dreaming

People dream four or five times a night, each dream lasting longer than the one before. Most of us spend as much as two hours a night dreaming. Your muscles go limp during dreams, perhaps so that you don't hurt yourself moving around. Babies are great dreamers and even dream before they are born. Dreams are a sort of wish-fulfillment, closely related to deep emotional reactions. A person's dreams reveal repressed feelings and thoughts. Many say that dreams are an extension of daytime consciousness -- a process in which the ideas, feelings, and mental impressions absorbed during waking hours are sorted out.