For example, if the person has a fear of snakes or dogs, a snake or dog in that person's dream is much more significant than in the dream of someone who is not afraid of either animal, Young said. Along with differences from person to person, there are different meanings attached to different symbols from culture to culture, O'Neill said. O'Neill looks at dream dictionaries more as novelty items and obtains all the information she needs regarding symbolism from her clients. According to O'Neill, dreams occur during the rapid eye movement stage of sleep. During a night's rest, these stages occur about every 90 minutes.
Dreamers become immobilized and brain activity is the same as it is during waking hours.
Since these stages are not continuous, people do not constantly dream, but rather have several dreams, some of which could be the continuation of a previous dream, O'Neill said. No real research has been done to determine why certain dreams are remembered over others, but O'Neill speculates people remember either the most emotional of the night's dreams, the ones triggered by the environment or the most recent dreams. Young claims the dreams in which the dreamer has the most vested interest are more likely to be remembered. It is impossible, Young said, to catch all of them because dreams are forgotten so easily. If people keep a pen, paper and flashlight by their bed to record their dreams the minute they wake up and remember them, they will be able to remember more dreams, Young said.