According to recent research, most dreams have been described as distorted reflections of our daily lives. They do not necessarily have to be symbolic pictures or unconscious wishes, as Freud believed, or random images caused by brain signals. Experts now believe that dreams are so closely related to our waking lives that we can use them to help organize and work out inner conflicts (Von Keisler 141). A Harvard neuroscientist, Robert Stickgold, Ph.D. and his colleague J. Allen Hobson, M.D. have created a new model of dreaming. Numerous sections of the brain aid in dreaming, but they have concluded that it is a bottom-up process which is triggered by a region called the pontine brain stem, or pons. These pons, referred to as FTG's, or gigantocellular field of the tegmentum, begin to aid in the dreaming process when the brain goes into REM sleep. REM is referred to as rapid eye movement ("How to Build...").

There is also a difference in dreams between male and females. Research has proven that the difference is due in part to biology and social conditioning. There was a study performed on 1000 people, half male and half female. Men tended to have action-oriented dreams that dealt with strangers, their own occupations, and unfamiliar outdoor surroundings (Von Kreisler 141). Women tended to dream about emotional struggles with loved ones and indoor surroundings. Women who stay in the home mainly have dreams about children, whereas those that are working dream more about bosses and colleagues. However, statistics show that about one-third of all dreams are dominated by fear and anxiety, and 15% involve anger (Von Kreisler 142).

Age has also proved to be a component of dream content. Research shows that small children are scared easily so they dream mainly of animals and monsters that chase and attack them. Teenagers dream of romance and sex. Adults between the ages of 21 and 34 more often than not have dreams of moral issues. They are at a stage in their life where they need to make decisions about careers, marriage, and life direction are of major importance to them. Adults ranging from age 35 to 49 dream that since they have obtained some of their life goals and issues, they tend to avoid hostility towards others. Adults over the age of 65 are preoccupied with the loss of resources and anxiety about aging (Von Kreisler 143).

Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and studied dreams very seriously. Freud and his colleagues believed that dreams were vital keys to unlocking the mysteries of an individual's personality. He first used the term "interpretation" to refer to the unscrambling of dream content. Freud wrote a book called The Interpretation of Dreams in which he described the Freudian Dream Theory. Some points of this theory include that dreams are not meaningless or random events. He also stated that all dre

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