Dreams uncovered

Could your dreams reveal your true desires and worries? We peer into the world of your subconscious while you sleep…

You’re wearing pyjamas, being chased by a giant banana and your old PE teacher is cart-wheeling in the distance. Is your dream a jumble of random thoughts or a significant trip into your subconscious? The answer depends on who you talk to. Dream psychologists believe our true selves are revealed in our dreams and that we can use them to transform our lives, while many sleep scientists dismiss dream analysis as frivolous entertainment.
Let’s start with some sleep facts: we have four or five 90-minute cycles of sleep a night and each cycle goes through five sleep stages. The final stage, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, lasts about 20 minutes. Here, our brains are as active as they are when we’re awake and we’re most likely to dream. Professor Jim Horne of the Loughborough Sleep Research Centre says dreams are a way of keeping the brain active, and our recent activities appear in mixed-up ways. ‘We don’t need to dream,’ he says. ‘People on antidepressants don’t dream and there’s no evidence of problems such as memory loss associated with this.’
But not all scientists believe that our 90-minute-a-night dreaming ritual – that’s over 1800 dreams a year – is pointless. Some research has shown that dreams help us deal with our emotions in a way that we can’t during the day. A study by Dr Rosalind Cartwright from Rush University in the US found that dreaming has a mood-regulating effect – people in a bad mood before bed tend to wake up feeling better.
According to dream researcher Jennifer Parker, a lecturer at the University of Western England (UWE), people dream more when they’re going through a tough time because ‘their brains need sleep to help solve problems.’
Sleep psychologist Ian Wallace believes that the content of our dreams reveals who we really are. ‘Dreams are our way of making sense of our lives, which is why they can help resolve our worries,’ he says. Dreams can also reveal issues we’ve been suppressing in real life. ‘They highlight areas in your life that need addressing,’ adds Wallace.

What we dream about
According to UWE research, two-thirds of dreams are anxiety ones – the most common disturbing dream being the death of a loved one. Men and women dream differently, says Parker: ‘British men’s dreams tend to be more positive than women’s, and they often feature as heroes or rescuers. Women’s dreams are more emotional and often family-related. Dreams reflect the different concerns men have when they’re awake, but should not be taken literally. A man who has violent dreams is rarely aggressive in real life – it’s more likely to reflect an urge to protect his family.’
Interestingly, men’s sexual dreams usually involve a stranger, while women are more likely to dream about someone they know. This doesn’t mean you yearn for your best friend’s husband – it could simply expose an unresolved issue between you and your friend, or a quality in her husband that you admire.
As traditional gender roles blur, this could be reflected in our dreams. More women may experience aggressive dreams and research from Swansea University has found that women’s dreams are increasingly about work.

Decipher the symbols
Often the meaning will be obvious and all you need do is work out how it relates to your life. ‘A dream psychologist can help decipher symbolism in your dreams, but the best person to work out meaning is you. You know what’s really going on in your life,’ says Wallace.
Psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung have had a big influence on how we understand dreams. Freud believed that they disguise our repressed unconscious desires, while Jung thought they revealed our true selves and that characters in dreams represent aspects of the dreamer. ‘We create characters to represent parts of ourselves we’re unaware of,’ says Wallace. ‘Both good and bad.’ We do this in life without realising: ‘We’re attracted to people with qualities we like in ourselves, and we can dislike others because they exhibit less favourable characteristics similar to ours that we haven’t yet acknowledged.’
Dreams can also help us understand the root cause of our problems, which are often not obvious to us. ‘Someone outwardly confident but prone to mood swings may blame others for their flare-ups at work,’ says Wallace. ‘But their dreams – perhaps of being attacked by an animal – may reveal a lack of confidence and low self-esteem.’
Someone unhappy with their body image may constantly be on a diet. But their dreams of eating nasty food, for instance, may reveal a lack of fulfilment. ‘When someone dreams about food, they’re dreaming about how they can become more fulfilled in waking life,’ says Wallace. ‘Your dream will give clues as to what will help you achieve this.’

Remembering your dreams
Wallace believes we can all get into the habit of recalling dreams. Before you go to bed, he suggests telling yourself: ‘Tonight I’m going to remember my dreams.’ The more you try to remember, the easier it will be. ‘Dream imagery fades within 10 minutes of wakingif you stay in bed, and within one minute if you get up,’ says Wallace. ‘When you wake up, ask yourself how you’re feeling – frustrated, anxious, excited? Images will soon emerge – it might just be one little flash from a dream. Write down what you remember every morning and, over a week, narratives will form and you’ll notice patterns,’ says Wallace.

Controlling your dreams
Once you’re recalling your dreams easily, you can use them to solve issues. ‘Your conscious solution will be logical, objective and linear,’ says Wallace. ‘But your dream may well come at a problem from a completely new and unexpected angle.’
Scientists such as Einstein and sewing machine inventor Elias Howe have all attributed major breakthroughs to dreams. The detachment we experience when dreaming also helps us look at them non-critically, says Wallace. He suggests asking yourself a question before bed about an issue that may have been raised in a dream or in your life – ‘Should I stay with my partner?’, for example, or ‘How do I sort out a conflict at work?’ What you recall the next morning may offer you a solution.
This technique is also useful for dealing with disturbing recurring dreams or nightmares. ‘Something in your unconscious awareness is trying to express something that you’re not resolving in real life,’ says Wallace. ‘Recurring dreams are often linked with stress and trauma experienced during childhood. If you’re being chased, for example, tell yourself before you go to sleep that you’re going to ask your pursuer what they want. It might take two or three dreams, but you will get a response.’ This will help you work out what’s causing the dream and how to tackle it in waking life.

Sleep myth
Does cheese give you nightmares?
‘If you eat a fatty food such as cheese just before bed, your body can’t slow down like it wants to because you’ve got a tummy full of food,’ says dream researcher Jennifer Parker. ‘As a result, you’re more likely to toss and turn and wake up from your dream.’ It will not, however, actually give you nightmares – unless you were going to have them anyway.

What your dreams mean
Sleep psychologist Ian Wallace interprets the most common scenarios
Being chased
There’s an issue that you want to confront but you lack the confidence to do so.
Can’t find a toilet
You have an emotional need that you’re trying to express, but are frustrated because you are always busy looking after the needs of other people rather than looking after your own.
Teeth falling out
You are losing your confidence in dealing with a particular challenge. You have the power to overcome this obstacle but are experiencing self-doubt.
Naked in public
Although you appear confident and in control to other people, you are feeling vulnerable and exposed. This often occurs when you start a new job or relationship.
Flying
You have managed to free yourself from something that has been holding you back. This is most often experienced when you express your unique creative talents.
Falling
This usually reflects a feeling that you’re losing control and these dreams are usually caused by stress not being dealt with in your waking life.
Water
When we dream about water, we’re dreaming about feelings and emotions. So, if we’re swimming, we may be immersed in an emotional experience, or if we’re threatened by a tidal wave, perhaps some large emotional change is about to happen.

Words: Karen Williamson