Although the purpose of sleep and dreams remains undiscovered, there have been many theories.

“It recharges the brain and the body,” school psychologist Cathy Kerr said. “I think we have to remember that sleep deprivation is one of the things that they use to torture prisoners of war because it makes you feel pretty crazy. So if you go a long time without sleep you feel like you’re kind of going nuts. You’ll see things differently and maybe hear things.”

It’s important that students get the most amount of sleep possible before school. According to the National Sleep Foundation, children ages 10-17 should be getting 8.5-9.25 hours of sleep and individuals older than seventeen should be getting somewhere in between 7-9 hours of sleep.

“I see students sometimes that look like they’ve got some sleep deprivation going on,” Kerr said. “And I say to them, ‘You’ve got to recharge your body and sleep. It’s good for you.’”

Not only does sleeping keep you healthy, the activity also has the potential to solve real-life problems. Some dreams, if interpreted correctly, are said to offer great meaning or even artistic inspiration. Kerr warns against taking every single dream too seriously. She advises to look at them with a very broad point of view and to mainly focus on the ones that are connected to what’s going on in your life.

“Sometimes dreams are just dreams, just your mind wandering,” freshman Tyler Howard said.

And sometimes they can be related to real-life events; advising the dreamer on how to better handle a situation next time, to revisit a pleasant experience, or even to help cope a traumatic one.

“Apparently I thought about the shooting too much,” sophomore Marise Ibrahim said, “So, I had a dream about it; it was really scary.”

Many of the things you do or see during the day can later be used as triggers for future dreams and nightmares.