Katherine Hackman, age 11, of Mesa, Ariz., for her question:
DOES EVERYONE DREAM?
A dream is an event that a person sees or takes part in when he is asleep. Scientists tell us that everyone dreams, but some persons never recall dreaming. Others may remember only a little about a dream they had just before awakening. No one recalls every dream.
The events in a dream form a story. In some dreams, the dreamer takes part in the story while in others he merely watches the events. Dreams seem to lack logical thought.
In most dreams, the dreamer has no control over what is happening. The story may be confusing and things may happen that would not happen in real life.
People see various events in most dreams, and sometimes they also hear, smell, touch and taste in their dreams. Most dreams occur in color, but sometimes people dream in black and white. Scientists say that persons who have been blind since birth do not see at all in dreams.
Dreams are a product of the sleeper's mind. They include events and feelings that he has experienced. Most dreams are either related to the events of the day before the dreams or they are the strong wishes of the dreams.
Many minor incidents of the hours before sleep appear in dreams. Deep wishes or fears, especially those held since childhood, also often appear. Many times the events in a sleeper's surroundings, such as a loud noise, may become part of a dream but they do not cause dreams.
Scientists tell us that in adults, dreaming takes up about 100 minutes out of every eight hours of sleep. From three to five dreams, each lasting from 10 to 30 minutes, will occur during eight hours of sleep. The later dreams are longer Than the early ones.
Dreaming may help maintain good learning ability, memory and emotional adjustment. People who get plenty of sleep but awaken each time they start to dream, often become restless.
Although scientists cannot see a person's dream, they can tell when a person is dreaming. Whether a person is awake or asleep, the brain continuously gives off electric waves. Scientists can measure these waves with an instrument called an electroencephalograph.
At most times during sleep, the brain waves are large and slow. But at sometimes, they become faster and smaller. During such periods of fast brain waves, the eyes move rapidly as though the sleeper were watching a series of events.
If awakened during this period of fast brain waves, the person is likely to recall dreaming and remember details of the dream.
Some scientists have developed complicated theories on how to interpret or explain the meaning of dreams. An Austrian physician named Sigmund Freud, who originated psychoanalysis, developed one of the best known theories of dream interpretation. He suggested that dreams are fulfillments of the dreamer's wishes, usually in disguised form.