-hot flame came closer and closer to her skin, until it burned. The woman was diagnosed with a bone infection after that series of dreams.
Neurologist Daniel Schneider tells the case of an avid smoker who dreamed of being in a military combat zone. Living in a situation of danger, in the dream he tried to take refuge in a hollow tree, but the enemy fire could always reach him in full chest, mowing him in half. An examination revealed a small lung cancer that had not yet given rise to metastasis.
Certainly, it is a fertile field for further research, especially due to the fact that "many dreams have the function of warning and could prove useful, if only one listened to them.", as Van de Castle points out. Re-evaluating the value of the dream also returns to make us reflect on the importance of maintaining contact with ourselves .
And, if you understand English, do not miss an article by Ryan Hurd, a researcher in the field of dreams, specialized in cases of dream paralysis with repercussions on reality, published on the irresistible Living Olistically portal (with a sense of humor) entitled "When dreams warn of illness".
We wish everyone a good listening of your dreamy mind!
