We dream because our brain is busy while we sleep. Imagine your brain as a painter, and during the night it paints pictures made of memories, feelings, and random things you saw or heard that day. These paintings are what we call dreams. The most colorful parts of these paintings happen in REM sleep, when your eyes move quickly behind your closed eyelids. During this time, our brain feels almost awake but still has a soft blanket of sleep over it.
Examples
- While you're sleeping, your brain paints a picture using memories from today, like that time you spilled juice on your shirt.
- You dream about flying because your brain mixed up the feeling of running and the memory of flying in a video game.
- Your favorite character from a book shows up in your dream because you thought about them a lot during the day.
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See also
- Why Do Humans Yawn When They’re Tired?
- What Happens to Our Brain When We Fall Asleep?
- Why Do We Remember Dreams Differently in the Morning?
- Why Do We Dream in Color Sometimes and in Black and White Other Times?
- Why Do We Yawn When We're Tired?
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