Dreams are stories and images that our minds create while we sleep. They can be entertaining, fun, romantic, disturbing, frightening and sometimes bizarre.
Why do dreams occur? Can we control them? What do they mean? Medical News Today investigates the current research on dreams and looks at possible explanations and theories as to why our minds invent these nightly musings.
Anything can happen in your dreams. You can fly; you can drown; you can show up naked to school; you can have your teeth fall out, or you can have Leonardo DiCaprio staring intensely at an infinitely spinning top (Inception (2010)).
Dreams have been a topic of intrigue for researchers across all fields of science. Those on the biological side study the physiological processes that occur in the brain during sleep and observe neurological fluctuations while people dream. Scientists on the psychological side study the implications of the dream content on waking life. Despite these different focuses, scientists agre that there is still a great deal to be discovered about dreams.