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Dreams can be fascinating, exciting, terrifying or just plain weird. While there is no clear consensus on why we dream, they have learned quite a bit about what happens while we are dreaming. Learn more about some of the things that researchers have discovered in these 10 facts about dreams. 1 Many Dreams Are Universal While dreams are often heavily influenced by our personal experiences, researchers have found that certain themes are very common across different cultures. For example, people from all over the world frequently dream about being chased, being attacked or falling. Other common dream experiences include school events, feeling frozen and unable to move, arriving late, flying, and being naked in public. 2 But You Forget Most of Your Dreams As much as 95 percent of all dreams are quickly forgotten shortly after waking. Why are our dreams so difficult to remember? According to one theory, the changes in the brain that occur during sleep do not support the information processing and storage needed for memory formation to take place. Brain scans of sleeping individuals have shown that the frontal lobes, the area that plays a key role in memory formation, are inactive during REM sleep, the stage in which dreaming occurs. 3 Not All Dreams Are In Color While approximately 80 percent of all dreams are in color, there are a small percentage of people who claim to only dream in black and white. In studies where dreamers have been awakened and asked to select colors from a chart that match those in their dreams, soft pastel colors are those most frequently chosen. | 
