Dream themselves exist first in working memory, or the memory we use to hold and manipulate thought fragments.

Research shows that dreaming is not just a byproduct of sleep, but serves its own important functions in our well-being.

“It’s not a huge, dramatic effect but it certainly seems like paying attention to your dreams can have positive effects,” says Harvard University psychologist Deirdre Barrett, author of The Committee of Sleep.

We Learn When We Dream: Our Vivid Dreams Shape Our Memories

dream sleep actually provides at least two benefits for the brain.

The first is actually creativity, because it's during REM sleep and dreaming specifically when the brain starts to collide all of the information that you've recently learned together with all of this back catalog of autobiographical information that you've got stored up in the brain.

The second benefit of dream sleep is essentially a form of overnight therapy. It's during dream sleep where we start to actually take the sting out of difficult, even traumatic, emotional experiences that we've been having.

There are thousands of anecdotes of creative greats having eureka moments when they dream.

dream recall is thought to require some amount of wakefulness during the night for the vision to be encoded in longer-term memory.

The sleeping brain cannot store new information into long-term memory

REM (rapid eye movement) is the stage of sleep in which dreaming usually occurs.

Dreams are potentially massive indicators of your overall sleep health, and, more specifically, your REM sleep health.

The process of hammering and forging our daily experiences into long-term memory through REM sleep is how we learn to master any sport, art, musical instrument, surgery, etc. through daily practice.

The more regularly you exercise, the better you will sleep, the more you will dream during REM sleep, and the more of a creative powerhouse you will become.

When you’re awake, your thoughts have a certain logic to them. When you sleep, your brain is still active, but your thoughts or dreams often make little or no sense. This may be because the emotional centers of the brain trigger dreams, rather than the logical regions.

The occasional nightmare is considered a dream that’s simply more frightening or upsetting. Nightmares tend to be caused by stress, anxiety, or sometimes as a reaction to certain medications.

if you have nightmares frequently, you could have a sleeping disorder.

Regularly occurring scary dreams can be labeled a sleeping disorder if the nightmares: -cause you to be anxious about going to sleep -lead to frequent disruptions of your sleep -bring about other sleeping or psychological problem

 Sleep hygiene involves ensuring both your habits and sleep environment are ideal for quality rest.

Dark and quiet room. Temperatures in the 60s to low 70s are considered best. Remove or turn off light sources like TVs, VCRs, and alarm clocks, and consider light blocking shades if you live in an urban area or sleep past sunrise. White noise machines or earplugs can be helpful for drowning out bothersome noise.

Some psychologists believe talking about dreams and getting social support to put them in perspective is key to reducing anxiety following nightmares.

Other approaches can focus on routines or working on areas of your life that could be contributing to stress or fear.

The American Psychological Association’s 2013 Stress in America poll found that stress was associated with poorer sleep, and that poorer sleep was also associated with higher stress

When you’ve had a tough day, take a few minutes to de-stress before bed. Try a warm bath, relaxing music, yoga or other techniques to see what helps you most.

Knowing something about a dream or nightmare can significantly help a person identify any “real-life” stressors that they can easily modify to prevent restless night.

The dream-deprived nod off quickly, sleep soundly and emerge from sleep fully awake.

The processes that allow us to create long-term memories largely lie dormant while we sleep, which is why most dreams are forgotten shortly after waking.

The emotional content and logical consistency of a dream also affect how much of our dreams we remember.

before going to bed, drink three full glasses of water — not beer or wine, because they suppress R.E.M. sleep — which will force you to get up and go to the bathroom. “Middle-of-the-night awakenings are frequently accompanied by dream recall,” Stickgold says.

repeating the phrase “I’m going to remember my dreams” three times before you drift off to sleep. And keep a notebook and pen by your bed. Both preparations establish recall as a priority.

On waking up, don’t open your eyes, don’t move, don’t say a thing — any sensory perception or movement tends to wipe out memories of a dream.

As the brain awakens, it starts to turn on processes needed for long-term storage.

Health is the ability to be fully and consciously aware of all that contributes to your life experience and to effectively exist in that environment. It then means you see yourself as you really are.

When a woman has lost her chastity she will shrink from nothing.

To have a part that is written for you certainly helps an actor.

Look at our Lords disciples. One denied Him; one doubted Him; one betrayed Him. If our Lord couldn't have perfection, how are you going to have it in city government?

It is a rare goal that has only one path.

Believing everyone is dangerous, but believing nobody is more dangerous.

I just got a call one day from Ringo asking me if I wanted to go out on the tour. It was as simple as that. He was putting together this band and he heard of me in the context of doing this and he gave me a call. I jumped at the chance.

Hollywood is a strange place.

That wasn't the way that things was supposed to be. And all because the so-called culture that I thought was right, that I thought it was cool, and I thought it was fun, and it was exciting at the time. It all led to me laying in a prison bunk by myself with no one to talk to but myself.

The corporation and the hedge funds have a hold on Hollywood, and they all want to make money on anything that signifies cinema.

Sometimes a breakdown can be the beginning of a kind of breakthrough, a way of living in advance through a trauma that prepares you for a future of radical transformation.

Sheep farming is heavily subsidized in Great Britain. Without the subsidies, the green grazing in the valley of the River Exe would be gone. The handsome agricultural landscape of which the British are so proud, carefully husbanded since Boudicca's day, would be replaced by natural growth. The most likely growth is real-estate developments.

When you freefall for 7,000 feet it doesn't feel like you're falling: it feels like you're floating, a bit like scuba diving.

My name is actually Polish. It's my husband's name. Most people say 'Zaw-stak,' but it's 'Show-stack,' like you're going to a show, eating a stack of pancakes.

Movements born in hatred very quickly take on the characteristics of the thing they oppose.

I have this weird obsession with kids and old people falling. Like, funny falls. It is awful, but it's the thing that makes me laugh the most.

The eye is much more dynamic than any camera.