Why Dream?

No one knows why we dream. This article lays out some interesting theories about the evolutionary benefits of dreaming. One of the more interesting theories in the article is called Threat Simulation.

From Scientific American...

Threat Simulation Theory

This clever evolutionary theory holds that dreaming serves a biologically adaptive function because it allowed our ancestors to simulate problem-solving strategies for genuine, waking life threats. Researchers at the University of Montreal neatly summarize the central argument of the theory this way: “By giving rise to a full-scale hallucinatory world of subjective experience during sleep, the dream production mechanism provides an ideal and safe environment for such sustained practice by selecting threatening waking events and simulating them repeatedly in various combinations.” What we should see in contemporary dreams are “threat scripts” depicting primitive themes of danger that would likely have been relevant in the ancestral environment, such as being chased, falling and so on.

After last night's dream, the next time my wife or I are held hostage by a wicked Saudi sheik on a faux movie set I'll know exactly what to do...go out the back door.