Reading time: 2 minutes – Spotted on The Washington Post
It is very difficult to analyze the content of dreams. But if we base ourselves on what people who manage to remember them report, they change appearance over the course of our lives, indicates The Washington Post, which takes up the results of a study published in the “Journal International Research on Dreams.
At the origin of these fluctuations are probably our life paths. Indeed, our professional trajectory, our romantic and friendly relationships, but also our traumas influence our dreams. The dream “is a product of the age”declares Joseph De Koninck, professor at the school of psychology at the University of Ottawa.
Common themes
Several recurring themes emerge at each stage of our lives. During childhood, our dreams are filled with animals. Kelly Bulkeley, researcher, explains that this probably comes from the fact that children are influenced by their pets or identify with the stories that we read to them and which feature these types of characters.
“Animals in dreams often symbolize our instincts and impulses, and children often feel more in tune with animals”, underlines The Washington Post. Nightmares are more numerous than in adulthood, and often concern the fear of abandonment.
In adolescence, all this changes. During this pivotal period in our evolution, dreams are more intense and, very often, sexual or aggressive. Over time, the frequency of those of the erotic type decreases. “While students are more likely to dream of friends, older people dream more often of close people”, continues Michael Schfedl, research director of the sleep laboratory at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany. They have fewer nightmares than before, but their dreams often concern the dead or their old job.
Monique Lortie-Lussier, former assistant professor of social psychology at the University of Ottawa, specifies that women’s dreams become more pleasant as the years go by. “Among women over 65, emotions are generally positive, with pleasant social interactions. There is very little aggression”, says the expert. This could be explained by a period in their lives that is no longer plagued by family and professional conflicts. For Joseph De Koninck, dreams are the continuity of our waking life and can teach us a lot about ourselves. So remember to write them down when you wake up!
