What are dreams?\nWhy is important to have them?\nWhat happens if we stop dreaming? i.e. insomnia or delibratly staying awake (it happens).\nbut most importantly: Why do we always, ALWAYS, wake up just as we are about to get to the good bit?
209482
One scientific theory is that dreams are what happens when neurons in your brain make connections (or "fire up") to store long-term memory.  As there is no other time to make these connections during the day, this happens at night.\n\nDreams are important because they help us store our long-term memory.\n\nIf we stop dreaming, (atleast in the case of deliberately staying awake) you start to hallucinate after awhile (ever heard of the guy who stayed in Wal-mart for a science project without sleeping for 40 something hours?  He was kicked out because he was hallucinating).  In the case of insomnia, you'll probably get more stressed out and won't remember things as much.\n\nAs to waking up right as we get to the good part, it's because we never get to the good part in our everyday activities that are being stored as long-term memories, which means the dreams can never get to the good part, right?
637844
This is one of the most common—and disturbing—nightmares that people have. The funny thing is, it’s not really a nightmare! \n\nWhat you are feeling when you are asleep and trying to wake up is a phenomenon known as “REM pressure.” Your body is trying to keep you asleep so it can continue dreaming. Why? Because you haven’t received your daily quota of REM! (Does your late night clubbing have anything to do with this? You bet!) \n\nWhen scientists first discovered REM in 1953, they began performing all sorts of tests to see how the body—and the mind—would react. For example, it was popular to believe that dreams released the psychological “pressures” of our subconscious minds. By extension, many people were quite sure that, if we didn’t dream, we all would simply go insane. \n\nOnly one way to test a theory, right? :-) \n\nBeing inquisitive minds, these scientists soon began recruiting subjects to experiment with REM deprivation. (To be fair, many of the scientists participated in the experiments themselves.) But the question remained: Would a REM-deprived person soon begin to hallucinate—and maybe hear voices during the day—as unconscious pressures began “seeping” into waking experience? \n\nThe answer, they soon learned, is no. REM-deprived patients are tired and grumpy, but they are not psychotic. What the scientists did learn, however, is that the body has an exceptionally strong drive to achieve REM sleep. Toward the end of the experiment, over 35 awakenings (per night) were required to prevent people from dreaming! (The body wants—and needs—its REM!!) It is significant to note that the experiment “ended” when the scientists no longer were able to keep their subjects awake. The subjects fell into a deep sleep, immediately began dreaming, and could not be awakened. \n\nWhat’s the moral of the story? You’re a little bit (maybe a lot!) REM-deprived. If you keep track of when these bouts of sleep paralysis occur, you will note that they almost always are associated with periods of sleep deprivation. Instead of your body waking up when your brain does, it’s asking you (well…insisting, really) that you let it sleep in a bit. The reason why you feel paralyzed is because you are! The body is unable to move during REM—so we don’t act out our dreams. \n\nWhat’s the good news? You’re not going insane! What’s the bad news? You may have to take a night off of your party schedule…to let your body catch up with your brain!
130387
dreams do really have its meaning. our dreams are based on our sub-conscious mind when we are sleeping.. usually, dreams are representations of what is really happening around us or in our environment when we are asleep. for example, in your dream it is very dark, so you try to light a candle and the flame got so big.. it could be that in reality, there is a fire near you. \ni've also read magzines and books that translate our dreams. wether you believe on those or not, dreams still represents reality or however, what we want in reality.
273023
you're always dreaming when you sleep, when you wake up and cant remember is because you've entered into a really deep rem sleep most likely from being so tired from being run down all day....you have to lighten your rem sleep in order to recall you dreams ad good way to do this (even though it's annoying) is to set your alarm to various odd hours at night. it'll wake you from your slumber and going back to bed after that might keep you from entering rem too deeply. also waking up speratically sometimes also makes you feel more rested when you get out of bed in the mourning
342051
dreams do not always mean what they are about. they are more of subconcious memorys. \nwhat do you do?  what can you do?
266505
I believe that dreams serve multiple purposes. The greatest being a doorway to other realms. I don't mean that in a hoaky / spacy way. I mean that as ,quite lterally, being in touch with spirits that may visit you while you're sleeping because of your receptiveness during sleep. I mean that as your own ability to tap into the deeper parts of yourself that already have answers stored there for your withdrawal, most people simply don't believe there is a place within themselves that can provide truth beyond what they understand in reality. If you wrap your head around that notion... these answers become available to you. Whether that be through futuristic prophecies, understanding your souls past, or understanding who you are today and why. I think life is all about understanding yourself and re-membering with your past. Dreams are a large part of how this happens. There is a difference between a spiritual dream and your mind taking out the days trash..though I suspect you can probably dechipher between the two. To answer your question simply... dreams serve all of the purposes you mentioned. Your job is to sort out what types of dreams you're having and interpret them appropriately. A dream log would do you wonders, write in it as soon as you wake up. There will be times when you think you didn't have a dream but if you lay in bed for a few minutes usually something will come to you. It takes time to train your mind  to remember these first words as soon as you wake - "What was I dreaming?" \nHope this answers your question!
133203
Step one: Remember your dreams (after they happen).  This is knowing your dreams after they happen.  Keep a notepad and write down what you remember as soon as you wake up.\n\nStep two: Recognize when you are dreaming while you are dreaming.  This is lots easier if you have recorded previous dreams.  Learn a "key" like looking for a light switch.\n\nStep three: When you know you are dreaming, do not continue to "observe."  Take control.  Choose to do something and then do it.  Start with something small like "turning on the light switch."\n\nStep four: This is the area of lucid dreaming.  Allowing your conscious mind to control your dream.  Experiment.  Try to fly or do something that normally cannot be done in your waking state.\n\nStep five: After experimenting, learn to do nothing.  Once more become an observer.  Pay attention to what is happening.  Remember all details.\n\nThe biggest problem with lucid dreaming is often people get so hung on the experience that they then "forget" their dreams again.  They wake in their dreams, do all kinds of stuff and then promptly forget before then re-enter the waking state.
42202
There is nothing wrong with dreaming,its a healthy thing as long as you spend time in reality as well and have a full life outside of your dreams.Learning how to balance,logic with creativity and dreams is another tool useful to learn.Keep a journal and log all of your dreams,perhaps you will better understand ur inner desires,and be able to face life more joyfully.
464042
If insects are so obsessed with bright lights, why don’t they fly off to the sun?\n\nI think they probably have some depth perception and so realize that it's too far off.  \n\n\nWhat happens if you die in your dream?\n\nNothing; you go on living.  I don't think it's a bad omen or anything like that.\n\nWhy do people more commonly skip breakfast than any other meal, considering that this is the time when the stomach is emptiest?\n\nPeople are so often in a rush in the morning that they don't take the time.  A shower so you don't smell at work seems to be more important than fixing a bowl of cereal.\n\nIf same-sex couples could marry, what would happen to their surnames?\n\nThey would probably just both keep their own name or do a hyphenated name...just like a lot of straight couples do.\n\nHow are children supposed to take medicine if it’s meant to be kept out of their reach? \n\nUh...their parents give it to them.
280530
A dream is a microscope through which we look at the hidden occurrences in our soul. Dreams say what they mean, but they don't say it in daytime language. It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top.  Dreams are answers to questions we haven't yet figured out how to ask. Dreams are only thoughts you didn't have time to think about during the day.
37720
dreams are a way for your brain to let go of things it say while you were awake.\ndreaming is sometimes your subconscious letting you know what you really would like to do..\nlike people flying..maybe you either wish you could fly an airplane or maybe you wish you could transform yourself into a bird..\ndreams are very important to a healthy mind even if some of the dreams are not what you would consider healthy..
258613
I looked up the entomology of nightmares and dreams.  \nDreams are sleep or vision or aspirations, all good things.  Nightmares were seen as the indications of something bad, a goblin sitting on the chest of sleeping people causing distress.  So good dreams are normal and so a just called dreams; bad dreams have to be explained and so the idea of nightmares are introduced to explain a problem.
304777
Dear Laura,\n\nI agree that dreams bring important messages about what is going on deep in our hearts and souls.\n\nIt is also true that sometimes it may take weeks or months before the meaning of a dream becomes evident to us.\n\nSome dreams we will never know the meaning of, and we have to accept that.\n\nOur inner selves are far more complex and powerful than our ability to understand it.  \n\nThings are worked out inside us in ways that are for our good, but it does not mean that we will ever come to fully understand it.\n\nPart of life is about learning to trust the process of life and to become ok with "not knowing".\n\nI hope this helps you.
645645
7yrs?! i thought you would have been familiar with it by now?..lol\n\ni cant really answer yout question as i was once told that dreams are the one factor of the human brain's activity that hasn't produced any concrete scientific explanation.\nbut for most, dreams seems to strike a slight resemblance to our own life's proceedings and a person can usually make sense of their dreams by applying it to their real life's situation..\nfor example, a person dreaming about funerals or graveyards may have experienced a loss of loved one and this plays on their mind...\n\nin your case, the dream seems unclear, even after you've had it for several years.\nfrom my point of view, it seems like your dream is your subconcious state of mind and your true feelings in regards to your life..\nmaybe you feel stiffled?...trapped in job? or a situation that has been unresolved for a while?\ni really wish there were scientific explanation for why we dream...all we ever seem to conclude is supernatural mumbo jumbo from dream interpretation books..\nat the end of the day, i think you may have chosen to forget about an issue? bottled it up maybe?\nwhat you need to do is try and log when you have the dream and what is different in it?\nthere may be that you may actually be in a different house, but the fact that it has no doors and rooms means that u think it is the same one again..\nnext time you have it, write it down, describe it vividly and then if you have it again...you can see how similar it is...\nyou may find that there's something slightly different which may reflect a position in your life?\n\nhope it sorts out and you attain closure on these dreams\nmaybe one day we'l know what our dreams REALLY mean\nall the best
662491
I remember a great many of my dreams. Actually, I keep a dream journal b/c I agree w/ U.... dreams speak from your subconscious mind. I don't believe that dreams are answers necessarily. Sometimes dreams may simply be a reenactment of the day's events. Sometimes they're predictions. Personally, dreams are typically my subconscious mind making assessments of my life.
451639
Lucid dreaming is a state of dream in which you are well aware that you are dreaming, where you are sleeping etc\n\nIn lucid dreaming the analysing faculty of brain does not sleep as in normal dream.  ...thus we are able to know dreams and even change our dreams\n\nLucid dreaming is very common with those who are regular in meditation....but some are born with this capability\n\nLucid dreaming may turn into normal dream or Out of Body Exp, depending upon the progress one makes in spirituality
69927
I have spent a lot of time in the past few years analyzing my dreams.  I find the more I pay attention to them, the more (and in depth) I dream -- or more and in-depth I remember them.  [The argument remains, "do we always dream & not always remember?" or "Do we not always dream?".  I, personally, have not decided that issue.]\n\nI do find that my dreams relate to the present.  For example, in last night's dream, I dreamed a restaurant caught fire (I mentioned a dessert from that restaurant in a recent Yahoo!Answer); I was about to watch a sports event with girls from my high school (I have been thinking about my high school in the past few days, and about some of my male friends loving to watch football on TV); we were about to pull a fire alarm before I woke up (it was exactly like the fire alarm at my high school)...\n\nI remembered about seven specific connections between what's been on my mind lately and what I dreamed about in that one dream -- before I got caught up in the day's activities.  \n\nI am seriously believing that night dreams are very much like "day dreams" -- when your mind wanders during awake hours (when you think of a subject and your mind wanders with it... you make a story out of it sometimes).  If you've "day dreamed", you know what I mean.  \n\nPerhaps the more creative or day-dreamer you are, the more you night dream.  And, the more you pay attention to them, the more you remember them. \n\nMy conclusion is, more and more (or I should say "continually/repeatedly"), settling on that  relationship.  I have been studying them for years because I have had time to devote to it and dreams are such a hot issue at times; I have been intent on figuring them out, if I could.\n\nI do not believe that dreams are symbolic of some "inner self" that you are not unaware or conscious of.\n\nI, too, find I dream more (at night), or remember them, when I am (in general) less stressed.  \n\n\nTHAT'S the report!!   :D