Were monsters under your bed when you were younger, so you had to have a night light? Or do you need complete darkness? Do you put on a TV show to fall asleep? Do you need white noise? Everyone has different conditions and preferences when closing their eyes to go to bed, but the one similarity among everyone is that everyone dreams.

While sleeping, many dreams may be bizarre, creating confusion if you remember them when you wake up. Even if it is on your mind, in the morning can you recall any of it later on in the day? Most dreams occur during REM, which is a part of our sleeping cycle. So, if someone has a longer and more detailed dream, you probably stayed in REM for a prolonged time. According to Verywellmind, “If REM sleep is occurring, the vivid dreams that are associated with it may not be recalled. If there is a transition from REM sleep to another state of sleep (most often stage 1 or stage 2), prior to recovering consciousness, you may forget your dreams.” This means, even when people try to think back to what they dreamt about, it might almost be impossible.

Waking up during the REM cycle may cause a person to dwell on their dream throughout the day. Why was the dream so odd and complex? People may come back from their pasts as it is proven people cannot make up faces in their dreams. Every face, even if consciously you don’t recognize the person, you have seen them before. Was it at Target? The grocery store? Someone from elementary school? There is still research being done to see what this all could mean for someone and if there is a reason someone or something might be brought back up in your dreams.

According to Time, “This idea that information is being processed, does have validity. We’re sorting things into categories, comparing them to other events, considering information that we would suppress during the day.” This shows that our dreams come from somewhere. There is thought behind each dream which is why they can sometimes seem so realistic. But your dreams are also only limited by your imagination, which is why they can also seem so impractical.

Every dream has an origin of where it came from, yet researchers are still trying to find it and the true importance behind them. So for now, once you lay your head on your pillow and close your eyes, your dreams are mysteries looking to be solved.