Brain Poo?

I remember more of my dreams than most people seem to. I have great vivid, long, full color dreams that sometimes I remember as real until I realize it's not possible. Those who've starred in one have probably heard about it. So, where do these dreams come from? Here's a few theories I've heard: 1. Divine Messages - clearly in the Bible, God sends people messages in dreams. Since I believe the Bible to be true, I believe this is the source, very rarely, of dreams. However, the vast majority of our dreams are probably not of this particular variety, and if they are, I have been seriously, seriously missing the point for many, many years. 2. Brain Poo - a friend of mine once told me that she'd learned in her psych class that dreams were basically Brain Poo (this was not the technical term). The theory was that all day long, we "feed" our brain - images, conversations, sounds, TV shows, memories, whatever. Then, at the end of the day when we're sleeping, your brain digests all the food from the day, and the dreams are basically what comes out. While I like this theory and think there is probably some merit to it, that sure doesn't explain why I dream about someone I haven't even thought about in years, or, like the other day, when I dreamed about my friends in an Ice Dancing Competition. Trust me, ice dancing is not something I have seen, discussed or even thought about in quite some time. 3. Subconscious Warnings - I've heard that some dreams, nightmares especially are our subconscious minds trying to warn us, prepare us for certain dangers or work out problems that we're having. While I have certianly woken up from nightmares and subsequently planned what I would do if that had happened (or what I should have done), many of my nightmares are not really situations I need to prepare for. I've had several realistic dreams in which Chas tried to kill me. Now, I am sure that some of you are thinking "Well, sure, if I were married to you, I'd certainly be considering it. . . ." but since we're approaching our 10th anniversary and he hasn't tried yet, I'm guessing it's probably not gonna happen. I could be wrong, just saying. Also, studies show that people are more likely to have nightmares the warmer they are - so what does that mean? Warmer temperatures wake up the subconcious? 4. What You Ate - this is one you've all heard. When I tell my latest dream to Tim, he almost always asks "And what did you eat before bed?" or some variation on that. I don't know what leads us to believe that certain foods cause bad dreams, though the time that Chas mixed several of the hottest wing flavors at Quaker Steak and Lube, he had a dream that I have sworn never to reveal the contents of to any living soul. Being the brilliant psychological expert that I am, I'm going to say that dreams must be a little bit of all of the above, plus some X factor we can't fathom. We haven't figured out the human brain yet, and maybe one day, some scientist will be able to plug a USB cable into our brains and watch our entire dream, then burn the good ones to DVD so we can watch them again later. Maybe then it'll all be clear. I hope not. Life needs a few good mysteries.