Do you dream a lot? Are any of them ever bad? Do you have true nightmares sometimes? Are you fascinated by dreaming and why we do it? Do you find yourself thinking more clearly after a good night’s sleep? Do you think the phrase “sleep on it” holds a true secret of learning and/or memory?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you really must read In the Dreamscape of Nightmares, Clues to Why We Dream at All and An Active, Purposeful Machine That Comes Out at Night to Play on The New York Times web site. They are honestly the BEST articles I have ever read on the subject of sleep and dreaming. In fact, the former of the two taught me more in just two pages of reading than I have learned about dreams and nightmares in years of study, reading and research. It answered SO many questions for me and gave me insight into many issues, including why my daughter had certain dreams when she was very young and why my dreams are always so strange. I had no idea that bad dreams are so common, or that they are actually very beneficial. On the other hand, true nightmares (bad dreams that wake you up) are not beneficial at all, and you’ll find out why if you read the article.

The latter of the two stories is four pages of amazing information regarding sleep and its four stages, and what each stage does for us. Turns out the brain, which was first thought to basically “shut off” during sleep, is actually a very busy piece of finely-tuned machinery at night. Completely fascinating!

Go on, take a few minutes and read them. I think you’ll come away with a whole new understanding of sleep and your dreams.

Sleep, Dreams, Nightmares, Bad Dreams, The New York Times