d by rapid eye movement is called REM sleep. Most humans spend at least one third of their lives sleeping, during that one third, people are usually dreaming also, some scientists characterize dreams as mass hallucinations. The four main categories of dreams are prophetic, standard, physical, and nightmare. The amount of sleep needed varies depending on the individual and on the different times of the day or night. Sigmund Freud was the first scientist to study dreams thoroughly. Although dreams contain elements of the ordinarythe elements are often jumbled in fantastic ways. Freud was also the first theorist in the modern era to argue that dreams are an important part of our emotional lives. Some scientists are skeptical of dream interpretations, Nathienal Kleiman, one of the pioneers who discovered REM sleep, wrote in 1960, Dreaming may serve no function whatsoever (Kasschall 32). Everybody dreams, not only all humans, but mammals are shown to have REM sleep, which is associated with dreams. With just a few exceptions, all mammals go through a dreaming cycle of rapid eye movement. Since (with pets at least) this coincides with movements of the animals all having some kind of dreaming experience. Students who get good REM sleep retain the information better and for longer periods of time. This is because the brain needs time to process information form a pattern out of it, and place it in long term memory. When people are randomly awakened during REM sleep and asked what they had just been dreaming about the reports are usually very dull or even boring, although most people do not remember what they were dreaming about. Theories about REM sleep and why we dreams are as bountiful and different as dreams themselves. Some reasons why we have REM sleep are, REM sleep aids the consolidation of long-term memory, cleans the brain of unneeded information, and is necessary to provide the brain with occasional stimulation during sleep. Some sci...
