While people over the age of ten have four to six dreams per night, it's said that we forget 90% of our dreams within 10 minutes of waking up. (The average person can have up to 2,190 dreams a year!) Here are five more facts about dreaming that might just surprise you.
1. We dream during periods of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep that last anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. During this time, our bodies are essentially paralyzed to keep us from acting out our dreams. (In rare cases, a person is able to lash out during their dreams.)
2. Only the faces of people we've seen in real life enter our dreams. Our brain's can't "invent" faces, so every face you encounter in a dream is one you've seen before, either intimately or in passing.
3. Most people are unable to read or tell time while dreaming.
4. Some people can control their dreams through a practice called lucid dreaming.
5. According to a study, 12% of people dream in black and white. Most of these dreamers are over 55 years old, so it's said that their relationship with black and white televisions influences their dreams.
11 Shocking Facts about Dreams that will Rock Your World! [OMG Facts]
20 Amazing Facts About Dreams that You Might Not Know About [Lifehack]
7 Mind-Bending Facts About Dreams [Lifescience]