When you get up from an odd or particularly memorable dream, how likely are you to share it? Maybe you tell your partner about it over breakfast or text a friend to allow them to know the small print and ponder the meaning.
Research shows that About 15% of dreams are shared. – Mainly with romantic partners, friends and relatives. And should you don't currently share your dreams, it is advisable to start eager about it, because research also shows that it might probably show you how to improve. Close relationship.
This is our echo. Recent research on the Swansea University Sleep Laboratory which shows that sharing your dreams and listening to other people's dreams might help improve your level of empathy. In fact, we found that when people share dreams with one another, the one who shares their dream significantly increases their empathy for the person they’re sharing the dream with.
There is a number of evidence that sleep is helpful. Processing of important and emotional memories. And we regularly dream concerning the emotional experiences and concerns of our waking lives. So some researchers have suggested that our dreams play a task in, or reflect, the neural processing of emotional and vital memories in sleep.
The Swansea University Sleep Laboratory has carried out a variety of laboratory studies on the connection with dreams. Memory and emotional processing. But we also see the consequences of the dreamer discussing the content of their dreams. It relates to their waking life.
We've found that discussing a dream for about an hour with trained experiencers can create “aha” moments for people. Where can this include the recovery of things? The content of a dream comes from waking life, and from metaphorical references to specific concerns, problems or events – which can not have been easily seen or understood during waking hours.
Dream Drawings
We quickly realized how much people enjoy sharing their dreams, so we established a science-art collaboration called Dreams ID – Visualization and discussion of dreams.
We organize public events to debate people's dreams. Along with each discussion, artist Dr. Julia Lockhart paints each dream as a relentless reminder to the dreamer. The dreamer can then discuss this with family and friends at home.
It was Sigmund Freud who first traced the correlation Dreams and memoryso Lockhart paints on the torn pages of Freud's book (by permission of the publisher). Interpretation of dreams. Since the lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve got been doing this online with healthcare and important employees. It enables live participation from around the globe.
One example, illustrated below, shows a nurse's dream of recovering from COVID-19: “I tried to warn people at a party of a dangerous forest outside but they didn't listen. Then I saw a dead body in a nearby hospital-like room, and an old ventilator, and a cat jumping on my face and suffocating me.”
Provided by the creator.
Listening to and discussing dreams in this fashion through the years was the impetus for research on dreams and empathy. We find that sharing dreams has an amazing impact on us, in addition to on audience members and the dreamer's family and friends. And it was this that made us take into consideration sharing dreams and the importance of relationships.
Close connections
We recruited pairs of individuals, either already in a relationship or friends, to be tested for his or her level of empathy with one another. For this we used An Empathy Questionnaire With statements of participants agreeing or disagreeing – akin to:
- My friend/partner's feelings are real.
- I can see my friend/partner's standpoint.
- I can understand what my friend/partner goes through.
- When I discuss with my friend/partner I’m totally absorbed.
One member of every couple then shared and discussed a number of of their dreams with the opposite member of the couple over a two-week period. Both people then accomplished the empathy questionnaire again after discussing each dream. And we found that the one who talked about his dream was significantly different. Increased empathy with the person sharing your dream..
Research shows that engaging with literary fiction — which incorporates movies and plays — also can increase one's empathy. This is because you may understand the world being portrayed and act on it. The perspectives of the characters. We consider that dreams work in the identical way – as a myth. So when the dream is explored by the dreamer – and by those with whom it’s shared – it creates empathy for the dreamer's life circumstances.
As sharing our dreams increases emotional disclosure between people, it could be that, from one Evolutionary approachthe storytelling aspect of sharing dreams helps when it comes to social relationships.
Dreams and Lockdown
Under lockdown, some people sleep longer, and get up without alarm clocks or an urgent schedule. Many persons are also reporting having strange dreams. So here is a chance to recollect and hold on to the dreams. Instead of forgetting the memory.
There can also be prone to be more time than usual for couples or families to share their dreams – and with that, to extend their level of empathy. This is usually a helpful tool because, with limited personal space, relationships are feeling slightly fragile at once.