Mind in the Media: Netflix’s The Sandman and the Truth About Why We Dream

Mind in the Media is an ongoing series discussing mental health and psychological topics in popular movies and television.

Spoiler alert! This article contains spoilers for the first season of the Netflix series "The Sandman."

Netflix’s first season of "The Sandman," an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s comic book, introduces Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), the mythical Sandman and monarch of dreams and nightmares.

Morpheus is responsible for creating and controlling the dreams people experience while asleep, a crucial human function. However, the dreams and nightmares he creates can also go rogue in the waking world, as the personification of a nightmare, The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook), with teeth where his eyes should be, does in "The Sandman."

Although scholars still aren’t in complete agreement about why we sleep or dream, the show offers a fantastical explanation for why we dream and where dream content originates. Everyone needs sleep and dreams, whether or not they remember them, but the science of sleep and dreaming is still relatively new.

Morpheus may be correct when he observes that dreams and nightmares enable us to “face [our] fears and fantasies.” Here’s what we do know about why we dream.

Why Do We Dream?

Many theories exist about why we dream, including the possibility that there is no reason at all. However, clinical psychologist and sleep specialist Dr. Michael Breus, PhD, suggests two of the most scientifically validated functions of dreaming are to:

• Aid in emotional regulation
• Facilitate memory consolidation and learning by transferring new information learned during the day from short-term memory to long-term memory

We repeatedly cycle through four sleep stages throughout the night as we sleep. It takes about 90 to 100 minutes to complete all four stages. While we can dream at any point during these stages, we are most likely to dream during Stage 4 when we experience REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.

Health psychologist and stress and insomnia specialist Julia Kogan, PsyD, notes that we process our emotions during REM sleep, helping to reduce stress and improve our mood.

So, if dreams help us consolidate memories and regulate emotions, why are they often so strange? In many other pop culture works, dreams are portrayed as fantastical but coherent stories that unfold in our subconscious minds like movies.

Michael Breus, PhD

Dreaming is a sifting of information—what you need, what you don't—and then figuring out a way to keep what you need. — Michael Breus, PhD

For instance, in "The Sandman," Jed (Eddie Karanja) has dreams where he is an all-powerful superhero. These dreams provide the boy with relief from the abuse he experiences during his waking hours at the hands of his foster parents.

However, there is little evidence to suggest that our dreams are an escape from our waking lives. In fact, our waking lives likely have everything to do with the content of our dreams, despite their strangeness.

Breus explains that a lot of information comes in through our five senses throughout the day. “Dreaming is a sifting of information—what you need, what you don't—and then figuring out a way to keep what you need,” Breus says.

“Here's where the problem comes in: there's so much information that your brain actually can't store it all at once or the way in which it wants to. So sometimes things get a little messed up,” says Breus. Essentially, our dreams become somewhat like a Mad Lib that reflects the memories our subconscious minds are sorting and re-sorting during consolidation. This can lead to some pretty odd dreams.

Furthermore, Kogan observes that dream content typically includes themes related to things we experience during the day, even if they aren’t an exact replica of those experiences. So while we may use our memories, emotions, and experiences to create our dreams, it seems our subconscious imposes a theme and structure on them that tells us something about what’s going on when we’re awake.

Recurring Dreams

Recurring dreams, a particularly potent form of dreams, may help us understand our waking lives.

Many characters in "The Sandman" seem to have recurring dreams. For instance, Barbie (Lily Travers) has a recurring dream where she strolls with a beast in a tranquil fairytale land, discussing a fantastical adventure.

On the other hand, Barbie's husband Ken (Richard Fleeshman) (yes, they know each other) dreams that an enraged Barbie catches him cheating, and he must beg for her forgiveness as she sits in his sports car.

Breus suggests that while various factors can cause recurring dreams, Ken’s dream may be more relatable to many people’s experiences than Barbie’s. That’s because stress is the most common cause of recurring dreams. “Usually [recurring dreams] would indicate… that there are stressors or things going on that are probably not being processed during the day,” says Kogan. "Essentially if we fail to address stress when we’re awake, the mind will figure out a way to address it."

Julia Kogan, PsyD

Usually [recurring dreams] would indicate…that there are stressors or things going on that are probably not being processed during the day. Essentially if we fail to address stress when we’re awake, the mind will figure out a way to address it. — Julia Kogan, PsyD

Kogan and Breus both note that there are several common recurring stress dream scenarios, including people dreaming that their teeth are falling out, being underwater, being chased, or falling.

While it’s unclear why people might have similar dreams due to stress, one possibility is that common issues stress people out, causing our subconscious minds to arrive at similar dream content in response to these stressors.

Dream Interpretation and Dream Therapy

"The Sandman" never makes it clear why someone might have one of the dreams Morpheus manufactures instead of another; however, regardless of the type of dream we have at night, we tend to be intrigued by their content and, more importantly, what that content could mean.

Throughout history, people have assigned meaning to their own and others’ dreams. One of Sigmund Freud’s most famous books is even titled "The Interpretation of Dreams." However, there is no solid scientific evidence to support dream interpretation.

As Breus states, “Every single thing that happens in your dream you manufacture, you know absolutely everything that goes in said dream.” Consequently, “Your dreams mean something only to you.” Yet, while dreams may not reveal anything you don’t already know on some level, they can offer valuable insights into how you’re feeling, especially if you’re having recurring stress dreams or nightmares.

Kogan says that "if we pay attention to recurring stress dreams, especially how we feel during them instead of their content, it can help us recognize when we might be avoiding issues in our day-to-day life that are causing us to feel anxious, distressed, or unsettled." She recommends that people check in with themselves and examine the areas in their lives where this stress could be coming from.

Consulting a mental health professional, particularly one specializing in dream therapy, may be advisable if you’re not only stressed in your dreams but also having nightmares that wake you up terrified. Breus explains that dream therapy can be particularly beneficial for people suffering from nightmares caused by Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Dream Research and Implications for Mental Health

Kogan explains that today, most sleep labs conduct research on dreams through dream content analysis. “So, participants wake up and immediately talk about their dream[s]. Then the researcher analyzes that based on theories of dream interpretation,” says Kogan.

Breus claims that while there is a lot of research on dreams, there is still a lot we don’t know and further research is needed. “We're always learning more about sleep and dreaming, even though it's been a topic of study for a long time,” he says.

Ongoing Research on Dreams

• Dream interpretation
• The relationship between dreams and mental health
• How dreams can be used as a therapeutic tool

Breus believes that by obtaining a better understanding of how dreaming patterns are connected with mental health, society will better understand people’s waking experiences.

Kogan concludes that insights into our dreams may ultimately help us live healthier, more fulfilling lives. She says, “If we pay attention to our dreams and can start to unpack what they mean for us, we can start to identify emotional themes that we might be avoiding in our waking life. We can potentially alleviate some of this distress that we're feeling.”