Do you know what your dreams are telling you? If your answer was "NO" you"re not alone. Many people have no idea what their dreams are trying to tell them. In this research paper I will answer this question and many other questions about dreams, sleep and also types of dreams. I will also talk about some of the most common or popular dreams and their meanings. We will explore some dream theories and interpretations of dreams. I have also done my own at hand research which I will be sharing with you the reader in this paper. I wish to take you through the dreaming process step by step, but in order for dreams to begin we must first sleep. So that is where I"ll begin, with the sleep process.
All dreaming starts with sleep. When we sleep there are four stages that we go through (Carskadon 4). Stage one is the lightest phase of sleep. In stage one sleep there is often visual imagery involved. Images appear in the form of wandering or dream like thought which can be controlled unlike a full dream state. In this stage of sleep someone can be awakened by low volume sounds or slight touch. Stage one sleep happens through-out the night. It often reappears as a transitional state of sleep following arousal during the night. When stage one does reappear during sleep it only last thirty seconds to one minute (Carskadon 5-6). Young adults spend ten to fifteen minutes a night in stage one sleep (Carskadon 6). Sometimes during sleep you feel your body jerk or twitch, that is called "Hypnic Jerks". This usually happens right before stage two sleep occurs (Carskadon 6). .
Stage two sleep may have some of the slower eye movement of stage one but in general stage two sleep is free of any eye movement. Another feature of stage two is arousal. Since stage two is a deeper sleep than stage one it will take more arousal to awaken a person from this stage of sleep. The transition from stage two sleep to stage three occurs with a gradual decrease in brain thought (Carskadon 7-9).