Scientists continue to research dreams today, just as they have done for more than 100 years. At Harvard Medical School in October of 2000, researchers concluded that dreaming can result from the brain trying to reorganize its memories. A significant majority of participants who played the computer game Tetris then dreamed about the game's falling and rotating shapes.

Dr. Robert Stickgold, the psychiatrist who conducted the study, commented in a CNNfyi article that "when the brain is filing away the memories it needs to keep, it has to go through a series of steps, and dreaming is a manifestation of one crucial step." He remarked that "dreams are just the body's way of clearing out the mental 'in-box.' The trick is to move it to the file cabinet and to file it in the right place." Some of our more bizarre dreams result as the brain tries to organize and cross-reference information.

Typically we cycle through five distinct stages and two types of sleep called non-REM (the first four stages) and REM (the last stage). These cycles last about 90 to 100 minutes as we move from a light sleep in stage 1 to stage 4's deep sleep to REM. They quickly reverse and then start again. Periods of REM sleep lengthen throughout the night. Dreams occur only during REM sleep.

Everyone dreams, but we don't always remember what we dream. Following psychiatrist Carl Jung's theory, one effective way of increasing the chances of remembering dreams and their meanings is to keep a dream journal.

Before going to sleep Remind yourself (even aloud): "Tonight I'm going to remember my dream." Put a pen, small notebook, and flashlight next to your bed. Put the date at the top of a blank page in the notebook. For dreams that wake you in the middle of the night Use the flashlight to record dreams or dream fragments immediately (turning on a light might wake you completely). At a minimum, write key words or main ideas. Upon waking in the morning Stay quietly in bed for a few minutes as you focus on remembering your dreams. Try not to think about the day ahead. Write down dreams or dream fragments in as much detail as possible on the top part of the page. Include people, places, colors, landmarks, textures, feelings, etc. Think about the associations of the images in the dream. For each image, ask yourself questions about its shape, its function, and your feelings about it. Think about how you would explain this image to someone else. Write down these associations on the bottom part of the page. Do you notice a pattern? Over time you may notice patterns or recurring themes emerging in your dreams. From these themes you may be able to connect images in your dreams with events or feelings in your life. You can find more about some of the symbols in dreams.

In learning to interpret the images in dreams, you can gain greater understanding and self-awareness. It is vital to remember that dreams are very personal. Therefore the images in them are also very personal. For example, a dream about school takes on very different meanings for a student, teacher, school bus driver, or architect.

Carl Jung was a collaborator of Freud's, but one who departed from the Freudian school of thought. Jung founded the field of analytic psychology, which deals with understanding the workings of the psyche. He surmised that images in dreams actually symbolized parts of ourselves. In Jung's opinion, people could interpret their own dreams by keeping a dream journal and looking for the connections and associations between the images in the dreams and experiences, thoughts, and other details in life.