Dream catchers: a look at the science of sleep

Have you ever wondered whether people dream in colour or black and white, and what you can do to help you better remember your dreams?

- By Kimberly Fenn

Dreams are an astonishing state of consciousness. As you sleep, your mind creates fantastic and bizarre stories, rich with visual details - all without any conscious input from you.

Some dreams are boring. Others show you shocking events or magnificent images. I frequently dream of alligators walking upright, wearing sunglasses and yellow T-shirts. Often the alligators are friendly and go on adventures with me, but sometimes they're aggressive and chase me.

The way the brain operates while you're dreaming explains why dreams can be so fantastic. A small structure called the amygdala is largely responsible for processing emotional information, and it's very active while dreaming. In contrast, the brain's frontal cortex, which helps you plan and strategise, tends to be rather quiet. This pattern explains why dreams can jump from one peculiar scene to the next, with no clear story line. It's as if you are sailing an emotional wave, without a captain.

Dreams can indeed be emotional and sometimes scary. But dreams can be enjoyable too - maybe you've had a dream so delightful you were disappointed to wake up and realise it wasn't reality.

Are the images in your dreams in vivid colour? Perhaps you had a dream about playing Candy Crush and can remember the brightly coloured red, purple and yellow candies cascading in your dream.