Dream Analysis 101

It’s time for some Dream Analysis 101.

• Why can’t you remember your dreams? It turns out that the part of your brain that stores information in long-term memory shuts off while you’re asleep. So your dreams never make it out of short-term memory. That’s why most people only remember snippets of their latest dream right as they wake up, and quickly forget them.
• Next, is it true that you never see yourself in your dreams? No, but you don’t always look like yourself. For example, in your dream you could look like Angelina Jolie – even if you’re a man. Not because you want to be her, but because you’d like to emulate her qualities.
• Finally, why do we have nightmares? Well,bad dreams may actually be good for us. As it turns out, most dreams are kind of bad. According to the journal Psychological Science, bad dreams help us sort through and regulate our stress. We’re able to let go of fears when we dream up bizarre and scary images. Bad dreams and nightmares are not the same thing. Nightmares are basically bad dreams that wake you up. They occur when there’s some kind of problem in the emotional processing. About 85% of us have at least one nightmare a year. Sometimes it’s due to medications – but most of the time, nightmares are a result of stress.