What Do Dreams Reveal About Your Health?

It is estimated that we dream between 3 and 6 times per night, equivalent to around 6 years of time dreaming in a lifetime. However, as soon as we wake up, we forget 95% of what we dream about. Although dreams seem to be associated with daily events, some people believe that they could carry deeper messages rather than just being a compilation of memories accumulated throughout the day. Interpretations of dreams can be quite different, depending on whether the experts analyze them from neuroscientific or psychoanalytic perspectives.

By using an analytical approach to interpret dreams, both Dr. Freud and Dr. Jung believed that dreams reflect the unconscious mind of a person. For example, we may feel something is missing in our relationship with a loved one but not know exactly what.

Before scientific theories even emerged and led to the development of psychology, people from all corners of the world have long attempted to decode the meanings and significance of dreams. For example, dreaming about falling can mean a sense of insecurity, whereby people feel a lack of control over their life or relationship.

Researchers say that some of our dreams may predict our health, and the term “prodromal dreams” is used to describe the phenomena where a person’s dreams reveal the body’s condition even before the onset of a disease. In an article for the magazine Psychology Today, Dr. Michelle Carr, a researcher at the University of Rochester Sleep and Neurophysiology Laboratory in the USA, gave an example of an oncoming cold to illustrate the connection between the body and our subconsciousness. If such a prodromal dream is noticed early enough, preventive measures, such as taking more rest or drinking more water, could be taken to reduce the duration of the cold.

Frequent nightmares can also indicate certain mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. There are plenty of other factors that can possibly affect our dreams. It is reported that drinking alcohol tends to cause and exacerbate nightmares. Discontinuation of certain medications may also increase the occurrence of nightmares. The bottom line is that if recurring nightmares have affected the quality of your sleep or daily life, don’t hesitate to contact your physician for a further checkup to rule out possible underlying causes.