Dreams; what are they and where do they come from (and do they actually mean anything)?
That is a question that has been puzzling sleepy mankind since the dawn of time.
While ancient civilizations used to believe that dreams were communication with the spirits, in modern society we mostly deem dreams as the brain trying to de-frag itself.
However a new study around the ‘continuity hypothesis’ says otherwise. It states that our dreams are actually a continuation of what is happening in everyday life.
“It turns out that everyday life impacts dreaming (anxiety in life leads to dreams with negative affect) and vice versa,” says Alessandro Fogli from Roma Tre University in Italy.
The new study used contemporary dream analysis which helps codify dreams in terms of characters, experiences and interactions. As part of the study, Fogli managed to supercharge his research by using a giant database of dreams called DreamBank.
Typically, dream studies are handled on a one-on-one basis with a subject and a therapist. DreamBank allowed Fogli to analyses 24,000 dreams all in one go.
Researchers found that of the thousands of dreams that were part of the study, the continuity hypothesis was present and correct about 75 per cent of the time.
Which means if you have a bad dream? More often than not it was influenced by something that happened that day (and the same goes for good dreams).
Esquire now has a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit ‘Like’ on our Esquire Facebook page and ‘Follow’ on our @esquiremiddleeast Instagram and Twitter account.
