What’s the strangest dream you’ve ever had? I had a pretty crazy recurring one when I was a kid, though the details of it are lost to me now. What makes those nighttime visions so strange? Your prefrontal cortex is actually the culprit. When you sleep—and hit that REM stage—your prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for logic and reasoning, goes to sleep, too. So all of those memories, new ideas, and projects at work that are stressing you out are floating around in your head without your prefrontal cortex to connect them logically—you end up with a crazy mash up in your dream.

For more facts about dreams read this.