10 amazing facts about your brain during sleep

Most people dream about 1-2 hours a night and have an average of 4-7 dreams each night.

Five minutes after a dream, half of the dream is forgotten. Ten minutes after a dream, over 90% is forgotten. Write down your dreams immediately if you want to remember them.

Dreams are more than just visual images, and blind people do dream. Whether or not they dream in pictures depends on if they were born blind or lost their vision later.

Some people (about 12%) dream only in black and white while others dream in color.

If you are awakened during a dream, you are much more likely to remember the dream than if you slept until a full night's sleep.

While you sleep at night may be the best time for your brain to consolidate all your memories from the day.

As those who invest in dream dictionaries can attest, dreams almost never represent what they actually are. The unconscious mind strives to make connections with concepts you will understand, so dreams are largely symbolic representations.

Japanese researchers have successfully developed a technology that can put thoughts on a screen and may soon be able to screen people's dreams.

Caffeine works to block naturally occuring adenosine in the body, creating alertness. Scientists have discovered this connection and learned that doing the opposite - boosting adenosine - can actually promote more natural sleep patterns and help eliminate insomnia.

A study published in the journal Sleep Medicine described how Disney creators used real sleep disorders in many of their animated pets.

10 amazing facts about brain development

Neurons develop at a rate of 250,000 neurons per minute during early pregnancy.

A stimulating environment for a child can make the difference between a 25% greater ability to learn or 25% less in an environment with little stimulation.

The first sense to develop while in utero is the sense of touch. The lips and cheeks can experience touch at about 8 weeks and the rest of the body around 12 weeks.

Children who learn two languages before the age of five alters the brain structure and, as adults, have a much denser gray matter.

Music lessons have shown to considerably boost brain organization and ability in both children and adults.

Reading aloud and talking often to a young child promotes brain development.

The capacity for such emotions as joy, happiness, fear, shyness are already developed at birth. The specific type of nurturing a child receives shapes how these emotions are developed.

Studies have shown that child abuse can inhibit development of the brain and can permanently affect brain development.

A study showed that children with imaginary playmates between the ages of 3 and 9 tended to be first-born children.

At birth, your brain was almost the same size as an adult brain and contained most of the brain cells for your whole life.