Why Do We Dream?

Among the questions about the universe that people can't answer, why do people dream is one of them? You chopped the head off a six-legged rabbit while wearing a neon pink bonnet and screaming "Gesundheit" at the top of your lungs during your most recent sleep adventures. You're not sure if that dream means anything unless you took too many hallucinogens in college or simply ate some bad carrots yesterday.

Scientists and sleep specialists are aware of when people typically dream. Typically, dreams occur during the rapid-eye movement (REM) phase of the sleep cycle. When a person (or even your cat or dog) is in REM sleep, their eyes zip back and forth and their bodies may twitch and jerk. In this phase, the brain's electrical patterns are very active, just like when you're awake.

However, researchers have no idea why you dream. It could be a way of reflecting on or releasing the stress of everyday life, or it could be an unconscious way of assisting you in unraveling difficult experiences. It could be your mind's way of protecting itself from threats and dangers.

It could be a biochemical method for your brain to sort, file, or store short- or long-term data. Perhaps dreams are a way for you to reconcile your past and present experiences in order to prepare and fortify yourself for the future. Dreams, whatever their purpose, are an essential part of the human experience. They entertain and haunt them, and serve as reminders that people's inner worlds are just as deep and strange as the exterior world all around them.