You didn't Know Top 10 Interesting Facts About Dreams

Dreams come from your subconscious mind as a means of processing and sorting information. But the truth is no one really knows what causes dreams and why some people seem to have vivid colorful dreams and others have short uneventful ones. Dream is a report of a memory of a cognitive experience that happens under the kinds of conditions that are most frequently produced in a state called "sleep." But if you want it to be more simple, you can think of dreams as the little dramas our minds make up when the "self" system is not keeping us alert to the world around us.
10. Do Animals Dream?

Any pet owner knows that animals seem to dream, and studies show that animals' brains follow the same series of sleeping states as ours do. Studies conducted in 2000 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), led Cambridge researchers to believe that not only do animals dream, but their dreams can be highly complex involving long sequences of replayed waking events.

9. Dreams Can Prevent Psychosis

Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, it's a psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality". It was foun recently, that people who were awakened at the beginning of each dream, but still allowed their 8 hours of sleep, they all experienced difficulty in concentration, irritability, hallucinations, and signs of psychosis after only 3 days and when finally they were allowed the required REM sleep, their brains made up for lost time by greatly increasing the percentage of sleep spent in the REM stage.

8. Blind People Also Dream

Blind people can dream as well. What they see in their dreams depends on how much they could ever see. If someone has been totally blind since birth, they only have auditory dreams. If they have become blind after their birth, then they'll continue to dream about images, shapes and colors before they were blind. And if they're blind at birth, they will dream about the other senses.

7. Snoring Prevents Dreaming.

Occasional snoring is usually not very serious, but it does prevent dreams. However, the habitual snorer not only disrupts the sleep patterns of those close to him, he also disturbs his own. Habitual snorers snore whenever they sleep and are often tired after a night of what seems like quality rest. Medical assistance is usually needed for habitual snorers to get a good night's sleep.

6. Gender Differences in Dreams

Men and women dream differently, but age, vocation, family structure and other factors seem as important as anatomy in many cases. Men tend to have more men in their dreams and be in conflict or competition with them. Outdoor and unfamiliar settings are prevalent. Weapons, tools, cars and roads are common. Women dreams have more people they know in them and more concern with personal appearance. The interactions are more friendly have more references to food and have more female characters in them. Girls are more likely to report longer dreams and recount them with more feeling, using colors to express feelings.

5. Not Everyone Dreams in Color

Most dreams are in color, although people may not be aware of it, either because they have difficulty remembering their dreams or because color is such a natural part of visual experience. People who are very aware of color while awake probably notice color more often in their dreams. Atleast 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number dream in full color.

4. You Forget 90% of your Dreams

It seems likely that all of us forget 95-99% of our dreams for the very ordinary reason that we sleep right through them and aren't paying attention to remembering anything. One dream researcher suggests that it's similar to when you are doing something that doesn't take much concentration, such as driving on an open road, so you are not paying attention to what you are doing. Atleast 5 minutes after waking, half of your dream is forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone. We do forget part of our dreams and then suddenly remember them all or just part of it.

3. We Only Dream of What We Know

Dreams often express our current concerns and preoccupations; it is called "the continuity hypothesis." If you are nervous about studying for finals, you may have nervous dreams on the same topic. Dreams are not always about negative preoccupations, though. If you have a crush on someone, it is likely that you will dream about them; if you love basketball, you're more likely to dream about it than someone who doesn't follow the sport.

2. Dreams have Hidden Meanings

That question doesn't have a definitive answer. Some people would say yes, and we'd have no way of proving them right or wrong. Some dreams may well contain "hidden" meanings in the form of metaphors or symbols, but an awful lot of dreams are just mundane "doodles" taken from the events of our lives. If you are having recurring dreams or nightmares, it's best to contact a therapist experienced in this area. Don't go down the mystical route of trying to analyze yourself by means of a book.

1. Everybody Dreams

Have people ever told you, "I never dream"? Well they're wrong. The fact is everybody dreams every night. One just may not be able to remember his/her dreams. Don't worry too much if this is the case. Not remembering dreams doesn't mean you're abnormal or unnatural in any way. While most people do remember their dreams, the memory is fleeting and occurs mainly when the sleeper first awakens. Enough said.