Why Do We Dream When We Sleep?

Sleep is one of the most rejuvenating processes for the human body. Sometimes after a long day of work, our head hits the pillow and we don't remember even falling asleep.

But what about those nights when we have crazy vivid dreams that make no sense or one weird dream after another in a single night? It's odd enough to make one wonder why we even dream at all.

Experts believe that our dreams come from our imaginations or thoughts that we have associated with memories or even our deepest and most desired wishes. But when we experience these dreams our body is in a state called REM Sleep.

According to health.clevelandclinic.org and Michelle Drerup, PsyD, REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement Sleep which our bodies naturally go in between periodically during sleep. Our brainwaves during the period(s) of REM Sleep can be just as active as to when we are awake during this time.

Thus, this might be why some people may have issues determining the difference between a dream and reality when they first wake up from their sleep.

During these episodes of REM sleep our body may experience one or all the above as a result:

• Loss of muscle tone- so you don't end up hitting or kicking anything while asleep.
• Your body doesn't regulate its temperature aka you could either shiver or sweat.
• Your breath and heartbeat becomes irregular
• Your pupils constrict