Why We Dream

Dreams are the stories the brain tells during sleep—they’re a collection of
clips, images, feelings, and memories that involuntarily occur during the REM
(rapid eye movement) stage of slumber. Humans typically have multiple dreams
per night that grow longer as sleep draws to a close. It’s hypothesized that
everyone dreams, but a small subsection of the population reports that they
never remember experiencing dreams.

Dreams typically involve elements from waking lives—like known people or

familiar locations—but they often take on a fantastical feel. While dreams are
frequently interesting, and can allow people to act out certain scenarios that
would never be possible in real life, they aren’t always positive—negative
dreams, referred to as "nightmares," can create feelings of terror, anxiety, or
utter despair, and can lead to psychological distress or sleep problems
like insomnia.

The big question, however, is why humans dream. Though it’s been
discussed and studied for millennia, it remains one of behavioral
science's greatest unanswered questions. Researchers have offered many
theories—including memory consolidation or emotional regulation—but a
unified one remains, well, a pipe dream. Nevertheless, people continue mining
their nighttime reveries for clues to their inner lives, for creative insight, and
even for premonitions.

 7 Reasons You Should be Interpreting Your Dreams

 Do Dreams Really Mean Anything?
 How Your Dreams Really Work

What Dreams Mean

What do dreams mean? Humans have puzzled over this question for centuries.
The ancient Egyptians believed that dreams were communications from the
gods, or prophecies of what was to come. Dream interpretation as a field of
psychological study took off in 1899, when Sigmund Freud published The
Interpretation of Dreams, laying the foundation for many of his theories of
the unconscious mind. Today, many experts disagree with Freud’s conclusions—
and some don’t think that dreams signify anything at all—but most people still
wake up after a particularly vivid dream and wonder what it could have been
trying to tell them.

Why We Dream
Dreams are the stories the brain tells during sleep—they’re a collection of
clips, images, feelings, and memories that involuntarily occur during the REM
(rapid eye movement) stage of slumber. Humans typically have multiple dreams
per night that grow longer as sleep draws to a close. It’s hypothesized that
everyone dreams, but a small subsection of the population reports that they
never remember experiencing dreams.

Dreams typically involve elements from waking lives—like known people or

familiar locations—but they often take on a fantastical feel. While dreams are
frequently interesting, and can allow people to act out certain scenarios that
would never be possible in real life, they aren’t always positive—negative
dreams, referred to as "nightmares," can create feelings of terror, anxiety, or
utter despair, and can lead to psychological distress or sleep problems
like insomnia.

The big question, however, is why humans dream. Though it’s been
discussed and studied for millennia, it remains one of behavioral
science's greatest unanswered questions. Researchers have offered many
theories—including memory consolidation or emotional regulation—but a
unified one remains, well, a pipe dream. Nevertheless, people continue mining
their nighttime reveries for clues to their inner lives, for creative insight, and
even for premonitions.

 7 Reasons You Should be Interpreting Your Dreams

 Do Dreams Really Mean Anything?
 How Your Dreams Really Work

What Dreams Mean

What do dreams mean? Humans have puzzled over this question for centuries.
The ancient Egyptians believed that dreams were communications from the
gods, or prophecies of what was to come. Dream interpretation as a field of
psychological study took off in 1899, when Sigmund Freud published The
Interpretation of Dreams, laying the foundation for many of his theories of
the unconscious mind. Today, many experts disagree with Freud’s conclusions—
and some don’t think that dreams signify anything at all—but most people still
wake up after a particularly vivid dream and wonder what it could have been
trying to tell them.

Why We Dream
Dreams are the stories the brain tells during sleep—they’re a collection of
clips, images, feelings, and memories that involuntarily occur during the REM
(rapid eye movement) stage of slumber. Humans typically have multiple dreams
per night that grow longer as sleep draws to a close. It’s hypothesized that
everyone dreams, but a small subsection of the population reports that they
never remember experiencing dreams.

Dreams typically involve elements from waking lives—like known people or

familiar locations—but they often take on a fantastical feel. While dreams are
frequently interesting, and can allow people to act out certain scenarios that
would never be possible in real life, they aren’t always positive—negative
dreams, referred to as "nightmares," can create feelings of terror, anxiety, or
utter despair, and can lead to psychological distress or sleep problems
like insomnia.

The big question, however, is why humans dream. Though it’s been
discussed and studied for millennia, it remains one of behavioral
science's greatest unanswered questions. Researchers have offered many
theories—including memory consolidation or emotional regulation—but a
unified one remains, well, a pipe dream. Nevertheless, people continue mining
their nighttime reveries for clues to their inner lives, for creative insight, and
even for premonitions.
  7 Reasons You Should be Interpreting Your Dreams
 Do Dreams Really Mean Anything?
 How Your Dreams Really Work

What Dreams Mean

What do dreams mean? Humans have puzzled over this question for centuries.
The ancient Egyptians believed that dreams were communications from the
gods, or prophecies of what was to come. Dream interpretation as a field of
psychological study took off in 1899, when Sigmund Freud published The
Interpretation of Dreams, laying the foundation for many of his theories of
the unconscious mind. Today, many experts disagree with Freud’s conclusions—
and some don’t think that dreams signify anything at all—but most people still
wake up after a particularly vivid dream and wonder what it could have been
trying to tell them.