• Question: why do we have dreams

    Asked by 1010 to Ellen, Hazel on 15 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by loooooollllll.
    • Photo: Hazel Garvie-Cook

      Hazel Garvie-Cook answered on 15 Jun 2016:

      Good question! I’m not really sure about this one and I think lots of people are still trying to find out the reason that we dream. Your brain does lots of things when you sleep, like processing your memories from the day, so getting a good night’s sleep is really important.

    • Photo: Ellen Gill

      Ellen Gill answered on 17 Jun 2016:

      I don’t think science has a definitive answer to that question, maybe you’ll be the one to solve it someday??
      What we know at the moment is that dreams happen during a certain stage of our sleep cycle, known as the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep stage. During this stage our body acts as if it’s asleep but our brain is almost as active as if it’s awake, and our eyes move about as if we’re looking at things. We also know that if we don’t get the right amount of REM sleep for several nights in a row it causes chemical imbalances in our brains and we have a hard time functioning. Sleep is a very complicated and interesting process, so all we can say for sure is that it’s good for you.

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