According to a recent study, people’s dreams become more unusual as it gets later in the night. 16 study subjects were hooked up to a machine that monitored their eyelid and head movement over the course of two nights.
According to a recent study, people’s dreams become more unusual as it gets later in the night.
16 study subjects were hooked up to a machine that monitored their eyelid and head movement over the course of two nights.
They were woken up four times each night and asked about the content of their dreams.
In the morning subjects read over their descriptions and answered various questions such as how their dreams relate to their life while awake.
Results of the study show that the feeling of strangeness and emotional intensity escalated as it got later.
In the beginning stages of sleep, subjects were more likely to dream about an outside source, such movies they watched or a book they read. Later on, dreams were more likely to relate to recent occurrences in their life.
Study author Doctor Josie Malinowski, from the University of Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom is quoted as saying: "Dreams are like a safe space. People feel like they haven’t generated them because they’re often so bizarre. But they’re a safe way to explore the self."
Malinowski also says that she hopes the results of the study will get people thinking about dream therapy, and how to potentially solve problems by dreaming about the solutions.
