Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages

of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not yet understood, though they have been a topic of speculation and interest throughout recorded history. The scientific study of dreams is known as oneirology. Scientists believe that everyone dreams, but people will tend to forget them when they naturally pass out of sleep through the traditional sleep cycle. If a person is awoken during REM sleep, they are much more likely to remember the dream.

Dreams can often at times make a creative thought to the person or give a sense of inspiration. Dream imagery is usually absurd and unrealistic and they are generally outside the control of the dreamer Dreamers are usually not self-aware in their dreams, thus the dreams will seem very real to them while asleep. Dreams can vary from frightening, exciting, magical, melancholic to adventurous.

Throughout history, people have sought meaning in dreams or divination through dreams. Dreams have also been described physiologically as a response to neural processes during sleep; psychologically as reflections of the subconscious; and spiritually as messages from a god, the deceased, predictions of the future, or from the Soul. Many cultures practice dream incubation with the intention of cultivating dreams that are prophetic or contain messages from the divine. Until the modern day, dreams have influenced kings, inspired artists, inventors, writers and even given proper understanding to scientists.

Dreams mainly occur in the R.E.M. stage (rapid-eye movement) of sleep, that is when brain activity is high and signaled by continuous movements of the eyes. At times, dreams may occur during the other stages of sleep. However, the dreams tend to be much less memorable and less vivid. Dreams can last for a few seconds, or as long as twenty minutes.

Dream interpretations date back to 5000 - 4000 B.C., where they were documented on clay tablets. The earliest recorded dreams were acquired from materials dating back approximately 5000 years, in Mesopotamia. In some of the earliest societies, people were unable to tell the difference between the dream world and the waking world. They just simply chose not to make the distinction because they believed that the dream world was an extension of reality, though a more powerful world. In the Greek and Roman periods, dreams were seen in religious circumstances. The people believed that they were direct messages from the gods or from the dead. The people of that time relied on their dreams for solutions on what to do, or what course of action to take. They also believed dreams forewarned and predicted the future.