15 Fascinating Facts About Dreams

15 Fascinating Facts About Dreams

We dream for hours every single night. That's a huge part of our lives spent in the dream world, even if we only remember a fraction of it. But still, even after thousands of years of experience, we still don't know all there is to know about this mysterious mechanism. Here are some facts we do know about dreaming:

1. 90% of your dreams are completely forgotten by the time you wake up.

Within the first five minutes of waking up, half of your dream is forgotten. Within ten minutes - 90% is forgotten.

2. Even blind people have dreams

Those who could see and then went blind will be able to dream in images just like before (unless the damage is extensive and neurological) while people who are blind from birth can dream in their other sense - sound, touch, taste and smell.

3. Everyone dreams

It doesn't matter if you don't remember dreaming. Believe me, you dream just like everyone else, you just forget those dreams. Humans need REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, and if that is denied, research shows that the body will 'over-compensate' next time you sleep, and fill your night with dream sleep.

4. You can't see new faces in dreams

Our mind doesn't invent new faces, just alters ones we know. So you will only see real faces of real people you've seen, but may not remember seeing them, which to you will look like a brand new face. After all, these days with tv, internet and newspapers and ads - we see thousands of faces every day, most of them we don't remember.

5. Not everyone has color dreams

Over 10% of all people dream only in black and white. This number was much higher when this was first checked out in the 1950s, and many scientists think this change was because television becoming in color. A lot of what we dream comes from what we watch, after all.

6. Dreams have symbolism

Dreaming about something specific doesn't always mean that is what you are dreaming about. Many people dream symbolically, meaning that objects in the dream actually symbolize other things that you may be thinking about without knowing.

7. The most common emotions are negative

Unfortunately, most of the emotions we feel (or remember) from dreams are negative, with the most common emotion in dreams being anxiety.

8. On average, we have 4-7 dreams a night

The average number of dreams is between 4-7, and the average time is 1-2 hours a night. Considering how fast dreams go (sometimes it seems like hours have passed in a few minutes) that's a lot of dreaming.

9. We're not the only ones who dream

Animals dream too, and not just the ones closest to us. Most animals show the same brain waves during dream sleep that humans show. A familiar example is the dog, which usually dreams about chasing and barking, judging from their shaking paws and the little yipping noises they make when they dream.

10. Body paralysis

To make sure that you don't 'act out' your dreams, the body shuts down your ability to move during REM dream sleep. This happens for about 90-120 minutes of your night. However, sometimes when we wake in the middle of a dream, the body hasn't shut down that mechanism, and we remain unable to move for a little time (usually in seconds). This can be very scary if you don't know why this is happening. But don't be alarmed, it's natural and it passes very quickly.

11. Incoporation in dreams

Our brains take the external stimuli that our senses receive during our sleep and makes them a part of our dream. This means that sometimes our sleeping body may hear a sound and suddenly it will be part of our dream. For example, we may be hearing a neighbor playing music and dream we're at a concert.

12. There's a differnce in the way men and women dream

Men tend to have more men than women in their dreams. Around 70% of the people men dream about are men. Women, on the other hand, dream in almost equal amounts of both genders. In addition, men usually dream about more aggressive emotions and scenes than women do.

13. Dreaming about the future

Several surveys found that a large part of the population has the feeling that their dreams are sometimes precognitive, meaning they dream of the future. 18-38% of people indicated they have experienced at least one precognitive dream, while 70% have experienced feelings of Deja Vu - meaning they suddenly felt like they had dreamed this situation before. The % of the general population that believes that precognitive dreams are real is 63-98%.

14. You cannot dream and snore at the same time

This is not strictly true, although it is a wide held belief. Snoring that comes from apnea (when you stop breathing in your sleep) CAN happen during REM sleep. However, all the other kinds of snoring are very rare during dream sleep.

15. You can reach a sexual climax during a dream

Checking brain stimulation shows that people can achieve a sexual climax as strong as a real one during dreams, with all the senses registering as much pleasure as the real thing.

Submitted by user: Andrew W.