• 1Make Sleep a Priority (VIDEO)
  • 2Why Do We Need Sleep?
  • 3We Sleep in Cycles
  • 4How Much Do We Need?
  • 5Your Inner Clock
  • 6In Your Dreams
  • 7Sleep Helps Your Body Rebuild
  • 8Sleep Helps You Remember
  • 9Sleep Helps You Fight Illness
  • 10Sleep and Your Weight
  • 11Sleep Fights Weight Gain
  • 12Sleep Keeps You Alert
  • 13Sleep Helps Control Stress
  • 14Could You Have Sleep Apnea?
  • 15The Dangers of Sleep Apnea
  • 16Why Kids Need Their Sleep
  • 17Seniors Need Sleep
  • 18Best Bets at Bedtime: Food
  • 19Best Bets at Bedtime: Drink
  • 20Best Bets at Bedtime: Exercise
  • 21Best Bets at Bedtime: Other Activities
  • 22Sleep Gadgets and Gear
CHAPTER 6

In Your Dreams

Your dreams take place mostly in the REM phase of sleep. That much we know. What they mean and why we have them is still a matter of vibrant discussion among researchers. The notions that dreams help us store memories, sort out personal events or represent visions of the future each have their proponents.

PART 1

The REM Sleep Phase

People spend about 20 percent of their sleeping hours in REM sleep. During a full night's sleep, we may dream for more than 2 hours. We also experience their most vivid dreams during REM. During the non-REM stages of sleep, dreams can occur. But they are recalled as brief, fragmented scenes or ideas as opposed to the longer, detailed stories that we recall from some REM-stage dreams. READ MORE

When we enter REM sleep, breathing becomes rapid, irregular, and shallow. The phase is named after the way our eyes dart around in different directions. The pons, part of the brain, sends signals that shut off spinal cord neurons causing the limbs to become temporarily paralyzed. This is essential. Dreamers who have REM sleep behavior disorder do not experience this paralysis. They can move, stand, and physically act out what they are dreaming about. It is dangerous. Someone dreaming about running a race might actually try to do it, inside his or her bedroom.

Although theories abound, scientists do not know exactly why we dream. Only after 1953, when researchers first described REM in sleeping infants, did researchers begin to carefully study sleep and dreaming. LESS
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PART 2

What Does It Mean?

Just the Facts
Top 5 Most Common...
Not everyone can recall dreams upon waking, but everyone dreams. Some scientists believe dreams are evidence that our brain's cortex is assembling signals it receives during REM sleep, and trying to turn the signals into a story. READ MORE

Sigmund Freud, the renowned psychologist, believed we dreamed as a "safety valve" for unconscious desires. Freud wrote that dreams help us sort out our subconscious ideas. He created guidelines assigning meanings to certain symbols and images common in dreams. However many sleep scientists now say dreams result when the brain works to process and store information taken in during our conscious hours. Their investigations continue. LESS
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