Your dreams are not random. These 2 things have a major impact, study finds
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Do you think your dreams are random? Researchers have analysed over 3,700 reports of dreams and now have a better idea of what influences the content of our dreams.
In France, some people believe that eating cheese before bed will give you wild dreams. But science is pointing somewhere else: the content of our dreams seems to be shaped by a mix of personality and lived experience - rather than camembert and cheddar.
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Why do dreams sometimes feel random and chaotic, while at other times they are immersive and strangely coherent? A new study suggests the answer is not randomness.
Researchers at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca in Italy challenged the idea of dreams as random mental by-products. The study, published in Communications Psychology, points to a system influenced by cognition, emotion, and context.
The study analysed more than 3,700 reports of dreams and waking experiences collected from 287 participants aged 18 to 70.
Over a two-week period, volunteers recorded their experiences while researchers gathered detailed information on sleep quality, cognitive patterns, personality traits, and psychological characteristics.
They then used advanced natural language processing (NLP, a type of artificial intelligence) to analyse how participants described their daily lives and dreams.
RelatedDreams are not random
The results show that dreams are far from random; there are clear patterns. They reflect a combination of internal traits and external influences. People who jump between unrelated thoughts in the day often reported dreams that felt scattered and changed quickly. Those who saw dreams as meaningful usually experienced them as more lively and immersive.
External events also played a role. During COVID-19, dreams became more intense and often focused on restriction and confinement, the study found. These patterns faded as life returned to normal, suggesting dreams shift alongside our psychological state.
Daily life, but different
Rather than replaying daily life, dreams appear to transform it. Routine elements such as workplaces, hospitals, or schools rarely reappear as direct copies. Instead, they are reorganised into unfamiliar and often surreal scenarios, blending different contexts and perspectives.
“Our findings show that dreams are not just a reflection of past experiences, but a dynamic process shaped by who we are and what we live through,” said Valentina Elce, lead author of the study.
The study also shows how AI can advance dream research. NLP models can analyse dream reports with a level of accuracy similar to human reviewers. This creates new opportunities to study consciousness, memory, and mental health at scale and in a consistent way.
So while you might not be able to influence your nightly adventures by eating cheese, dreams do seem to be shaped by measurable forces, both inside and outside the mind.
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