Artists, poets and prophets have long used dreams as symbolic representations of reality.

Dreams have been referred to as "visions of sugar plums" in the Christmas tale The Night Before Christmas.

Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream also explores the symbolic nature of dream imagery.

Dreams have been fascinating humans for ages and even today a plethora of journals are written to help the curious minded better understand dreams.

Young people are often particularly enthralled by the topic.

Young and Modern magazine has a monthly section to which readers may submit a dream for interpretation.

The Penn State student planner also has dream symbols scattered throughout the book for students' use in decoding their dreams.

There are also many Web sites dedicated to deciphering dreams and finding meaning, but they are not scientifically sound.

According to Webster's Dictionary, a dream is defined as a sequence of sensations, images and thoughts occurring during sleep.

In Rapid Eye Movement, neurological activity takes place in the forebrain and midbrain, and people experience the most vivid dreams.

During REM sleep, one's eyes move rapidly back and forth under the eyelids, and muscles of the body are in a relaxed state. REM sleep is every 90 to 100 minutes, three to four times a night and it lasts longer as the night progresses, according to the Association for the Study of Dreams.

People's dreams can continue their daytime dilemmas according to a Psychology Today article, "Dreamspeak," by Dr. Milton Kramer. "They do in fact have meaning," he says. "They have order and reflect psychological aspects of our lives and personalities."

Because Kramer believes that dreams can affect our moods in the next day, he and his colleagues have developed the Selective Mood Regulatory Theory of Dreams and Sleep. This theory states that people feel better when they get uninterrupted sleep for a significant period of time and have a series of unremembered dreams that may produce upsetting feelings.

Dreams can also reflect changes in environments.

People report having awkward, jumbled dreams.

Alison Massey (freshman-Health and Human Development) moved around often in her childhood.

"When I left Ohio and moved to Virginia, I had really weird dreams.

Old people would be mixed with the new people, and we would all be in school together. I would decide who would be compatible with who."

Frederick Brown, Penn State professor of psychology, refers to these as anxiety dreams.

"If people feel upset by their dreams it might be a good idea to keep a dream journal," he said.

If a person chooses to record dreams in a dream journal, the Association for the Study of Dreams recommends keeping a paper and pen right next to your bed before you fall asleep. Tell yourself that you will remember your dreams. When awakened by a dream in the middle of the night, it is helpful to write it down immediately.

"It would be neat to remember my dreams to a certain extent but I could never keep a dream journal," Lindsey Lear (freshman-pre-medicine) said.

Some students do not keep dream journals.

"I don't usually remember my dreams," Becca Paige (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies) said.

But as a child she did have a repetitive dream.

"I was being chased around a pool by a cartoon character and had to jump in the pool to avoid it."

Repetitive dreams are also called recurring dreams and often occur because a person has feelings that are unresolved.

Dream dictionaries are plentiful and provide individuals with the opportunity to figure out their own dreams.

The common symbol of death has several meanings.

Many dictionaries state that the dream of the death of a loved one symbolizes a separation from that person whereas dreaming of your own death represents a change in your own life.

However, ultimately dreams are very individual.

Katie Pitzer (sophomore-elementary education) had a comforting dream about her deceased mother. "She had permission to come down from heaven and visit us. It was like she was sending me a signal that she was all right."

Other symbols, such as falling, portray a feeling of loss of control, but these are not necessarily accurate for individual dreams.

"There are no universal dream symbols," Frederick Brown, professor of psychology, said.

Many people experience lucid dreams in which they are aware they are dreaming while they are sleeping. Knowing this they are able to influence the dream's direction.

Jason Pickering (sophomore-computer science) frequently has lucid dreams. "I only change the course of my dream if I have to, like if someone's attacking me."

Some students enjoy just dreaming. "They're just kind of fun. You dream about a million dollars and then it's not there when you wake up," Pitzer said.

But several other students only remember upsetting dreams.

"I recently dreamt that I was in a third world country along a waterfront with lots of piers," said Aaron Sanders (sophomore-engineering). I had to go through a maze and I think someone was chasing me. There seemed to be an urgency in getting back," he said.

Lear has also had stressful dreams.

"My heart beats really fast when I wake up and I wonder 'Oh, my God, did that really happen?' It's like you're on a thriller ride."

She attributes some of these to the rough times she experienced like when her parents got divorced.

Since the beginning of modern civilization, there has always been talk about viewing the future through vivid dreams. In Andrew Lloyd Webber's play Joseph and his Amazing Technocolored Dreamcoat, Joseph correctly interpreted a king's dream foreseeing that the city would experience seven years of feast and followed by seven years of famine. By storing food in a warehouse, the king was able to prepare the city for the seven years of famine.

However Brown does not believe that dreams can predict the future. Kramer agrees with Brown that dreams are not prophetic visions.