Why do we have dreams? Many people wonder why we dream
             and what they mean. Research now shows that dreams occur
             during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Most of those
             detailed dreams that we remember, researchers say, happen
             during REM sleep. REM sleep is a stage in our natural sleep
             cycle in which dreams occur. During REM sleep there is rapid
             eye movement, loss in reflexes, increased pulse rate, and
             Dreams are stored in short memory banks in our brains
             and we might remember them for a while. However, if the
             dream was not significant to us then we ignore and forget
             it, but if it seemed important, we think and talk about it.
             So our memory bank erases the dream because we have not
             thought or talked about it. For instance, if we wake from a
             dream, but then our course of thought changes onto another
             topic the dream quickly vanishes. (Lavie 66 and 67,Hartmann
             15) Some people have a better ability of remembering
             dreams, while other people claim they do not dream at all
             because they cannot remember their dreams. We have dreams
             every night even if we completely forgotten the dream and it
             seems like we have not dreamt at all. (Lavie 80)
             Usually the dream we remember is the last one of the
             night. If awakened during early stages REM sleep the dream
             is short, lacks details and character, and has to do with
             the present. However, if awakened during a later stage of
             REM in the early hours or morning, the dream has great
             detail and character, is much longer, and usually has to do
             with you're very distant past. (Lavie 68 and 69)
             REM sleep decreases as you become older. An average
             newborn spends over 16 hours of the day asleep and about 8
             hours of this sleep is REM sleep. During the baby's first
             years of life the time spent in REM sleep decreases quickly
             and by teen years the REM sleep time period is only a bit
             over the young adult REM sleep pe...