Babies ''may dream in the womb''
17/04/2009
Babies may not need to wait before they get into a children''s bed to dream - according to new research, they may already be doing it in the womb.
Mathematician Karin Schwab and neuroscientists associated with the Friedrich Schiller University in the German city of Jena have been looking into how the brain develops when it is in its formative months.
It was understood that far before the first rapid eye movements are seen in young ones, a dreaming state can be achieved.
The research was carried out after observing how immature sheep foetuses develop, an animal which carries one or two foetuses of a similar shape and weight to those humans have.
It is notoriously difficult to understand what happens in a baby''s brain while in the womb as there is no way to directly measure it, yet the new technology is able to look into electrical activity.
According to sleep expert Patricia Garfield of the Discovery Channel''s health department, the central nervous system is in an active state when dreaming, though it is not understood why this happens.
