Ever since Sigmund Freud wrote The Interpretation of Dreams, there has been no shortage of books about reading meaning into your dreams. But books suitable for a lay audience that offer real scientific research data on why we need to dream and how dreams help consolidate memory have been lacking. Fortunately, a new book seeks to fill this gap.

REM Illumination, Memory Consolidation by Timothy J. Walter, MD, a neurologist and co-medical director of Capitol Sleep Medicine Sleep Diagnostic Center in Grove City, Ohio, is unique in that it focuses not on what dream symbols may mean, but on how and why we dream. Walter takes the latest medical research on sleep and dreaming and makes it accessible for patients through short, well-organized chapters written in plain English. Topics covered include why REM sleep and dreaming are important to being alert and well functioning during the day, how dreams may help us learn by allowing us to remember more, and why sleep apnea and other sleep disorders that disrupt REM sleep can impair memory.

Walter says he was inspired to write the book because so many of his patients had questions about dreams and memories and there simply was not a good resource he could refer them to for answers to all of their questions. Hopefully, the book will help other sleep physicians as well.

REM Illumination, Memory Consolidation is available for $19.95 at Amazon.com and also will soon be available through Walter’s Web site, along with audio files and an downloadable electronic version of the book.