Among the vital necessities of life, the need for shelter seems to make the biggest impact on our dreaming experience.

Different cultures throughout history have ascribed meaning and importance to dreams, though there's little scientific evidence that dreams have particular meanings attached to them, Kuras says.

He had already noticed that dreams played an important role in his analysis of neurotic and "hysterical" patients. As he encouraged them to free-associate ... to write The Interpretation of ...

While most of us dream in color, black and white dreams aren't unheard of, and their interpretation can be quite fascinating.

How to handle unusual or distressing dreams If you're still scratching your head over the meaning behind your snake dreams, consider jotting down any snippets you can remember in a dream journal.