Neuroscientist Karen Konkoly is a lucid dreamer. When she's asleep and immersed in a dream, she knows that she is, in fact, dreaming. One of her favorite things to do during these sleep sojourns is pose personal, even existential questions - probing the mysterious terrain of her own subconscious mind. Asa researcher who studies the human mind, Konkoly has read many scientific papers positing different explanations for why humans dream - and she's made it her mission to rigorously test them.
She says a 2020 study found that over 70% of the population has had a sex dream. "The sex dreams mainly happen during REM sleep, which is the phase where we dream the most, and the brain is almost as active as when we're awake. The dreams are often quite surprising, intense, and at times even taboo and purely inappropriate, and that's completely normal!"