Dreams are stories and images that our minds create while we sleep. They can be entertaining, fun, romantic, disturbing, and sometimes bizarre. Dreams may have some benefits, such as helping the brain process information gathered during the day.

They are an enduring source of mystery for scientists and psychological doctors. Why do dreams occur? What causes them? Can we control them? What do they mean?

This article will explore the current theories, causes, and applications of dreaming.

Fast facts on dreams

• We may not remember dreaming, but everyone is thought to dream between 3 and 6 times per night
• It is thought that each dream lasts between 5 to 20 minutes.
• Around 95 percent of dreams are forgotten by the time a person gets out of bed.
• Dreaming can help you learn and develop long-term memories.
• Blind people dream more with other sensory components compared with sighted people.

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Causes

Dreams: Do they represent our unconsious desires?

There are several theories about why we dream. Are dreams merely part of the sleep cycle, or do they serve some other purpose?

Possible explanations include:

• representing unconscious desires and wishes
• interpreting random signals from the brain and body during sleep
• consolidating and processing information gathered during the day
• working as a form of psychotherapy

From evidence and new research methodologies, researchers have speculated that dreaming serves the following functions:

• offline memory reprocessing, in which the brain consolidates learning and memory tasks and supports and recordsTrusted Source waking consciousness
• preparing for possible future threatsTrusted Source
• cognitive simulation of real life experiences, as dreaming is a subsystem of the waking default network, the part of the mind active during daydreaming
• helping develop cognitiveTrusted Source capabilities
• reflecting unconscious mental functionTrusted Source in a psychoanalytic way
• a unique state of consciousness that incorporates experienceTrusted Source of the present, processing of the past, and preparation for the future
• a psychological space where overwhelming, contradictory, or highly complex notions can be brought togetherTrusted Source by the dreaming ego, notions that would be unsettling while awake, serving the need for psychological balance and equilibrium

Much that remains unknown about dreams. They are by nature difficult to study in a laboratory, but technology and new research techniques may help improve our understanding of dreams.

Dreams are stories and images that our minds create while we sleep. They can be entertaining, fun, romantic, disturbing, and sometimes bizarre. Dreams may have some benefits, such as helping the brain process information gathered during the day.

They are an enduring source of mystery for scientists and psychological doctors. Why do dreams occur? What causes them? Can we control them? What do they mean?

This article will explore the current theories, causes, and applications of dreaming.

Fast facts on dreams

• We may not remember dreaming, but everyone is thought to dream between 3 and 6 times per night
• It is thought that each dream lasts between 5 to 20 minutes.
• Around 95 percent of dreams are forgotten by the time a person gets out of bed.
• Dreaming can help you learn and develop long-term memories.
• Blind people dream more with other sensory components compared with sighted people.

Was this helpful?

Causes

Dreams: Do they represent our unconsious desires?

There are several theories about why we dream. Are dreams merely part of the sleep cycle, or do they serve some other purpose?

Possible explanations include:

• representing unconscious desires and wishes
• interpreting random signals from the brain and body during sleep
• consolidating and processing information gathered during the day
• working as a form of psychotherapy

From evidence and new research methodologies, researchers have speculated that dreaming serves the following functions:

• offline memory reprocessing, in which the brain consolidates learning and memory tasks and supports and recordsTrusted Source waking consciousness
• preparing for possible future threatsTrusted Source
• cognitive simulation of real life experiences, as dreaming is a subsystem of the waking default network, the part of the mind active during daydreaming
• helping develop cognitiveTrusted Source capabilities
• reflecting unconscious mental functionTrusted Source in a psychoanalytic way
• a unique state of consciousness that incorporates experienceTrusted Source of the present, processing of the past, and preparation for the future
• a psychological space where overwhelming, contradictory, or highly complex notions can be brought togetherTrusted Source by the dreaming ego, notions that would be unsettling while awake, serving the need for psychological balance and equilibrium

Much that remains unknown about dreams. They are by nature difficult to study in a laboratory, but technology and new research techniques may help improve our understanding of dreams.