Every one of us almost every day has dreams during sleep. Interestingly, most of the time, we have the craziest and weirdest dreams. At times, they are very laughable and sometimes they are the scariest ones. But, what exactly are the dreams? Dreams are actually images, sounds, voices, thoughts, emotions and sensations that we experience during sleep. They are seen in the subconscious state of mind. Our subconscious state of mind conveys certain messages to us in the form of dreamy thoughts and images. Most of the time they are bizarre but at times they are familiar too. We can either see people or places known to us or can see people or places which we have never seen or never been. There is no concrete rhyme or reason with which we end up seeing dreams in our sleep.

We can everyday see more than one dreams but mostly remember those which we see during random eye movement (REM) stage of sleep. Dreams can vary from our deep rooted fears to our most private fantasies. Many a times, we may not like to share our dreams with anyone else as they are extremely personal. Sometimes they are the most moron and saddest ones while some can be very beautiful ones. They usually appear in black and white but sometimes can be seen in full colour too. The most common emotion seen in dreams is anxiety. So, negative emotions are more common in dreams than positive emotions. Many believe that men and women dream differently. Women dreams usually consist of both men and women equally but men normally see more men in their dreams and are more aggressive emotion in nature. Surprisingly, even children dream more about aggressive acts than adult. They see more ferocious animals like tiger, lion or wolves as these symbolize their fears and worries. Young girls dream more about people and clothing while boys see more about objects and tools. Toddlers and infants too dream. Blind people also see dreams as vision is not the only sense that constitutes dreams. May be other senses like sound, smell or tactility are prominent in their dreams.

Psychological studies define dreams in two different types. Prophetic dreams usually show some future events. This kind of dream can be actually important for us to give a glimpse of a real future incident. Such dream can be seen of people or person known to us but may be seen in most bizarre or very weird details. We might often get embarrassed even to narrate the dream to the person whom we saw. Another type is the recurring dream which is a series of events which we dream repeatedly in a number of occasions. When such dreams come frequently, we should be aware that there is a deep fear or anxiety within us that we need to examine ourselves or take somebody's help. Many other dream types are interpreted by scientists in different ways. One such type is Precognitive type which can alert us for some future event. Visitation dreams are those in which we see deceased loved ones who tend to visit us, in factual dreams; we see bits of information about something which is actually happening in our lives. The inspiration dream can be the solution to take us out from a crisis situation. Nightmares are also subcategory of dreams which contains more frightening and emotional content. So, in case of nightmare, the person often wakes up from sleep with fear and anxiety. Due to its frightening nature, one can remember a nightmare more vividly than dreams. It can reflect some deep rooted anxiety or problem that the person is trying to avoid.

Dream interpretation can be very difficult and complex. Many scientists have been already working on different theories of decoding dreams. Theories are proposed but the exact interpretation of dreams is still ambiguous. Basically, there are two schools of thoughts namely physiological and psychological which have been stated as to why people have dreams. Physiological studies believe that people dream to exercise the messages of the pathways of brain cells when our active brain is said to have slowed down during sleep. While psychological studies states that dreams are actually images, thoughts, emotions which appear during sleep which deal with our immediate concerns on day to day worries, work related or any problem which we are unable to solve during the day. But none of these two theories are completely proved or disproved. Likewise, seeing nightmares is also quite normal. But seeing frequently can be the reasons due to high level stress (work related stress or high risk jobs), emotional turmoil (like marital issues, accident or death of close ones), insecurities and health problems.

Dreams are indispensable part of our lives. They have been here ever since the origin of mankind. In fact, a lack of dream activity can mean a personality disorder or protein deficiency disorder. Our dreaming mind is an extension of our inner feelings which we are unable to perceive when being awake. Remembering our dreams would help us increase knowledge about ourselves, learning our inner conscience, self awareness and self healing. Never the less, dreaming and trying to remember our dreams can give our life more meaning, more joy, wisdom, inspiration and help in improving our psychological health.

About Author / Additional Info:
A Medical Professional to likes writing on health related issues.