While We Sleep: What Science Has Discovered About Dreams

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/ceide.16076079e.2026.27.2.3

Keywords:

Dreams, oneiric activity, REM dream, lucid dream, nightmare

Abstract

Each night, while we sleep, the brain does not rest—it dreams. Dreams are a form of subjective cognitive activity that processes emotions, memories, and daily experiences; although we do not always remember them, this does not indicate any health problem. This article explores what science knows about dreams: why they occur, in which stages of sleep they appear—and why they are not exclusive to rem sleep—how stress and trauma intensify them, and what lucid dreams are. Drawing on recent research, it also examines nightmares as a response to emotional processing and their relationship to events such as the covid-19 pandemic. A journey through one of the universal and least understood phenomena of human experience.

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Published

2026-05-14