Dr. Rahul Jandial

imagination network, which is a different collection of structures, and the limbic system, which is a different collection of structures for emotion, those are liberated, if you will.

They're accentuated.

Their activity is higher in the dreaming brain.

Then that kind of makes sense that when we do have dreams and we do remember them, that they're filled with anxiety or they have nightmares or erotic dreams.

So not every dream, not your dream, not my dream, but when you look at general brain activation patterns,

through machines, through electricity measurements, and you look at general description of dreams over the ages, I think some interesting conclusions can be made.

Do even mathematicians dream about math?

They must.

They have to.

That's a great question.

Of course, some of your listeners are going to write in that, no, I dream of math.

I'm not saying it's not an impossible thing, but when you look at thousands and thousands of dreams,

the percentage of nightmares is above 90%.

It's essentially universal.

I don't have to explain to somebody, other than my children, when they were kids, that, oh, it's only a nightmare.

And when you look at the large patterns of dreaming, falling, chasing, teeth falling out, they're common, 30% to 70%.

But math tends to be only a few percent.

When you're falling in your dream, that feels real to your emotional systems.

Those neurons are activated, releasing the electricity we can measure from the surface of the scalp, and they're using glucose that comes into your blood.

It's burning hot.