What Causes Our Dreams?

All our dreams have something to do with our emotions, fears, longings, wishes, needs and memories. But something on the "outside" may influence what we dream. If a person is hungry or tired, his dreams may include this feeling. If the covers have slipped off your bed, you may dream you are on an iceberg. The material for the dream we will have tonight is likely to come from the experiences we will have today.

So the "content" of our dream comes from something that affects us while we are sleeping and it may also use our past experiences and the urges and interests we have. This is why very young children are likely to dream of wizards and fairies, older children of school exams, hungry people for food and homesick soldiers of their families.

According to the psychoanalysts dreams are expressions of wishes that did not come true, and of frustrated yearnings. In other words it can be stated that a dream is a way of having our wish fulfilled.