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John Mac Ghlionn

Lizards, birds and humans have a little-known commonality: they all dream.
The average person has 1,460 dreams a year, about four dreams a night. Their content ranges from the sexual to the downright scary. Some of the more popular scenarios revolve around infidelity, being chased, appearing naked in public and the loss of teeth.
The vast majority of dreaming occurs during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep. REM sleep was first discovered 70 years ago, when researchers studying newborns noticed that their eyes moved about rapidly during sleep.
There are many theories as to why we dream.
How to sleep, eat and work out better, and handle stress? They’re linked
Some researchers believe that dreams play an important part in regulating our emotions. Neuroscientists suggest that dreams play a key role in helping us store and consolidate memories.
Even nightmares have benefits, according to some sleep scientists. They say these dreams can be viewed as a sort of “dry run” of sorts, the brain’s way of preparing us for the many challenging events that could come our way.
Erik Hoel, an American neuroscientist, neuro-philosopher and author of The World Behind The World, a new book on consciousness and free will, has a new and novel theory of why we dream, outlined in a recent paper in the journal Patterns.

His overfitted brain hypothesis (OBH) suggests that the weirdness of our dreams is not a glitch in the system – it’s a feature.
Hoel, who featured on the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for science, thinks dreams occur to make our understanding of the world less simplistic and more expansive. Our dreams’ peculiarity acts as a sort of countermeasure against the routine experiences of everyday life.
Hoel’s OBH was inspired by machine learning, a process that involves using large data sets to train algorithms.

“Overfitting” is a term straight out of the machine learning dictionary. In simple terms, it is a statistical modelling error that occurs when a function finds itself curtailed by a narrow set of data points: it can’t process an answer if there is insufficient data from which to extrapolate.
One way of counteracting overfitting is through data augmentation, a process that allows a user to increase the amount of data by essentially generating new data points from data already in place.
Our dreams, if Hoel’s theory is to be believed, involve some sort of brain-based data augmentation.
I don’t even think it’s a coincidence that the average TV episode of 20 to 30 minutes lasts about as long as an REM cycle
Neuroscientist Erik Hoel
Hoel tells the Post that his OBH theory suggests that the purpose of dreaming is to improve learning by reducing overfitting.
The theory developed after he used a form of qualitative research that looked in-depth at non-numerical data – interviews and observation notes – to study people’s conscious experience while dreaming.
He noticed the process was similar to the techniques that machine learning researchers used to improve the flexibility and generality of their artificial intelligence (AI) models.
“Specifically, researchers would add what is essentially noise to their data sets, or warp the data in some unrealistic way, almost as if the AI were being forced to hallucinate. Well, that looks quite similar to dreams,” he says.
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As for testing his hypothesis, Hoel did concede that scientifically scrutinising a theory in neuroscience “is always quite difficult”. That’s because neuroscience is not really at a point where we can conclusively prove that an idea is false.
However, Hoel says there are a number of experiments that “might lean us toward the OBH more, or lean us away from it”.
One example, he suggests, might be whether the idea of dream substitution – using hallucinatory input while someone is awake in place of dreams – is possible, to see if that has the same positive effect as dreaming.

Asked why he focused on this particular area of research, Hoel says that he has always been interested in fiction.
“I grew up in my mother’s independent bookstore, hawking books,” he says. “So I’ve already read, and am a fiction author myself now. But why do humans read fiction? They are lies, after all.
“It’s quite an interesting puzzle from an evolutionary perspective, because fictions seem so useless.”
Hoel argues that evolution itself invented fiction hundreds of millions of years ago in the form of dreams.
“Dreams are biologically created fictions. So if you can figure out why evolution invented dreams, you can figure out why humans pay so much attention to fictions.
“To this day, I think there’s a very close connection. I don’t even think it’s a coincidence that the average TV episode of 20 to 30 minutes lasts about as long as an REM cycle.”
The secret to a good night’s sleep: listen to your body clock
Hoel himself has always had rather fantastical dreams, he says, “often surreal, extremely deserving of the term ‘dreamlike’”.
He stresses that we cannot separate the importance of dreams from that of sleep.
“There are all sorts of marked benefits from getting the right amount of sleep,” he says. “This includes both physical but also emotional health. It’s important for maintaining a healthy cognition, like not having lapses in attention, which can happen if you’re too tired.”
But there’s much more to it, he adds.
“I think dreaming is probably, over the course of a lifetime, extremely important for sculpting the generality of our learning, and for keeping us from becoming too trained or specialised to one type of thing.
“According to the OBH, the effects of dreaming would likely be cumulative over a lifetime.”


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Wellness

Why do we dream? Neuroscientist’s new theory suggests it’s to make our understanding of the world more expansive

Why do we dream? It’s to make our understanding of the world we inhabit less simplistic and more expansive, according to neuroscientist Erik Hoel’s Overfitted Brain Hypothesis. 
Photo: Shutterstock

Neuroscientist Erik Hoel.

Our dreams’ peculiarity acts as a sort of countermeasure against the routine experiences of everyday life, neuroscientist Eric Hoel suggests. Illustration: Shutterstock

Sleep scientists say nightmares may be viewed as a sort of “dry run” of sorts, the brain’s way of preparing us for the many challenging events that could come our way. Photo: Shutterstock

What happens if you don’t sleep? How cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia – CBT-i – can help you ‘stop losing sleep over losing sleep’

CBT-i is empowering beyond drugs, sleep specialist Dr Barry Krakow says, adding:  “It teaches you to stop losing sleep over losing sleep.”
Photo: Shutterstock


If you have chronic insomnia, you may be losing sleep worrying about getting to sleep. Many sufferers are finding cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-i) gives them the ability to sleep soundly. Photo: Shutterstock 

Miranda Levy, who lived with insomnia for eight years, chronicles her experience in “The Insomnia Diaries”. Photo: Miranda Levy

The cover of Miranda Levy’s book. Photo: Amazon

CBT-i is growing in popularity in the US, says Gemma Fisk, a certified infant and adult sleep coach and CBT-i specialist in Hong Kong. Photo: Gemma Fisk

Being bullied as a child triggered anxiety – and chronic insomnia – in one of Fisk’s clients. CBT-i helped uncover the root of the problem, to help him finally get a good night’s sleep. Photo: Shutterstock

Any obstruction in the airway has the potential to trigger nocturia, a condition that causes you to wake up during the night to urinate. Photo: Shutterstock

How extreme heat can affect your mental health and the best ways to cope

Extreme heat has been linked with a range of mental health problems, including mental exhaustion, hostility, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and higher suicide rates. Photo: AFP

Dr Cindy Chan is a Hong Kong-based clinical psychologist. Photo: Emilio Navas

Odile Thiang is lead clinical adviser for training and anti-stigma at Mind HK. Photo: Mind HK

Dehydration is a major concern in times of extreme heat, so it is essential you drink enough water. Photo: Shutterstock

Children are at greater risk of dehydration because of their higher resting metabolic rates. Photo: AFP

How your sense of smell is closely linked to your memory, and how you can fine-tune it to improve your memory and thinking

Actively sniffing out scents in nature can help bolster your sense of smell. Photo: Shutterstock


Our sense of smell is deeply entwined with our memory, and recent research shows it is possible to actually improve memory and cognition by exercising our sense of smell, in nature and elsewhere. Photo: Shutterstock

The olfactory bulb, which manages our sense of smell, sits at the bottom of the cerebral hemisphere near the front of the brain. Illustration: Shutterstock 

Michael Leon, professor of neurobiology and behaviour at University of California Irvine, published research showing how boosting the sense of smell can improve cognition. Photo: University of California Irvine

Cynthia Woo was a member of Leon’s team. Photo: University of California Irvine

Unlike vision changes which we manage with glasses, and hearing impairment with hearing aids, “there has been no intervention for the loss of smell”, says Professor Michael Yassa. Photo: University of California Irvine

Protect your head and safeguard your ability to smell. Photo: Shutterstock

Actively sniffing out scents in nature can help bolster your sense of smell. Photo: Shutterstock 

A bowl of fortified granola containing vitamin B12 with healthful seeds and nuts - a good source of zinc. A lack of certain nutrients, including zinc and vitamin B12, has been linked to a loss of smell. Photo: Shutterstock

Keep well hydrated: a dry mouth affects your sense of smell. Photo: Shutterstock

Quitting smoking will improve your sense of smell. Photo: Shutterstock

Avoid coffee, onions, garlic and other strong scents, and notice how your sense of smell comes back. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle

Health & Wellness

Health

Erik Hoel believes the peculiarity of our dreams acts to keep us from seeing the world too simplistically and becoming too trained or specialised in one thing
His theory, inspired by machine learning, suggests that our dreams involve some sort of brain-based data augmentation


Inspired by machine learning, neuroscientist Erik Hoel has a new theory as to why we dream: to make our understanding of the world more expansive and to counter the routine of everyday life.


Mental health

The human body

Why do we dream? Neuroscientist’s new theory suggests it’s to make our understanding of the world more expansive

Erik Hoel believes the peculiarity of our dreams acts to keep us from seeing the world too simplistically and becoming too trained or specialised in one thing His theory, inspired by machine learning, suggests that our dreams involve some sort of brain-based data augmentation

Erik Hoel believes the peculiarity of our dreams acts to keep us from seeing the world too simplistically and becoming too trained or specialised in one thing

His theory, inspired by machine learning, suggests that our dreams involve some sort of brain-based data augmentation