Dream Lab – Adult Findings
Over half (58%) of adults surveyed have had at least one lucid dream – that is a dream where they are aware that they are dreaming.
Readers of fiction had more bizarre dreams (i.e. impossible or unlikely things occurring in the dream) and more emotionally intense dreams than people who don’t read fiction.
People who read romance books are more likely to tell their dreams to other people.
Readers of self-help books do not recall more dreams than people who don’t read self-help books.
There is no relationship between reading crime or thriller books and having nightmares. However, people who read fantasy books are more likely to have nightmares.
People who go frequently to the library watch less TV, and recall fewer dreams.
People who read more books than average are less likely to tell other people about their dreams.
Women recall more of their dreams than men and are more likely to have unpleasant dreams (or perhaps they are more likely to admit that they have unpleasant dreams) than men.
People who sleep for 9 hours or more do not have more dreams than those who sleep for a shorter period (under 7 hours). Longer sleepers however, do tell their dreams to others more frequently than short sleepers. This suggests that their dreams are more memorable and vivid than those of short-sleepers which links to the greater amount of REM sleep that long-sleepers experience.
Longer sleepers go to a library more often than short sleepers.
People who describe themselves as intellectual have the same frequency of library visits, and the same frequency of dream recall, as people who don’t describe themselves as intellectual.
People who describe themselves as philosophical read more self-help books.
People who describe themselves as anxious have more nightmares!
Older people dream less and have fewer nightmares.
People who describe themselves as ‘well-liked’, or ‘popular’, recall having more dreams (this goes against current thinking which claims that insecure people dream more as they need to practice social interaction in their dreams). However, whether people describe themselves as lonely, or popular and extroverted, has no bearing on how pleasant or unpleasant the dream is, how many characters are in it, and how emotionally intense the dream is.
People who describe themselves as imaginative or as creative recall more dreams.
People who describe themselves as imaginative read more fantasy books, and more fiction.
People who read more crime and thriller books are not more anxious than people who don’t! (Which may explain why they don’t have more nightmares than people who don’t read crime and thriller books.)
People who describe themselves as happy go to the library more, watch TV more, recall more dreams, and tell their dreams more, than people do don’t describe themselves as happy.
Dream Lab: Children (6-16 years-old) Findings:
Children who read scary books are three times more likely to have nightmares than children who don’t read these books.
Children who read fantasy books are more likely to have lucid dreams; that is, dreams where they know they are dreaming.
66% of children said their dreams were affected by what they watch on TV.
51% said their dreams were affected by what happened to them during the day.
44% said their dreams were affected by the book they had been reading.
Children who sleep for more than 10 hours are more likely to tell their dreams to other people.
Older children have significantly more pleasant dreams and fewer nightmares than younger children, but there is no difference in either their dream recall frequency or how often they wake up whilst dreaming.
Girls recall more dreams and are much more likely to tell their dreams to other people than boys.
